10 Years Later, the Most Emotionally Devastating Sci-Fi Movie of the Century Is Finally Free To Stream

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Published Mar 7, 2026, 7:00 PM EST

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

The recently released Oscar contender Hamnet concludes with a scene that is scored to Max Richter's moving piece "On the Nature of Daylight." The track was first released in 2004 and has since become something of a favorite across media; it can be heard in trailers, commercials, and other films. In Hamnet, it plays during the climactic scene in which Jessie Buckley's character finally begins to process the grief of her husband, William Shakespeare, while watching his play Hamlet. But this isn't the most memorable use of the track in cinema. "On the Nature of Daylight" became iconic as a motif in one of the most touching sci-fi movies of the century, a movie that was both a critical and commercial hit and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Like Hamnet, the film in question dealt with the impossibly complex theme of losing a child. It starred Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, and followed a linguist's first interactions with alien lifeforms. The film was widely acclaimed, and served as a launchpad for director Denis Villeneuve to tackle bigger sci-fi projects such as Dune and Blade Runner 2049. He has since gone on to direct Dune: Part Two, and is preparing for the release of Dune: Part Three later this year. Villeneuve will subsequently move on to direct the James Bond reboot for Amazon.

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Here's the Sci-Fi Masterpiece That's Streaming for Free

His generational streak began in Canada, where he made a handful of French-language films before moving to Hollywood and making his debut with the thriller Prisoners. The sci-fi follow-up, of course, is Arrival. Released in 2016, the film grossed more than $200 million at the worldwide box office against a reported budget of almost $50 million. Arrival holds a "Certified Fresh" 94% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams." The movie was nominated in eight categories at the Oscars, including Best Picture, but Adams was shockingly snubbed. She has been nominated six times in her career.

Arrival is currently streaming for free in the United States on the Pluto TV service. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.