Following the reveal of their slate of Korean films and series for 2023, Netflix have unveiled their full film slate for the year. With an accompanying trailer.

How much sci-fi is there? You'd think that would be an easy question to answer, but no.

Watching the trailer first we see only three potential candidates - They Cloned Tyrone, Leave the World Behind and Rebel Moon.

They Cloned Tyrone (July 21) was supposed to release last year so we're familiar with that one. Possibly very light sci-fi in the titular cloning.

A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (Boyega, Foxx and Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.

Leave the World Behind (December 8) shows a swarm of abandoned Tesla's along a road and news coverage of a power outage caused by a cyber attack.

A family vacation on Long Island is interrupted by two strangers bearing news of a mysterious blackout. As the threat grows more imminent, both families must decide how best to survive the potential crisis, all while grappling with their own place in this collapsing world.

In the world of entertainment "mysterious" is sometimes a flag for sci-fi, though if the news report is accurate rather than just assumption, we live in an age where cyber attacks are real, so we wouldn't classify this one as sci-fi.

Rebel Moon (December 22) by former DC heavyweight Zack Snyder is one of Netflix's more prominent sci-fi works in progress.

When a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, they dispatch Kora, a young woman with a mysterious past, to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them take a stand.

Mixed feelings about this one, we have.

Netflix's potential answer to Star Wars, as a longtime Star Wars fan who has little appreciation for the Disney era titles, we're open to potential replacements.

On the other hand, most of Zack Snyder's DC films weren't great. Especially the brought to us by social media demand, his special Justice League cut.

Even putting aside the issue of that demand seemingly being fake, his only film we've really enjoyed was Watchmen from all the way back in 2009.

So we're not super hopeful about Rebel Moon.

Will watch but aren't expecting much.

Netflix also published a Tudum article on their 2023 film slate.

Any more sci-fi there?

Actually, yes.

JUNG_E (January 20) which was already on the radar.

In 2194, a civil war among those who survived the Earth’s catastrophe breaks out. A war heroine, Major Jung-e goes, into a coma after a serious injury, and her family is forced to donate her brain data to Next Generation Lab. Next Generation Lab uses Jung-e’s data to make an AI robot, and using that robot, the lab continues to conduct war simulation. During the simulation, Seo-hyun, daughter of Jung-e, participating as the robot research team leader, learns her mother's secret through repeated experiments.

Directed by Yeon Sang-ho of Train to Busan and Hellbound fame, Netflix had previously released a terrific trailer for this one.

Spaceman (Spring Oz) starring Adam Sandler.

As an astronaut sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust finds his earthly life falling to pieces, he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.

Adam is of course best known as a comedic actor but this film is being promoted as drama.

Nimona ("later in 2023") starring Chloe Grace Moretz (Peripheral, Mother/Android, Kick-Arse). She's really throwing herself into sci-fi.

A knight is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and the only person who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona, a shape-shifting teen who might also be a monster he’s sworn to kill. Set in a techno-medieval world unlike anything animation has tackled before, this is a story about the labels we assign to people and the shape-shifter who refuses to be defined by anyone.

Curiously, of all of these titles they only label JUNG_E as sci-fi.

Also curious is the absence of The Mothership starring Halle Berry.

Like They Cloned Tyrone, that was announced for their 2022 slate and bumped back to this year.

[ Main Image: Rebel Moon - Sofia Boutella. Credit: Netflix. ]

References

Cohen, Anne (January 18, 2023). New Movies Coming to Netflix in 2023. Tudum.

DiLillo, John (January 19, 2023). Everything You Need to Know About ‘Rebel Moon’. Tudum.

DiLillo, John (January 19, 2023). Everything You Need to Know About ‘They Cloned Tyrone’. Tudum.

Netflix (January 19, 2023). SAVE THE DATES | 2023 Films Preview | Official Trailer | Netflix. YouTube.

Thao, Philippe (January 19, 2023). Everything You Need to Know About ‘Leave the World Behind’. Tudum.