Summer collection of over 50 films spanning science-fiction, fantasy, superheroes and horror available for free on Film4 and All 4 from July 1st

Film4 today launches Sci-Fi July, a summer celebration of contemporary science-fiction and fantasy cinema in all its far-out, phenomenal forms, with over 50 films including UK TV and network premieres across the month and continuing into August, screening on Film4 and collected on All 4.

The Sci-Fi July season launches on Film4 channel on Friday 1st July at 9pm with Alita: Battle Angel from director Robert Rodriguez and screenwriter James Cameron. The All 4 Sci-Fi July collection lands at the same time with a first batch of titles including Attack the Block, Scanners, Re-Animator, Sea Fever, Time Bandits, Flight of the Navigator and Cypher.

Big-budget, star-driven Hollywood spectacles have always dominated the genre, and they’re a key part of the season. Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones lead James Gray’s critically acclaimed Ad Astra; 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 recent instalment of the Terminator franchise, 2019’s Dark Fate.

Sci-fi & fantasy space has come to be dominated by superhero films, and we reflect that with a team-up 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, in which Elizabeth Banks plays the mother of a child from another world who crash lands on earth but may not be here to save the world.

At the heart of the season is a group of visionary filmmakers delivering films that helped shape the landscape of contemporary science-fiction: Steven Spielberg features with two blockbusters starring Tom Cruise - Minority Report and War of the Worlds; J. J. Abrams also features twice with Super 8 and Star Trek; David Cronenberg’s 1981 breakthrough film Scanners is included, alongside Jonathan Glazer’s Film4-backed masterpiece Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson, recently voted best British film of the 21st century in a poll of critics by MASSIVE Cinema.

Just as exploration and discovery are important aspects of many science-fiction stories, so they play an important part in Sci-Fi July. Among the films audiences will be able to discover are Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes in which a Japanese café owner learns that the TV in his café is showing images that take place two minutes in the future; from Russia we have Sputnik, in which the sole survivor of an incident in space returns home playing host to a dangerous creature hiding inside his body; from France comes Quentin Dupieux’s 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 cash; from America come two award-winning independent genre films, Freaks and Lapsis; and from the UK audiences can experience Foresight, a Film4-commissioned anthology of futuristic short films from rising Black British directors.

Films for family audiences include 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 featuring William Shatner, Star Trek: Insurrection featuring Sir Patrick Stewart as well as Chris Pine as Kirk in 2009’s Star Trek.

All 4 will host the Sci-Fi July Collection in specially created and curated categories. Head to the Film4 page on All 4 for sub-genres Creature Features (‘Aliens, monsters, weird & wonderful things’); 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 experience’).

The dates and length of time films appear on All 4 will vary according to their Film4 TX date, and according to individual licence agreements.

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