Summer is getting off to a slow start on Hulu, at least in regard to sci-fi movies. There just aren’t that many fresh options to watch this month, and two of them are already on this list. Hulu’s third science fiction addition in June, The Day After Tomorrow, just wasn’t good as Roland Emmerich’s other signature sci-fi disaster film, Independence Day. That said, we would have preferred to save Independence Day as one of our picks for the best movies to watch on the Fourth of July.
Our remaining choices for the three sci-fi movies on Hulu that you have to watch in June include an indie flick starring Karen Gillan — twice! — and a sci-fi/fantasy comedy from the ’80s.
Dual (2022)
Imagine a world in which there are two identical versions of Karen Gillan, and only one gets to live. That’s pretty much the premise of Dual. Gillan plays Sarah, a terminally ill woman who has herself cloned so her boyfriend, Peter (Beulah Koale), and her mother (Maija Paunio), won’t have to grieve when she’s gone. The problem arises when Sarah fully recovers, and both Peter and her mother reject her in favor of her clone.
Under the law, only one version of Sarah can survive, which is determined by a duel to the death. Sarah and her double are each given a year to prepare to fight for their lives. That’s why Sarah turns to Trent (Aaron Paul) to help train her. As the months tick away, this may still be a battle that neither Sarah can truly win.
Watch Dual on Hulu.
Independence Day (1996)
The summer of 1996 was marked by an alien invasion at the box office in Independence Day. Nearly three decades later, the film is still a quintessential summer blockbuster, and the image of the aliens blowing up the White House is now an iconic scene. The aliens won’t stop with destroying Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and other major cities around the world. They’ve come for our planet, and we’re just bugs to them.
President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), fighter pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Bad Boys: Ride or Die‘s Will Smith), and scientist David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) are among the survivors who rally humanity against the alien invaders. But with their options rapidly dwindling, the best thing they can come up with is taking the fight back to the aliens while they still can.
Watch Independence Day on Hulu.
Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science is one the movies that has now been eclipsed by a theme song that’s more famous than the film that spawned it. In this case, it’s Oingo Boingo’s Weird Science that still shows up on oldies radio stations. But this is a John Hughes movie through and through, with Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith as Gary Wallace and Wyatt Donnelly, respectively. Gary and Wyatt are tormented by a pair of bullies, Ian (The Sympathizer‘s Robert Downey Jr.) and Max (Robert Rusler), as they pine for Deb (Suzanne Snyder) and Hilly (Judie Aronson).
When their attempts to woo Deb and Hilly fail, Gary and Wyatt attempt to use their computer to create the perfect woman. A freak mishap causes Lisa (Kelly LeBrock) to emerge, and she has wish-fulfillment powers that can make almost anything happen. But even Lisa’s abilities are taxed when trying to get Gary and Wyatt to loosen up while fending off Wyatt’s older brother, Chet (Bill Paxton).
Watch Weird Science on Hulu.
