The Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy to Watch This Week

The summer months are always a good time to be a movie fan, as studios role out some of their biggest releases to catch the holiday crowds, with some great family movies hitting theatres. This week, we’ve got yet another live-action remake of an animated classic, but this one seems to be getting universal praise, and also a big anniversary for what’s often regarded as the first summer blockbuster.

How to Train Your Dragon

In theatres June 13

Disney have been making money from their live-action remakes of classic animated movies for a long time now, but this is the first time that Universal and Dreamworks have got in on the action, with a remake of the 2010 classic ‘How to Train Your Dragon’.

Based on Cressida Cowell’s book series of the same name, the movie follows Hiccup (Mason Thames), a young Viking who is meant to kill the dragons that threaten his village, but when he finds one wounded in the forest, he strikes up a friendship with it instead.

From the reviews, it looks like it’s a faithful remake of the original, even being shot-for-shot in some places, and that’s no surprise considering that it has the same director as the animated version. But that’s at least better than being like Disney’s ‘Snow White’. So it looks like a good time for the family at the cinema.

Read SciFiction’s review of the movie here.

Snow White

Now streaming on Disney+

Speaking of ‘Snow White’, the live-action version of the Disney classic that released in March is now streaming on Disney+, so if like most people you avoided seeing it in theaters, it can now be watched for free if you have a subscription to the streaming service.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Now streaming on Max

If watching the live-action version has got you eager for more dragon action, then the 2010 original is available to watch now on Max. It’s frequently hailed as one of Dreamworks’ greatest animated features, and kicked off a trilogy that ran until 2019.

If the live-action version was your first introduction to this franchise, then it’s worth checking out the original to see where it all started, and see which one you like best.

Jaws

Streaming on Peacock peacock from June 15

Fifty years ago, cinema was changed forever when a movie about a killer shark terrorizing a small town hit theatres. The movie would start the cinema career of Steven Spielberg, who up until that point had mainly worked in television, leading to sci-fi classics like ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘E.T.’.

It’s an amazing movie, one that’s far better than its premise suggests. Now, the “shark movie” genre has become a parody of itself, but ‘Jaws’ is something truly special, managing to be a character-led thriller and a horror movie at the same time. Any excuse to rewatch this movie is a good one, and there’s no better reason than to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

That’s all for this week, but keep an eye out for next week’s post, as the summer movie season continues, and we get even more must-see releases to keep you entertained.