Science Fiction Films
Top Ten Chart - 2024
SF² Concatenation's annual calculation looking at the 52 British Isles (and Malta) weekly film (movie) charts across 2023
that accounts for only fantastic films (SF and fantasy).
Remember, this is the UK public's cinema theatre box office we are talking about, and not fantastic film buffs' views. Consequently below this top ten we have included at the end a few other worthies well worth checking out as well as (in some years) some warnings-to-avoid. Also note that this chart compilation calculation did not include DVD sales or spin-off product earnings, and our chart is also subject to weekly vagaries. (In some weeks most of the entries do not gross much but at other times (for example public holidays) overall box office takings are higher.) This means that the chart reflects on-going cinema attendance throughout the year and it is not a strict annual list of the year's high box office earners. Notwithstanding such small-print caveats, standby with the pop corn, here we go...
(U)
Disney Pixar computer animation 'science' fantasy, comedy, family film that stormed the box office and was streets ahead of number '2' in this British Isles box office top ten. It is a sequel that features child Riley and the characters in her head's 'control room': Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and so forth. Riley is now entering puberty and experiencing brand new, more complex emotions as a result. As Riley tries to adapt to her teenage years, her old emotions try to adapt to the possibility of being replaced. Teenager Riley's mind headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new emotions. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who've long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren't sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she's not alone: there are others, such as Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui, adding to the mix… Director: Kelsey Mann. Trailer here.
(PG)
Prequel to the Roald Dahl story. With dreams of opening a shop in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers. Now, this actually came out last year. If the number of ranked times it appeared in the British Isles top ten weekly box office charts in 2023 had been added to its 2024 record, then it would have headed this 2024 top ten by an even bigger margin! Director: Paul King. Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Gustave Die and Murray McArthur. Trailer here.
(12A)
After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife. Director: Tim Burton. Stars: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder andCatherine O'Hara. Trailer here.
(PG)
Based on the Frank Herbert classic novel. Paul Atreides unites with the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he endeavours to prevent a terrible future. Director: Denis Villeneuve. Trailer here.
(15)
Deadpool is offered a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the Time Variance Authority, but instead recruits a variant of Wolverine to save his universe from extinction. Director: Shawn Levy. Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Emma Corrin. Trailer here.
(U)
Computer animation family film. After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose. Trailer here.
(PG)
Computer animation family film inspired by the Michael Bond books. Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown family in tow, an adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey. Trailer here.
(15)
The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and team-up with Mad Max… Director: George Miller. This film saw a box office bounceback as word spread following a surprisingly poor opening weekend box office release.
Trailer here.
(12A)
Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. Trailer here.
(U)
Computer animation family film. A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up. Trailer here.
And the possible worthies that slipped through the net...
Alien: Romulus (15)
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. This film's British Isles box office chart ranking is surprisingly low given its IMDB rating of 7.2. &; Director: Fede Alvarez. Writers: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett and Fede Alvarez. Stars: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Archie Renaux. Now, writer Dan O'Bannon was behind the low –budget classic Dark Star (1974) with its comedy sequence whose concept of an alien loose in the corridors and ducts (or even lift shaft) he used in his screenplay for Alien (1979). Trailer here.
All of Us Strangers (15)
This gay romance with a fantasy dimension, seems to have quite a following… One night, in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, and the childhood home where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before. Trailer here.
Caddo Lake (12)
Science fantasy and one with a certain charm. When an 8-year-old girl disappears on Caddo Lake, a series of past deaths and disappearances begin to link together, altering a broken family's history… Directors: Logan George and Celine Held. Trailer here.
ClearMind (15)
Psychological chiller. Nora (Rebecca Creskoff) is a grieving mother a year after the tragic death of her daughter at a pool party the previous year. She also researched how virtual reality can be therapeutic to those with trauma. Her ex-husband visits and accidentally reveals that there is going to be a get-together of their social group, but Nora is surprised – and annoyed – as she has not been invited. Feeling betrayed by her social group, she gate-crashes the party and uses virtual reality and mind games for revenge… but revenge is not a multi-player game… The film explores the fragility of relationships and so is New Wave SF. Trailer here.
The Fix (15)
A dark, dystopian thrill ride with an environmental slant, “The Fix” explores identity, perception and autonomy in a frighteningly viable future. A toxic compound infects earth’s atmosphere. Pharmaceutical giant, Aethera, sells immunity to those who can afford the daily dose... most can't. When an image-conscious, wild child takes a new designer drug at a house party, she inadvertently becomes an unintended test subject. Pursued by a dangerous gang and authorities in cahoots with Aethera, she hunts desperately for a “fix” that will reverse the drug’s effects… only to discover that her mutations could save the human race. Trailer here.
Humane (12)
This Canadian film explores a well-worn trope (for example, The Deal) of a rationing approach to cope with global environmental degradation. Here, in a future where the ozone layer is gone, a family can get privileges if one of them agrees to euthanasia: 20% of the population must go! But when one of a couple who have signed up changes their mind and runs away, the body collectors who turn up to the extended family home still need two bodies… This is directed by Caitlin Cronenberg, daughter of the great director. Trailer here.
I Saw the TV Glow (15)
Teenagers start to watch a video of a scary old TV show in which a monster is fought with each episode. As the teenagers go through their coming-of-age tribulations, they begin to question whether they are who they think they are; perhaps there are versions of themselves in the television? And then one of them disappears, though there is a TV set burning in her garden… Trailer here.
The Kitchen (15)
In a near-future, dystopic London, the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains. A community that refuses to move out of the place they call home. This is where we meet a solitary Izi, living here by necessity and desperately trying to find a way out, and a 12-year-old Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them. Directors: Daniel Kaluuya & Kibwe Tavares. Trailer here.
Meanwhile on Earth (12)
This atmospheric French offering concerns the sister on Earth of an astronaut who has vanished while on a space mission. On finding a seed she discovers she can communicate with him… Is this resurrection? First contact? Or alien invasion..? Meanwhile on Earth has been well received on the international film festival circuit. Trailer here.
Murder Most Fowl (U)
British animation. Gromit is concerned that Wallace has become over-dependent on his inventions, which proves justified when Wallace invents a "smart gnome" that seems to develop a mind of its own… Alas this only came out just before Christmas and so had not the weeks left in the year to accrue the points for a top ten ranking. Trailer here.
Parallel (15)
This follows the journey of Vanessa, a grief-stricken woman who mysteriously finds herself navigating between parallel spaces that surround the couples rural home. There used to be a research facility near-by, but now long abandoned it has been reclaimed by woodland. Could this have anything to do with things? Director: Kourosh Ahari. Trailer here.
A Quiet Place: Day One (15)
A young woman named Sam finds herself trapped in New York City during the early stages of an invasion by alien creatures with ultra-sensitive hearing.
After the events and revelations of A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place: Part 2, it is time to go back to 'Day One'. Following Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) as she's on a group trip in New York City, everything is going fine, until the invasion that sends the world into silence begins. Can the city stay quiet and can Sam and Eric (Joseph Quin), a new unlikely friend, make it somewhere safe? Director: Michael Sarnoski. Trailer here.
Red One (12)
Christmas action adventure fantasy. After Santa Claus is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.. This just missed out on being in the top ten. If it is still in the charts in early 2025, and we added in that weighting, then this would have made this year's top ten. Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans and Lucy Liu. Trailer here.
Spaceman (15)
Space opera and Mundane SF. This Netflix offering concerns an astronaut half a year into his solo mission on the edge of the solar system, when hebegins to experience the psychological stress of his loneliness. But a strange encounter may be of help, providing he is not losing his mind… Director: Johan Renck. Trailer here.
The Substance (18)
An Anglo-Franco offering. A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself…. Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. Seriously. You've got to try this new product. It's called The Substance. It changed my life. It generates another you. A new, younger, more beautiful, more perfect, you. And there's only one rule: You share time. One week for you. One week for the new you. Seven days each. A perfect balance. Easy. Right? If you respect the balance... what could possibly go wrong? Director: Coralie Fargeat. Stars: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. Trailer here.
U Are the Universe
This is an Ukrainian tragi-comedy. In the near future, Ukrainian space trucker Andriy Melnyk transports nuclear waste aboard his cargo ship to Jupiter's abandoned moon, Callisto. During a routine flight, the Earth suddenly explodes, but Andriy manages to survive. He becomes the last person in the universe until he receives a call from Catherine, a French woman on a distant space station. Despite the obstacles, Andriy decides to find her… Director: Pavel Ostrikov. This film won the Golden Eye and the Ciné+Frisson prize at the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival.
The Universal Theory (15)
German art-house SF. If you like more thoughtful offerings then this could be for you. The year is 1962 and there is a physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud formation in the sky and a booming mystery under the mountain… Comes with a neat music sound-track. Director: Timm Kroger. Trailer here.
Venom: The Last Dance (15)
More of the same. Eddie Brock and Venom must make a devastating decision as they're pursued by a mysterious military man and alien monsters from Venom's home world. It picks up following the mid-end-credits snippet in Spider-Man:No way Home. This is the third, and apparently last, film in the series. If you are a fan of the first two then you may like this, but others might argue the original was the best or at least had some originality. Director: Kelly Marcel. Writers: Kelly Marcel Tom Hardy. Stars: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple. Trailer here.
And one possibly to avoid...
Megalopolis (12)
The city of New Rome faces the duel between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favour of an Utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, with her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved... Would saying that this is the director being rather self-indulgent be too harsh? Director: Francis Ford Coppola. Trailer here.
See also our selection of best films of 2024 (January - December) as opposed to the year UK box office chart above. This personal selection is in our Spring 2024 news.
For forthcoming SF film premieres then see the Concat' Science Fiction diary.
For forthcoming SF film news then see our seasonal Science Fiction news page and its film section.
If you really are into Science Fiction then check out this site's What's new page for our full list of recent postings of news, reviews, diary articles and loads of other stuff.
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