Regardless of which of the best streaming services on the market you're subscribed to, there's a good chance that it's pumping out fun sci-fi shows and movies. The genre has become a total blockbuster for the streaming age, and every streamer seems to compete to impress fans of the genre.
For Netflix, its next big movie is a definite continuation of that aim, looking to introduce viewers to a vibrant new post-apocalyptic world: The Electric State. It's been in the works for a long time, and arrives on 14 March, but the movie just got a sneak peek as part of Netflix's look ahead at what 2025 holds on the platform.
The movie is based on artist Simon Stalenhag's book of the same name, which isn't so much a firm narrative as a vibes-based mood piece, but it looks like it's taken things in a much more action-comedy direction. Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown star as unlikely allies making their way across the wrecked wastes of America.
Their world was torn apart by a conflict with robots years ago, but when I say "robots" it's probably worth checking out the sneak peek embedded above so that you don't get confused. We're not talking about Terminator-style humanoids, but instead oddly-proportioned fairground-style caricatures that look like they could each be pretty memorable.
The film is the latest high-budget collaboration between Netflix and directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who rose to such global prominence thanks to steering the Avengers ship through some of its biggest blockbuster successes. Whether their output for Netflix has ever matched that quality is debatable – since few people would probably claim The Gray Man was an unqualified success.
There's plenty of promise here, though, and one of the big boasts for The Electric State is its list of actors voicing robots: Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Hank Azaria, Colman Domingo and Alan Tudyk. That's an unreal cast, quite frankly, even if they will be vocals-only.
There's still well over a month until the movie's actually out, though, so we'll have to see whether this is the final teaser Netflix releases before then. I'd bet on a launch trailer a couple of days before it arrives, to really whip people up a bit more.
