2026 might be the year of science fiction. Many big projects, like Project Hail Mary, pulled in huge box-office numbers. Meanwhile, Star Wars has returned to the big screen after seven years with The Mandalorian and Grogu, but has performed below expectations so far. And by the end of the year, Dunesday was predicted to bring more people to the theaters with the release of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsdayon December 18. While many new titles are scheduled to come out, streaming platforms have begun updating their libraries to showcase some of the genre’s classics and iconic titles.
One of the most popular tropes in science fiction is the alien invasion. Not all aliens are like Rocky in Project Hail Mary. Some aliens came to Earth with the intention of invading or destroying humanity, a common trope in many science fiction stories. But what makes these stories appealing is the way they demonstrate how humanity would set aside its differences to save its planet, and, if lucky, feature a speech from a fictional president that, if lucky, would find a place in pop culture. One of these are the Independence Day movies.
Independence Day was a 1996 sci-fi action movie starringWill Smith, in which Earth must defend itself against an alien invasion. Since its release, it has become the highest-grossing film of that year, grossing over $817 million at the box office, and won an Academy Award for “Best Visual Effects.” Twenty years later, a sequel,Independence Day: Resurgence, was released, featuring a new cast led byLiam Hemsworthand set 20 years after the War of 1996, when the alien technology was reverse-engineered for Earth’s defenses, and the planet faces another alien threat. 10 years after the sequel’s release, these two films will be available to stream for free on Tubi next month, along with many other iconic science fiction titles like Deep Impact and Bumblebee.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
The first Independence Day film received praise since its 1996 release, earning a 69% critics’ score and a 75% audience score. Additionally, the presidential speech, delivered by Bill Pullman, has remained iconic and memorable to this day. Critics praised it, calling it patriotic and fun. However, its sequel did not receive the same reception. When it was released in 2016, Independence Day: Resurgence grossed only $389.6 million worldwide and received a 29% critics’ score and a 30% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. According to critics, it was released in theaters many years late and was unable to live up to the first movie. Collider’s Perri Nemiroff gave Independence Day: Resurgence a “D+” grade in her review, claiming that nothing in this movie felt similar and claimed it “might be one of the worst of the worst sequels” to have existed.
Independence Day and Independence Day: Resurgence will be available on Tubi on June 15, 2026. Follow Collider for more updates.
