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Modern Sci-Fi Classic ‘District 9’ Crash Lands on New Streaming Home

Modern Sci-Fi Classic ‘District 9’ Crash Lands on New Streaming Home

When it comes to sci-fi movies that have been released this century, there have been a lot of great modern classics. Interstellar, Arrival, The Martian, and Moon are a few that come to mind, but perhaps none have remained as relevant as Neill Blomkamp’s District 9. Hitting theaters back in 2009, it’s a politically charged commentary on xenophobia and human rights that’s more poignant than ever, and if you’ve never had the pleasure of checking out this sci-fi gem, you’re in luck, because it’s moving to its new streaming home of Hulu next month.

Produced by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) and starring the likes of Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James, District 9 starts off in 1982 when a spaceship containing a large population of malnourished, insect-like aliens appears over Johannesburg, South Africa. Brought down to Earth, the aliens – nicknamed Prawns – are placed in a makeshift camp called District 9. Fast-forward 28 years to 2010, and the place has become an all-out slum and tensions between immigrants and citizens are at an all-time high. When a private military company is tasked with moving the aliens to a new camp, all hell breaks loose after a pencil-pusher named Wikus van de Merwe (Copley) has his DNA altered, and he begins turning into a human-alien hybrid.

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Produced on a budget of $30 million, District 9 managed to take in over $210 million during its theatrical run. Nominated for four Academy Awards, it failed to take home a statue, but that didn’t matter, as the film had already won over the hearts of fans and critics. Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 90% rating, it’s been called “one of the most original and exciting science fiction films of the last 20 years” by some, and “ingeniously clever and reflectively thoughtful” by others.

‘District 9’ Is Even More Relevant Today

Sharlto Copley talking to an alien in District 9

Sony Pictures Releasing

Like any good sci-fi classic, District 9 has a lot to say while it entertains us, and can’t help but spark conversations about immigration and systemic oppression. Shot documentary style using a number of found footage techniques, it’s perhaps even more relevant today than it was 16 years ago. Blomkamp was firing on all cylinders as he told a tale of dehumanization, corporate control, and media propaganda, all of which worked together to create a movie that’s as much about racism as it is about poverty. You can’t help but see it and not draw parallels to what’s going on in the world now, which was really the whole point of the movie.

Sadly, while a sequel has been talked about for years, it’s never managed to come to fruition. The closest we got was in 2021, when Blomkamp revealed he was working on the script for what would be titled District 10. By 2023, though, all that had fallen by the wayside, as he told The Hollywood Reporter:

“I don’t know if it’s getting made or not. I don’t know if I even want to make that right now, but at some point down the line, it’ll probably get made.”

At least there’s still a kernel of hope that we might eventually get the sequel fans have been clamoring for since 2009, but in the meantime, you can check out District 9 when it lands on its new streaming home of Hulu on August 1, 2025.

Source: Hulu


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District 9


Release Date

August 5, 2009

Runtime

112 minutes





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