Fans of writer-director Alex Garland‘s cinema, particularly his heady sci-fi movies, are in for a treat this December. Garland’s 2018 gem Annihilation is going to be made available on the Paramount+ streaming service, while his breakout movie as director, Ex Machina, heads to Tubi. Released in 2015, Ex Machina was a modest box office hit, but has since established itself as one of the best sci-fi movies of the decade. Curiously enough, the movie serves as a great companion piece to Guillermo del Toro’s recently released Frankenstein, with which it shares star Oscar Isaac. Like Frankenstein, Ex Machina dealt with themes of creation, hubris, and blind ambition.
The movie made around $37 million worldwide against a reported budget of $15 million. It was an instant hit with critics, winning an Oscar for Best Visual Effects; Garland was also nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category. Ex Machina now holds 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.” Alongside Isaac, the film featured Domhnall Gleeson as a prodigious programmer, Alicia Vikander as a humanoid robot, and Sonoya Mizuno as the assistant of Isaac’s tech CEO character. Ex Machina seems prophetic in hindsight, not only for its views on artificial intelligence, but also Big Tech’s role in developing it.
Alex Garland Is Working on His Grandest Film Yet
Garland, who was previously best known as the writer of movies such as 28 Days Later and Sunshine, successfully launched his directorial career with Ex Machina. He went on to direct the equally challenging Annihilation, and has since diversified into the dystopian thriller genre with Civil War, and gritty realism with Warfare. He also directed the widely hated horror movie Men, which will head to Tubi in December as well. Along the way, Garland also created the acclaimed sci-fi series Devs, which shares many of the same themes as Ex Machina, and was released to excellent reviews on Hulu in 2020. He’s now putting together an ambitious adaptation of the video game Elden Ring, and gearing up for the release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which he wrote for director Nia DaCosta.
You can watch Ex Machina on Tubi beginning December 1, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
April 10, 2015
Runtime
108 minutes
Director
Alex Garland
Writers
Alex Garland