From WESTWORLD To READY PLAYER ONE: What's Your Most Anticipated Hard Sci-Fi Property Of 2018?

From WESTWORLD To READY PLAYER ONE: What's Your Most Anticipated Hard Sci-Fi Property Of 2018?

Is 2018 the year of superheroes? It may very well be with Black Panther, Infinity War and a long-awaited Incredibles sequel looming but there's also plenty of hard sci-fi hitting theaters and TV screens.

By MarkJulian - Feb 11, 2018 11:02 AM EST
Filed Under: Sci-Fi
When it's all said and done, 2018 may go down as the biggest year for comic book properties in mainstream media.The CW's DCTV lineup is currently going strong as the anchors of the teen-oriented network (and most of these shows will return with new seasons in the fall). Each of the Marvel Netflix shows has either wrapped or are in the midst of filming new seasons. The intriguing DC Entertainment streaming platform is launching late-2018 with Titans and a new season of Young Justice.

On the film side, Black Panther will hit theaters later this week and kick off a 2018 superhero film slate that includes Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, The Incredibles 2, Venom, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, David Harbour Hellboy reboot, and Aquaman.

Clearly, there's a staggering amount of comic book television and film adaptations releasing throughout 2018 and if you need to "reset your palate" between projects, we suggest some hard sci-fi, non-superhero film and television shows that just might do the trick.
 

10. Altered Carbon (Netflix)


Based on the 2002 sci-fi novel by Richard K. Morgan, the Netflix series dropped on February 02 to predominantly rave reviews. Set in the year 2384 and starring Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs, the amount of casual violence and sex on display makes it clear that a production of this nature could only find a home within Netflix's unrated landscape.

Altered Carbon is set in a world where a person's consciousness resides in a futuristic USB that can be transported from body to body, rendering death a thing of the past.
 

9. Annihilation (Paramount Pictures)


It's been a long three years but we finally have the directorial followup from Ex Machina helmer Alex Garland. Paramount is releasing the film about a biologist (Natalie Portman) and her team who venture inside an otherworldly environmental disaster zone to save the life of a lone soldier who managed to return after a catastrophic military expedition. That soldier (Oscar Isaac) also happens to be Portman's husband in the film.

Annihilation opens in Canada, China, and the U.S. on February 23.
 

8. Westworld season 2 (HBO)


There's still plenty of questions to be answered in HBO's sophomore season of Westworld, a TV remake of the 1973 film of the same name from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.

Perhaps even more intriguing is the reveal that the show will also venture to other theme parks outside of the Wild West setting of Westworld- additional theme parks include a feudal Japan setting, a medieval setting and a recreation of the Roman Empire among others.

Westworld season 2 premieres April 22, 2018.
 

7. Mute (Netflix)


Netflix is back on the list with another futuristic sci-fi thriller but the streaming platform is swapping Joel Kinnaman for Alexander Skarsgård in Duncan Jones' Mute. Not much is known about the film other than it stars a mute bartender searching for his missing girlfriend.

The first trailer for the project certainly piqued its fair share of interest but time will tell whether Jones' artistic vision delivers an Altered Carbon or Cloverfield Paradox.

Mute will be released on February 23, 2018, the same day as Annihilation.
 

6. Fahrenheit 451 (HBO)


General Zod (Michael Shannon) and Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) are teaming up for Ramin Bahrani's dystopian adaptation of the classic Ray Bradbury tale. The film also stars Sofia Boutella and Martin Donovan.

How closely the movie follows the original story of a futuristic society that tasks firemen with burning books on site remains a mystery.

The project is still without an official release date but filming wrapped last fall and the show's website has slated the project for a Spring 2018 release date.
 

5. Ready Player One (Warner Bros.)


Arguably the most popular sci-fi novel of the last 5 years or so, Ready Player One was actually released in 2011. It just took that long for the nostalgia-fueled, fast-paced virtual reality thriller to peak from its strong word-of-mouth.

Of course, when any form of media becomes popular it suddenly becomes cool to bash it and pick at every single flaw. The film arrives at a weird crossroads for the novel, with Ernest Cline recently announcing that he's working on a sequel that's all but destined to be turned into a movie as well, should the Steven Spielberg-directed pic provide strong box office returns for Warner Bros.

Ready Player One hit theaters on March 29, 2018.
 

4. Alita Battle Angel (20th Century Fox)


Oldboy. Edge of Tomorrow. The on-again, off-again Akira adaptation. Ghost in the Shell. Netflix's Death Note.

Hollywood hasn't figured out how to translate the success of comic book movies into video game adaptations so a few studios are gingerly exploring anime and manga. Avatar helmer James Cameron has been developing an adaptation of Yukito Kishiros's 1990 Battle Angel Alita manga for almost two decades. Realizing his ambitious Avatar sequel plans would never afford him the time to direct the project himself, Cameron turned to Sin City's Robert Rodriguez.

Starring Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz, the film recently debuted a solid trailer recently but all anyone could talk about were the film's replication of "anime eyes." It will be interesting to see if there were any changes made to Salazar's character in subsequent trailers released between now and the films July 20th release.
 

3. Galaxy Quest Reboot (Amazon)


Galaxy Quest is one of those films that no one actually saw in theaters but develops a second life thanks to home video and television broadcasts. Developed at Amazon, the project likely would be much further along if not for the tragic death of Alan Rickman in January 2016 which brought development to a halt.

Amazon brought in a new writer ( Paul Scheer) to retool the project just as the cancellation of Tim Allen's Last Man Standing comedy hit the newswire. It seems the stars may have perfectly aligned for the series to finally shift into high gear.
 

2. Lost in Space Reboot (Netflix)


Netflix is quietly becoming a bastion of science-fiction. In addition to Altered Carbon and Mute, the streaming platform is also developing a Lost in Space reboot starring British actor Toby Stephens, who was last seen in Starz' Black Sails as Captain Flint.

Netflix has confirmed that the series is set for a mid-April premiere later this year. Parker Posey also stars in the series as a gender-reversed Dr. Smith.
 

1. Snowpiercer TV series (TNT)


TNT is moving forward with its television adaptation of the 2013 Chris Evans-led post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, Snowpiercer. The film itself is an adaptation of the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige from created by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette.

The show is executive produced by Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson, who is also directing the pilot. Filming on the show, which stars Jennifer Connelly, began September 2017.
 

Bonus: Poll Question

 
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Kumkani
Kumkani - 2/11/2018, 12:01 PM
Have to go with Westworld Season 2. The first season was brilliant, and season 2 is looking just as good. That Super Bowl trailer with the Runaway cover was simply epic. I'm also excited for Ready Player One, and curious about Fahrenheit 451 and the Snowpiercer series.

Currently watching Altered Carbon, and while the set design and special effects are great, the story is really boring and the leads are all uncharismatic. Hoping Mute isn't like that too.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 2/11/2018, 12:11 PM
@BlindWedjat - Yeah I finished Altered Carbon and agree. The visuals and design were fantastic. But many of the characters were boring, the pacing was terrible, the story was confusing and poorly put together, etc. I gave it a 7/10 at most. I can see why it got the score it did from critics.
Pantherpool
Pantherpool - 2/11/2018, 12:15 PM
@BlindWedjat - AC was okay imo. Kinnaman was surprisingly good. The visuals are insane. But it has serious pace issues.
connorblaze
connorblaze - 2/11/2018, 12:18 PM
@BlindWedjat - wow I’ve gotta disagree with all of you, this is the first Netflix show I’ve gotten through with no pacing issues. There wasn’t a single episode that bored me or didnt leave me excited to see the next. And I don’t even like these kinds of stories usually. It flew by for me. Also i found the characters really interesting and cared what happened to them, which is rare. Especially since I thought I hated Kinnaman before this.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 2/11/2018, 12:19 PM
@Trumpool - It was actually a bit disappointing that the pacing and story had so many issues and brought the show down overall. I really wanted it to be good. I did enjoy some of the characters, namely Kinnaman, Poe,and a few others. But the rest were meh. Rey or whatever his sister's name was turned out to be a stereotypical, disappointing villain. Some great, brutal fight scenes. But the negatives outweighed the positives. If it wasn't for the visuals, I'd have ranked it probably around a 5/10.
Pantherpool
Pantherpool - 2/11/2018, 12:30 PM
@connorblaze - It usually takes me 2-3 days (Friday-Sunday) to finish a season of a Netflix show (I actually saw Stranger Things 2 in a single day), but it took me a week to finish AC.
Asturgis
Asturgis - 2/11/2018, 2:09 PM
@HeavyMetal4Life - "If it wasn't for the visuals, I'd have ranked it probably around a 5/10."

Bro, you know I love you, which is why you break my heart. I think it's time you and I took some time off. I still love you, but I can't deal with you not loving Altered Carbon for the masterpiece it is. I'll be taking the Xbox and I leave the kids to you, [frick] that lol

I'm so surprised by the fact that you didn't think more of it. I thought it was a phenomenal show, but then again it's like it was made for me, and I highly disagree with most of the negative arguments about the show (pacing, hollow show about hollow people, gratuitous sex and blood, uninteresting characters, convoluted story). I think it's the exact opposite, that the pacing was perfect, that each character was likable and interesting (especially Quell and Ortega), that the story was Minority Report level of good, and so on.

To each his own I guess, but I'm very surprised that most negative arguments could also be had about shows like GoT and yet no one dares, especially critics.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 2/11/2018, 2:16 PM
@Asturgis - There's certainly gratuitous sex and violence; whether that's a negative, idk, it didn't really bother me but you can't say there wasn't gratuitous sex or violence. Regarding the other stuff about story, pacing, characters, etc., there's certainly issues there. I guess it comes down to whether those issues affected your viewing of the show. For me and others, it did; for you it seems not.

But hey to each his own, no need for us to 'take time off' whatever that means. I'll leave that up to you.

I don't watch GoT so I can't add much there.
Asturgis
Asturgis - 2/11/2018, 3:12 PM
@HeavyMetal4Life - I hope you understood I was 100% being a troll when I was talking about us taking some time off lol It was just a break-up joke, like, I'm leaving you the china, but I'm taking the Friends anthology :)

HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 2/11/2018, 3:14 PM
@Asturgis - Oh haha. Sweet, I'm glad!
Kumkani
Kumkani - 2/11/2018, 12:03 PM
I should be checking out Annihilation and the rest tho
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 2/11/2018, 12:05 PM
Well i know a little more about Westworld, so...
Pantherpool
Pantherpool - 2/11/2018, 12:09 PM
Westworld FTW.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 2/11/2018, 12:09 PM
Westworld season 2 of course. Really interested in Annihilation, hope that's good.

I finished Altered Carbon. 7/10
connorblaze
connorblaze - 2/11/2018, 12:15 PM
Westworld, Annihilation and Farenheit 451 are all exciting.

Just finished Altered Carbon. Let me start by saying it is not my type of show at all, I’m really not usually into the hard-scifi, futuristic, cyberpunk, tech-laden stuff. And I had a very low opinion of the main actor going in.

I [frick]ing loved it. What an incredible show. Critics were good to it, but they should have been better. This show deserves hype. Great story, world, characters, action, effects. Wow. Blown away. It’s like a ten hour long blockbuster. No other show has production value like this, except Game of Thrones and maybe Westworld. And Poe is one of my new favourite characters.
Asturgis
Asturgis - 2/11/2018, 2:02 PM
@connorblaze - "I [frick]ing loved it. What an incredible show. Critics were good to it, but they should have been better."

Same for me, I thought it was one of the best shows I've seen in years. But I'm afraid you're mistaken about the critics being good to the show, because it's sitting at 63% on RT, and some critics wipe their ass with it. Audience score is at 92% (with 60 times more voters so to me that sample means a lot more), so people love it a lot more than critics.
EggFu
EggFu - 2/11/2018, 12:15 PM
I'm not a nerd, so I don't watch movies or TV shows based on comic books or any type of science fiction.
TheRealTomServo
TheRealTomServo - 2/11/2018, 2:24 PM
@EggFu - underrated comment. i smashed that like button.
EggFu
EggFu - 2/11/2018, 4:37 PM
@TheRealTomServo - Yessss!!! Finally! Someone who understands my words! What a joy to find someone who "gets me" - I luh ewwe
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 2/11/2018, 12:17 PM
Voltron's 5th Season.
MrCamw1
MrCamw1 - 2/11/2018, 12:20 PM
I just finished reading Ready Player One yesteray so I'm very excited about the movie.
JosephCronos92
JosephCronos92 - 2/11/2018, 12:34 PM
Annihilation
Ready Player One
Mute
and Alita Battle Angel for me.

Never got the appeal for WestWorld but i can see the talent is just oozing out of it, so is great for those who enjoy it. Alita Battle Angel's more on my blindside, once i realized it's based on a manga i knew i'd be interested on it. Hollywood's having a hard time adapting manga and anime but i believe it can be done with the right talent and people, i personally have enjoyed some of the adaptations, i really disliked Netflix's Death Note, but i enjoyed Ghost In The Shell a lot more, LOVED Edge Of Tomorrow and absurdly hated dragon ball evo. So yeah, and as far as i know there some Shingeki No Kyojing talks around so that'd be interesting, anyways looking forward to those listed.

BlackIceJoe
BlackIceJoe - 2/11/2018, 12:39 PM
If Cyberpunk 2077 comes out this year it would be that. I know there is whispers of a new Shadowrun being announced this year, but I doubt if it is it will come out this year. So hopefully Cyberpunk 2077 can be the one big Sci-fi series this year.
Menks123
Menks123 - 2/11/2018, 12:40 PM
Altered Carbon was so great, one of my favorite sci-fi movies/shows in recent memory. My most anticipated pure sci-fi film or show now has to be Annihilation and Mute.

The cast and premise of Annihialation is amazing, and one of the best sci-fi minds directing it right now. Also, just started reading the series and am hooked.

Same with Mute, great cast and director had me intrigued right away, also it being in the same universe as Moon helped a ton too.

I'm looking forward to the majority of these, but those two are at the top for me.
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