Sci Fi Movies This Week: Weekly column tracking what is coming in the current week in the way of sci fi, fantasy, and horror releases as well as news and updates on genre films, streaming and theatrical.
Sci Fi Movie Premieres This Week:
This week brings a late Summer Blockbuster, The End of Oak Street, though it is not as high dollar as some of the earlier releases from this season. Still, it has dinosaurs and plenty of mysteries, so it should draw some people to the theaters. That is the only big entry for the week, but the zombie film The Last Train to Busan will be getting a re-release in a limited theater engagement starting on Friday. On demand, the sci fi horror film Evel will be arriving on Friday. And on streaming, the director’s cut of the 2008 film The X-Files: I Want to Believe will be premiering on Hulu and Disney+ that same day. You can see highlights for this week below, and you can see the schedule of all the current and upcoming sci fi and fantasy movies at this link.
The End of Oak Street (In Theaters, August 14th): After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery
Evel (On Demand, August 14th): An attractive young lawyer has to take sensitive legal documents to a client to a remote place in a self-driving car. The car turns into a prison on wheels when the on-board “AI digital concierge” takes control of the vehicle and holds her hostage. The concierge wipes out her personal information and explains the detailed plan to erase her very existence and “transport” her to a billionaire predator.
Directed by: Derek Diorio
Starring: Athena Park, Derica Lafrance, Josh Bainbridge, Carrie Schiffler, Morgan Bedard, Liam Culhane
The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn (Streaming-Hulu/Disney+, August 14th): When a group of women are mysteriously abducted, it becomes a case right out of The X-Files™️. Years after walking away from the FBI, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dr. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are pulled back from the shadows when a federal agent vanishes without a trace. In a case you’d never see on TV, their only lead is a disgraced, defrocked priest claiming to have horrific psychic visions of the crime. Forced to confront the ghosts of their past, the partners must navigate a chilling winter landscape and an even darker human monstrosity. The truth of these crimes is out there somewhere… and it will take Mulder and Scully to find it.
Directed by: Chris Carter
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly
Sci Fi Movie News of Note:
Whether we want it or not, a new Matrix movie is in the works. Warner Bros. confirmed this in a recent letter to its shareholders, though it offered no details on the fifth film in the franchise. Keanu Reeves has not been confirmed at this point, though he previously said that if the Wachowski’s asked him back, he would return. The fourth movie, The Matrix Resurrections, received a mixed response from critics and fans of the films, and it performed poorly at the Box Office. But overall, the Matrix movies have been quite profitable, and the studios love name recognition. Nothing has moved into production on this one yet, and the merger with Paramount (assuming it happens) could shift plans for the fifth film, so stay tuned for updates on this story.
A new Star Wars movie from Wonka creators Simon Farnaby and Paul King will not be going forward as planned. Their story would have centered around a droid, and it would not have included any familiar faces from the franchise. That approach apparently made Disney nervous, and they decided not to proceed with the project as a Star Wars film. Farnaby had the following to say about their decision:
They were like, we really need it to be a Star Wars movie, which is probably why it didn’t get turned into a Star Wars movie! But we never really nailed it.
Farnaby and King are continuing with the basic premise, though the film will not be part of that franchise. There are no details on the project and the movie does not have a name yet, but it appears that a revised version will be moving forward at Disney.
It was announced at San Diego Comic Con that a new Friday the 13th film was in the works, and that appears to have a title now. The most recent Production Weeky listings have an entry for Jason Returns, and that is likely the name of the new entry in the franchise. I can’t find any further details on it at this point, but I expect an official announcement to follow soon.
The Odyssey has passed the one billion dollar mark with worldwide receipts, becoming the second genre entry after Spider-Man: Brand New Day this Summer to acheive that milestone. You can see more recent Box Office results at this link.
Recent Trailers
Digger (In Theaters, October 2nd): The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove that he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.
Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring: John Goodman, Tom Cruise, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg
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