The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Hulu Right Now (August 2024)

Sci-fi has never been more in the mainstream than it is today! Part of it is the wonders that technology has allowed us to perform, making it easier to match the mind-blowing visuals in our heads to what comes up on the screen. But the other part is how much access everyone has to great science fiction. Platforms like Hulu make it easy to find the best sci-fi from multiple studios while diversifying your genre tastes with titles from all across the spectrum of fiction.

Here are the best sci-fi movies on Hulu right now.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best sci-fi movies on Netflix or the movies and shows on Hulu across all genres.

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80% | IMDb: 7/10

Since the re-reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise back in 2011, the new series of films has been pushing the boundaries of innovation in terms of both technology and storytelling. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes continues this tradition with breathtaking motion capture CGI and writing strong enough to humanize this world run by talking apes. The story takes place centuries after the Caesar trilogy and establishes a new setting where the apes now flourish in a medieval-style kingdom. Owen Teague (Bloodline) takes the reins as the lead chimpanzee and begins his own journey by joining forces with a primitive human, played by Freya Allan (The Witcher), to topple the new king of the apes who murdered his father.

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‘2012’ (2009)

Rotten Tomatoes: 39% | IMDb: 5.8/10

With climate change threatening to destroy humanity as we know it, there is a bit of catharsis in watching disaster movies. Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) is a master of the craft, and he delivers two-and-a-half hours of harrowing visuals of the world ending while highlighting the strength of human determination. The story follows John Cusack (Utopia), a divorced sci-fi writer who struggles through hell on Earth to save his family from the cascade of unnatural disasters occurring all over the world. Anyone who enjoys large-scale destruction that you can only really see in big-budget sci-fi stories can just kick back and vibe to the horrors and excellent craftsmanship that goes into constructing them.

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‘Alien’ (1979)

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% | IMDb: 8.5/10

Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) is a visionary genius of science fiction, and he burst out the gate with this sci-fi horror mashup that takes the thrill of a haunted house and sets it in the dark void of space with an unstopping alien. Alien takes a simple premise and elevates it with loveable characters, unmatched visual storytelling, and some of the wildest creature designs to eat their way out of H. R. Giger’s brain. It only makes sense this would become a franchise that spans over 50 years, and a big part of its success is due to the best final girl to ever exist: Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver (Avatar). With Alien: Romulus set directly after this film, this is the perfect time to check out this masterpiece.

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‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 76% | IMDb: 7/10

Okay, listen…am I cheating a bit by adding Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to this list? Maybe, but we don’t definitively know what makes the game work. It could be aliens or 5th-dimensional beings! Just let me talk about how this soft reboot gives us some of the best against-type performances for each and every lead: Dwayne Johnson (Baywatch) gets to play a little softie, Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy) gets to be a self-conscious awkward teen, and Jack Black (School of Rock) blesses the screen with his best popular mean girl act. Plus, since this installment pulls the characters into the game, there are a myriad of delightful gaming nods and jokes that elevate this sequel to a new level.

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‘The Day After Tomorrow’ (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes: 45% | IMDb: 6.5/10

Back to climate catharsis central, The Day After Tomorrow is the predecessor to Roland Emmerich’s other disaster flick, 2012, mentioned above. It was inspired by the novel The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, which speculates about the worst-case scenarios of climate change. Anyone looking for less disaster porn will want to start here, as the focus is less on the destruction itself and more of a character-driven story of a father, played by Dennis Quaid (Frequency), who traverses a new global ice age and dangerous storms to get to his son, played by Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko).

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‘Prey’ (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes: 94% | IMDb: 7.1/10

Prey, directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), is the best film in the Predator franchise since the original. The films are at their best when they lean into the horror of being stalked by a technologically advanced enemy that will stop at nothing to complete their hunt, and this film does so while paying tribute to the Great Plains Comanche tribe. This installment takes place during the early 1700s in the colonial United States and follows Amber Midthunder (Legion) as a young healer trying to prove her hunting skills to the tribe. Unfortunately, her tribe becomes the prey of a sadistic alien who kills humans for sport. It’s the ultimate underdog story full of suspense, terror, and great action.

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‘Men in Black: International’ (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 23% | IMDb: 5.6/10

Diving back into the world of secret aliens and world-ending threats, Men in Black: International is a soft reboot for the MIB franchise. MCU alums Tessa Thompson (Westworld) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok) join forces once again as buddy cops in the clandestine organization that monitors intergalactic activity on planet Earth, except this time, the operation takes them out of New York and across the pond to London to sniff out a mole. Thompson and Hemsworth are great comedic foils for one another, while Director F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious) delivers a visually dynamic world with new creature designs and whimsical alien technology. Also, any fans of the animated series from the ’90s will be geeked up by some of the big plot reveals that mirror a big arc in the show.

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‘Alita: Battle Angel’ (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 61% | IMDb: 7.3/10

Adapting anime and manga is hard, especially since a lot of the magic comes from the stylistic choices in the artwork. However, Alita: Battle Angel is one of the best films to capture the spirit and visuals of the source material. Set in a dark cyberpunk future where the wealthy literally look down on the common person from a floating city, we find Alita, played by Rosa Salazar (Bird Box). She’s a cyborg with no memory of her past who desperately wants to get to the floating city to figure out who she is. In addition to being visually stunning, the film features an all-star cast, including Christoph Waltz (No Time to Die), Jennifer Connelly (Hulk), and Mahershala Ali (Leave the World Behind).

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‘The Creator’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 67% | IMDb: 6.7/10

Visionary director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) flexes his sci-fi muscles with an original story about a war between humans and artificial intelligence. John David Washington (Tenet) stars in this action-adventure flick as a special agent tasked with eradicating a weapon that could threaten to destroy all of humanity, but that weapon turns out to be a robot in the form of a child. Edwards is no stranger to big-budget sci-fi, but this is a wonderful feat of worldbuilding that blurs the lines of what makes something human and worthy of being “alive.” Not to mention, the movie has a great sense of humor as Washington bounces off his co-star Madeleine Yuna Voyles in her breakout role.

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‘No One Will Save You’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 82% | IMDb: 6.3/10

Written and directed by Brian Duffield (Underwater), No One Will Save You is a genre mashup of home-invasion horror and extraterrestrial attack that, like Alien, takes the best aspects of both to create something that feels fresh. The film is an ambitious venture featuring almost no dialogue throughout, effectively carried on the back of star Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart), who pushes herself to the brink to keep the audience beside her deep in the trenches of fear as she fends off this supernatural threat. Duffield creates a suspenseful, deeply unsettling atmosphere that is so tense you might fear making a sound yourself lest you be ripped from your couch by a beam of light. This movie is sci-fi horror at its best.

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