One of the Most Cerebral Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century Has a New Streaming Home

1 week ago 13

Published Jan 31, 2026, 7:00 PM EST

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

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and 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 to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Writer-director Alex Garland is in an unusual situation; he's working on a larger scale than ever before, but he has also been mostly unsuccessful at breaking out into the upper echelon of the mainstream. Garland's most recent project as a writer, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is struggling at the box office despite having earned excellent reviews. The movie serves as a sequel to last year's 28 Years Later, which made $150 million worldwide against a reported budget of $60 million. As a director, Garland's biggest hit remains Civil War, which made around $130 million at the worldwide box office, but his most recent film, Warfare, grossed just $33 million. While Garland is still best known as a writer, his career as a director is nothing to scoff at. He broke out with the acclaimed sci-fi movie Ex Machina, which is now heading to a new streaming service for a new generation of audiences to enjoy.

Released in 2014, the film featured Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander. It dealt with prescient ideas such as artificial intelligence and technocracies. The movie made around $37 million at the worldwide box office, against a reported budget of $15 million. Ex Machina is regarded as one of the finest sci-fi movies of the 21st century, and scored a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars for Garland. The film is now sitting at a "Certified Fresh" 92% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "Ex Machina leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it's still a visually polished piece of work — and an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature."

Alex Garland Is Putting Together His Biggest Movie Yet

Ex Machina marked the beginning of Garland's creative partnership with A24 — he continued to work with the production company and distributor on the horror film Men, the dystopian thriller Civil War, and the action-thriller Warfare. He's now writing and directing an adaptation of the video game Elden Ring. Garland has also been tapped to write the third installment of the 28 Years Later series, with Danny Boyle set to return to the director's chair. But the box office underperformance of The Bone Temple has put fans on edge. Garland and Boyle first worked together over a decade ago, on 28 Days Later.

You can watch Ex Machina on Netflix from February 1, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.