Sci-Fi July is a summer celebration of contemporary science-fiction and fantasy cinema in all its far-out, phenomenal forms, with over 50 films screening on Film4 and collected on All 4 throughout the month and into August, including UK TV and network premieres.
The Sci-Fi July season kicks off on Film4 on Friday, July 1st at 9pm with Alita: Battle Angel, directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by James Cameron. Attack the Block, Scanners, Re-Animator, Sea Fever, Time Bandits, Flight of the Navigator, and Cypher are among the titles included in the All 4 Sci-Fi July collection.
Big-budget, star-driven Hollywood blockbusters have always dominated the genre, and they’re an important part of the season. Will Smith faces off against a younger clone of himself in Ang Lee’s Gemini Man; Natalie Portman loses touch with reality after returning from space in Lucy in the Sky from Fargo TV series creator Noah Hawley; Kristen Stewart plays an oceanic researcher trying to get to safety after an earthquake in Underwater; and Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger make an emotional return in the most racy film of the year.
We reflect this with a lineup of’superheroes with attitude,’ including Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and Colin Farrell; Hancock, starring Will Smith and Charlize Theron; Zack Snyder’s all-star adaptation of Alan Moore’s iconic comic series Watchmen; and Brightburn, starring Elizabeth Banks as the mother of a child from another world who crash lands on Earth but may not be here to stay.
A group of visionary filmmakers delivering films that helped shape the landscape of contemporary science fiction is at the heart of the season: Steven Spielberg appears with two blockbusters starring Tom Cruise – Minority Report and War of the Worlds; J. J. Abrams appears twice with Super 8 and Star Trek; David Cronenberg’s 1981 breakthrough film Scanners is included, as is Jonathan Glazer’s Film4-backed masterpiece Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson, which was recently voted best British film of the twenty-first century in a MASSIVE Cinema critics poll.
Exploration and discovery are important aspects of many science-fiction stories, and they also play a role in Sci-Fi July. Beyond the Infinite is one of the films that audiences will be able to see. Two Minutes, in which a Japanese café owner discovers that the TV in his café is showing images from two minutes in the future; Sputnik, in which the sole survivor of an incident in space returns home, playing host to a dangerous creature hiding inside his body; Mandibles, in which two men find a giant fly in the boot of their car and try to train it in the hope of making money; and
Joe Cornish’s contemporary, school-based take on Arthurian legend – The Kid Who Would Be King, Disney’s classic Flight of The Navigator, Terry Gilliam’s all-star time travel adventure Time Bandits, Muppets from Space, and iterations of the Star Trek franchise including the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture starring William Shatner, Star Trek: Insurrection starring Sir Patrick Stewart, and Chris Pine as Kirk in 2009’s Star Trek
The Sci-Fi July Collection will be hosted by all four in specially created and curated categories. Sub-genres can be found on the Film4 page on All 4. Outer Limits (‘Far-out tales where science & fantasy set the rules’); Sci-Fi Shocks (‘Dark fantasy & visionary horror’); Action… and Beyond! (‘Wild sci-fi rides’); Superheroes With Attitude (‘Compromised crusaders & messed-up marvels’); and All-Ages Adventure (‘Sci-fi the whole family can enjoy’).
