Sci-Fi Movies That Will Blow Fans Away In 2024

As visions of various 21st-century promises and perils alike converge upon us at once — from space travel to possible extraterrestrial contact to artificial intelligence to the looming societal threat posed by climate change–— the science fiction genre finds itself at arguably its most urgent and crucial point in history. In recent years, the movies, in particular, have seen a kind of artistic renaissance for the genre, with various first-rate auteurs contemplating our technological future in works ranging from the moving to the thought-provoking to the brilliantly satirical.

In 2024, that renaissance has continued full steam bringing us an incredibly vast and diverse range of new sci-fi flicks. We've already had blockbuster treats like "Dune: Part Two" and "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," but this year still has some great sci-fi waiting around the corner. We've got the return of xenomorphs in "Alien: Romulus" and Furiosa tearing through the desert in the universe of "Mad Max," but we also have intriguing and ambitious endeavors from Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg and even some promising animated robots. Here, we've compiled a list of more science fiction films to look forward to in 2024.

George Miller completely changed the face of big-budget action cinema when he unleashed his 2015 masterpiece, the dangerous and incredible "Mad Max: Fury Road." Now, nearly a decade later, his post-apocalyptic epic is getting a long-awaited spin-off.

"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" (read our review) is already immediately breaking new ground in the Australian action franchise for two reasons: First, it's the first "Mad Max" film not focused on Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) himself. Second, it will be the first to depart from the loose, episodic nature of previous installments and establish any sort of real continuity in the "Mad Max" universe, by going back to the past and exploring the backstory of "Fury Road" breakout character Imperator Furiosa, originally played by Charlize Theron.

With a script that was actually written by George Miller and Nick Lauthoris concurrently with "Fury Road" and originally intended to be shot back-to-back, "Furiosa" will look back on how Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) was taken away from the Green Place of Many Mothers by warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and thrust unwillingly into the war for control of the Citadel, starting a lifelong mission to find her way back home. Although the trailers we've witnessed all played coy about the exact mechanics of the conflict and how Furiosa, Dementus, and a young Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) each factor into it, one thing has already been made perfectly clear: "Furiosa" will feature just as much mind-blowing action, dazzling cinematography, and operatic grandeur as its predecessor. 

Remember her on May 24.

Speaking of killer aliens, hey, we have a new "Alien" movie this year. The filmmaker tackling the daunting challenge of making an actually good "Alien" sequel this time — something many fans of the franchise maintain hasn't been done since James Cameron's "Aliens" back in 1986 — will be Uruguayan writer-director Fede Álvarez. A big name in the current horror landscape, Álvarez is known for genre hits like "Don't Breathe" and the 2013 "Evil Dead," as well as the, uh, less memorable 2018 "Millennium" series entry "The Girl in the Spider's Web."

Thankfully, by the looks of it, "Alien: Romulus" looks all set to be a more successful movie than the last time Fede Álvarez made a new entry in a franchise previously tackled by David Fincher. The film was notoriously willed into being after Fede Álvarez made a pitch to Ridley Scott himself that kept Scott thinking for years afterwards, and, although it's coming out this summer, we still don't know exactly what that pitch was. Plot information is being kept markedly vague, both by the official synopsis — which only reveals that the film will follow a new group of space colonists who come into contact with the xenomorphs — and by the single one-minute teaser trailer unveiled so far by 20th Century Studios. We do know that "Romulus" will star Cailee Spaeny, who has confirmed that the film is temporally set between "Alien" and "Aliens, and that Álvarez worked with Scott and James Cameron to maintain franchise continuity.

"Alien: Romulus" tears into theaters on August 16.

If the "Transformers" films still have a legion of fans around the world even after years and years of one critically panned film after another, it's for two reasons. First, there will always be reverence and nostalgia for the sprawling mythology of the original animated TV series. Second, as much as they may offend mainstream critical sensibilities, the "Transformers" movies are nothing if not unique. In their vision of hectic, hard-edged, metal-clanging mecha action pushed to mind-melting extremes, they've created an abrasive, almost post-human aesthetic that no other Hollywood CGI fest is even really trying to replicate or draw from.

Given those two enduring strengths, the next step in the "Transformers" franchise makes perfect sense: This time, human characters will be ditched altogether, and the film will travel to the Transformers' native planet of Cybertron to tell the story of how former best friends Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) became Optimus Prime and Megatron. Naturally, this also means that the film will be the first entry in Paramount's "Transformers" series to be 100% animated, with Oscar-winning "Toy Story 4" helmer Josh Cooley giving the robots in disguise a "Spider-Verse"-esque makeover – but without anywhere near as much style. Between the slate-cleaning premise, the starry voice cast rounded out by Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm, and the score by Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL), there's plenty of reason for fans to be excited.

Look for "Transformers One" at the start of fall movie season on September 20.

"Logan" was one of the most perfect and fitting cinematic send-offs for any blockbuster hero ever — not to mention one of the most prestigious, as its unexpected dramatic sturdiness netted it the first-ever screenwriting Oscar nomination for a superhero movie. But if there's one thing Deadpool is gonna do, it's mess with the established order.

In Wade Wilson's (Ryan Reynolds) defense, of course, he's not the one who initiates the mayhem this time. The plot of "Deadpool & Wolverine" begins when Wilson, having settled into a stable and peaceful life surrounded by loving friends and family, gets yanked out of it by the Time Variance Authority (TVA). In a typically meta flight of fancy for the franchise, the TVA effectively offers Wilson (aka Deadpool) the chance to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe and become one of its world-saving heroes. Tasked with defeating Charles Xavier's evil twin sister Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), Deadpool enlists the help of an alternate version of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from a universe in which he failed the world, and the two superpowered mavericks form an unlikely alliance.

Following the hit 2016 and 2018 installments, "Deadpool & Wolverine" is the first "Deadpool" film to be distributed by Disney following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, and as expected, there are plenty of digs at the new parent company peppered throughout the trailers.

With the promise of putting a fresh, R-rated new spin on the MCU, "Deadpool & Wolverine" will arrive on July 26.

For all the acclaim David Cronenberg gets as a mastermind of grueling, squirm-inducing body horror, he might actually be underrated as a sci-fi filmmaker. Several of Cronenberg's greatest achievements in the horror genre, including classics like "Videodrome" and "The Fly," are also densely mapped, imaginatively realized sci-fi visions, combining physical and virtual spaces into thorough explorations of tech paranoia in the post-digital world. In 2024, following on from his 2022 surgery-themed freakout "Crimes of the Future," Cronenberg will once again use sci-fi as a window into the hidden horrors of 21st-century life.

Originally developed as a Netflix series but ultimately scrapped by the streamer, "The Shrouds" has been reborn as one of Cronenberg's most personal and emotionally charged feature films yet, including autobiographical elements. The concept is a heady one: A businessman (Vincent Cassel), deep in mourning following the loss of his wife, invents a new technology that allows people to monitor the bodies of their deceased loved ones in their graves, but finds himself caught in a dark mystery when several graves are desecrated, including his wife's. If many of Cronenberg's previous films have had an undercurrent of grief and melancholy, "The Shrouds" appears to be bringing it to the fore with full force.

"The Shrouds," will play in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, after which it has already been set for a French theatrical release in September — but it does not yet have a North American release date.

Sony's attempt to build a Spider-Man-based cinematic universe out of supporting and side characters from Spidey comics has mostly been a resounding failure so far (see the headache-inducing silliness of "Madame Web," or maybe don't), with the shining exception of the "Venom" film series. Both 2018's Ruben Fleischer-directed "Venom" and 2021's Andy Serkis-directed "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" proved inordinately and unexpectedly successful by striking a singular, inexplicable tone somewhere between brooding seriousness, campiness, thinly-veiled homoeroticism, and absolutely unhinged lunacy. Now, the trilogy is coming to a close with "Venom: The Last Dance."

Perhaps the most interesting information about "The Last Dance" is that it will be the directorial debut of Kelly Marcel, who previously co-wrote and executive produced "Venom," served as producer and sole screenwriter on "Let There Be Carnage," and also wrote the screenplay by herself this time around, from a story co-written with Tom Hardy. As such, "Venom: The Last Dance" is the first project in the "Venom" series to be a full-blown auteurist vision from a writer-director. Not much else is currently known about the project beyond that, as no plot details whatsoever have been unveiled, but we do know that Hardy will (obviously) be returning as Eddie Brock/Venom, and will be joined by franchise newcomers Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Clark Backo in as-yet-undisclosed roles.

Like its two predecessors, "The Last Dance" will be a fall release, and Eddie and Venom waltz into theaters on October 25.

After directing the (temporarily) highest-grossing film of all time and the creative and cultural peak to an entire era of Hollywood history, Anthony and Joe Russo reinvented themselves as helmers of slick streaming-bound genre flicks, first with the critically bashed 2021 Tom Holland vehicle "Cherry," and then with 2022's somewhat better-received "The Gray Man." Now, with "The Electric State," the brothers are returning to the sci-fi genre that they've proven they can excel at with their "Avengers" films.

Scripted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, "The Electric State" adapts the eponymous illustrated novel by Simon Stålenhag, which tells of a teenage girl traveling through an America ravaged by a human-robot civil war in search of her missing younger brother. On her journey, she's accompanied by a robot named Skip. Millie Bobby Brown leads the film (seen above in "Stranger Things"), which will debut sometime in 2024 as a Netflix original and boasts an incredible ensemble cast that includes Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander, and Woody Norman, with Giancarlo Esposito, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Anthony Mackie, and Billy Bob Thornton providing voice work.