Sci-Fi Sequels Fans Will Get To See Sooner Than They Realize

Anybody who loves sci-fi tends to keep at least one eye on the future. That's kind of the whole point, isn't it? Of course, this applies to more than the technologies, cultures, and politics that drive our favorite stories — it also goes for the stories themselves.

Luckily, sci-fi movie fans have a lot to look forward to in the next few years. Many of Hollywood's upcoming releases will come as no real shock to most, including the small avalanche of "Star Wars" projects on the way or the imminent entries in the nigh-unstoppable MCU. Others will likely be more of a surprise: Films such as Bong Joon-ho's "Mickey 17" and Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City" are bound to make serious waves in the genre, for example.

Meanwhile, a significant number of imminent sci-fi movies are surprising not because they're unexpected — in fact, as franchise entries, most of them are downright inevitable — but because it's so hard to believe they're right around the corner. Here are some of the sci-fi sequels you'll be seeing sooner than you think.

Most of us have been desperately awaiting a follow-up to 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road" since the moment the credits rolled. And while the official sequel to George Miller's action masterpiece, "Mad Max: The Wasteland," seems to be languishing in development hell, we've at least got "Furiosa" to tide us over.

Warner Bros. greenlit a spinoff based on Charlize Theron's "Fury Road" character, Imperator Furiosa. This time, though, "The Menu" and "The Queen's Gambit" star Anya Taylor-Joy will be playing the title role, with George Miller in the director's chair and Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke attached as co-stars (Burke replaced Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in his role). "Furiosa" filming began in June 2022 and wrapped that October, with a relative lack of news from the set appearing to suggest a much smoother production process than the bizarre nightmare of "Fury Road."

In September 2022, Warner Bros. announced that "Furiosa" will hit theaters on May 24, 2024. This marks a slight delay on the movie's original 2023 release, of course, and it will have been a good nine years since "Fury Road," too. Considering the long path to "Fury Road" and the dead end faced by "The Wasteland," however, the impending release of "Furiosa" is nothing less than miraculous.

James Cameron has never been shy about hyping up the scope of his "Avatar" universe. He announced a sequel to the first movie mere weeks after its 2009 release, and then, a week later, revealed that, no, scratch that, he was actually working on several more. Cameron has only once even slightly downplayed the "Avatar" franchise's growth. That was when he suggested that a poor box office run on "Avatar: The Way of Water" might force him to wrap things up with "Avatar 3." He needn't have worried, though, as "The Way of Water" earned an almost unbelievable $2.3 billion at the box office, more or less guaranteeing that the franchise will continue until the end of time.

The 13-year gap between "Avatar" and "The Way of Water" might lead you to believe that we'll be forced to endure a similar wait for "Avatar 3," but that couldn't be further from the truth. Somehow — possibly because Cameron is a blockbuster-making machine — "Avatar 3" will arrive in theaters on December 19, 2025. In November 2022, Sam Worthington told Jimmy Fallon that about 80-90% of the third movie had already been filmed, while shooting had even begun on a few scenes of "Avatar 4." And that's the really impressive thing here: If all goes well, 2024's "Avatar 3" will be followed by "Avatar 4" in 2029 and "Avatar 5" in 2031. God loves a trier.

You're probably well aware that "A Quiet Place: Day One," a prequel to John Krasinski's superb horror movies "A Quiet Place" and "A Quiet Place Part II," is slated for release in March 2024. You might be forgiven, however, for having missed the news of a third entry in the main series. Paramount announced "A Quiet Place Part III" during an investor call in February 2022, confirming a 2025 release date.

So, what else do we know about "A Quiet Place Part III"? Well, uh, basically nothing. We've had no plot details, no cast details, and no hint as to when filming might begin. Emily Blunt told Collider in 2021 that "A Quiet Place Part II" was intended to be the second chapter in a trilogy, so you can safely assume that "Part III" will once again revolve around Evelyn Abbott and her children. This means that Blunt and her co-stars Millicent Simmons and Noah Jupe are sure to return, although it's harder to say whether they'll be joined by the supporting cast of "A Quiet Place Part II," such as Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou. Truth is, you probably shouldn't expect to hear much more about "A Quiet Place Part III" until after "A Quiet Place: Day One" hits theaters. Still, it's good to know that, after the release of director Michael Sarnoski's prequel, our next dose of silent horror won't be too far off.

Amidst the many tentpole movies on the summer 2023 release slate — which is filled to the brim with superheroes, robots, and whip-cracking archaeologists — it'd be easy to miss the sequel to Jon Turteltaub's inexplicable 2018 sci-fi thriller "The Meg." It's happening, though, and it's happening very soon indeed.

Based on the 1999 Steve Alten novel "The Trench," "Meg 2: The Trench" sees Jason Statham return to the role of Jonas Taylor, as he joins a daring expedition into the deepest reaches of the ocean. This time around, Statham and his supporting cast are directed, even more inexplicably, by "Free Fire" and "A Field in England" director Ben Wheatley. The "Meg 2: The Trench" trailer promises basically everything you'd expect, including (but not limited to) giant iguanas, gnarly waves, grisly deaths, and, naturally, Statham kicking a massive shark in the face. "It's an opportunity to do action on such an insanely large scale," Wheatley tells ComicBook.com, "that it's just unbelievable ... I feel a heavy responsibility for it, to make sure that it kind of delivers on all the, to all the big shark fans out there."

If that sounds like a treat to you, then good news: You won't have to wait until 2024 or 2025 to dive into "The Trench." Wheatley and Statham's balls-to-the-wall aquatic thriller is due for release on August 4, 2023.

The last couple of "Ghostbusters" movies divided both fans and critics. Paul Feig's 2016 remake failed to break even at the box office and attracted a startling hate campaign from the worst people in the world. Meanwhile, Jason Reitman's 2021 legacy sequel "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," fared worse with critics and made less at the box office — although, according to Forbes, it was just about rescued by its much lower budget. Nobody would have blamed Sony for throwing in the towel after all that.

Nevertheless, the studio is set to make yet another attempt at reviving the glory of the first two "Ghostbusters" movies. Sony announced the sequel to "Afterlife" in April 2022, and we've since learned a number of details about the production. Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon will reprise their "Afterlife" roles alongside their younger co-stars. They'll be joined by a supporting cast including Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, James Acaster, and Emily Alyn Lind. Gil Kenan, best known for "Monster House" and 2015's "Poltergeist" remake, will direct.

Although filming began in the U.K. in March 2023, various reports have suggested that "Ghostbusters 5" will take place in New York and revolve around the iconic firehouse from the original movies. And yes, in case you were wondering, the original Ghostbusters will likely turn up. In an April 2023 interview with The Film Collective, Ernie Hudson seemed to confirm that himself, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Annie Potts might appear in some capacity — but we don't know much more than that. We'll find out soon enough, though, as "Ghostbusters 5" lands in theaters on December 20, 2023.

Jeff Chan's sci-fi superhero flick "Code 8" struck from nowhere back in 2019. Chan and his actor-slash-producer colleagues, Robbie and Stephen Amell, took their story from an Indiegogo campaign to a theatrical release to a Netflix hit that quickly went to the top spot on the streamer's top 10 feature. A cult fandom followed, and nowadays, you can make a strong case that "Code 8" is one of the most successful non-comic book superhero movies of all time.

Quibi picked up "Code 8" for a spinoff series in 2019, but that project seems to have gone down with Quibi itself. Two years later, Netflix signed Chan and the Amell brothers for "Code 8: Part II." Like "Code 8," the sequel takes place in the fictional Lincoln City, where a small percentage of the population wields superhuman powers. The movie follows a young woman who sets out to seek justice against the police who killed her brother. Robbie Amell confirmed in 2022 that "Code 8: Part II" had finished shooting, describing the sequel as a "big movie," partly because Netflix apparently offered them a budget twice the size of the first installment.

No release date has been set by Netflix so far, but if shooting had already been completed in 2022, then it's likely that "Code 8: Part II" will land on the platform sometime in 2023.