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3 sci-fi movies on Peacock you need to watch in January

Blair Marnell
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In theory, Peacock should have an unrivaled selection of sci-fi movies from the Universal Pictures film library. But in practice, Universal tends to loan out its best science fiction films to other streamers. That leaves Peacock with a mountain of dreck to sort through, including Asteroid vs. Earth, Dino King, and Lord of the Elves. All of those are real movies, by the way.

It’s an ongoing challenge to find the best science fiction movies on Peacock without simply recommending the same films over and over again. But this January, there are three sci-fi movies on Peacock that you need to watch.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

A battle from Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
20th Century Studios

Later this year, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will continue the timeline that began in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It all starts with Caesar (Andy Serkis), a super-intelligent chimpanzee who is raised among humans by Dr. William Rodman (James Franco). Caesar’s intellect is vast compared to other apes, but even he falls short of actually being human.

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When Will is forced to give up custody of Caesar, the chimpanzee is ostracized by the other apes until he can find a way to gain dominance. From there, Caesar sets in motion a revolution by exposing all of the other apes to the experimental drug that gave him his intelligence. Once Caesar shows his fellow apes how to say “no” to their human keepers, nothing will ever be the same again.

Watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Peacock.

OtherLife

Jessica De Gouw in OtherLife.
Cherry Road Films

Jessica De Gouw stars in OtherLife as Ren Amari, a scientist who has created a breakthrough in virtual reality technology that shares the same name as the film. OtherLife is so realistic that the human brain can’t distinguish between the virtual experiences and reality. However, Ren is alarmed that her partner in this venture, Sam (T.J. Power), wants to sell OtherLife to the government as an alternative to prisons.

When Ren’s boyfriend, Danny (Thomas Cocquerel), dies after using OtherLife, Ren reluctantly agrees to spend a virtual year in the prison of her own making to avoid an actual sentence. But once Ren is confined to OtherLife, she finds out that she can’t escape even after her sentence has been served.

Watch OtherLife on Peacock.

The Final Countdown (1980)

Martin Sheen as Warren Lasky in The Final Countdown.
United Artists

The Final Countdown movie has nothing to do with the band Europe’s song of the same name, although it would have been an awesome combo. The film starts in 1980 as Tideman Industries systems analyst Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen) accompanies Captain Yelland (Kirk Douglas) and the crew of the USS Nimitz on their first voyage. Shortly thereafter, the ship goes through a portal and the crew find themselves disoriented in the Pacific.

After encountering a Japanese fleet preparing for an attack, Yelland and his crew realize that they’ve been transported back in time to December 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor. Now, Yelland will have to decide whether to let history play out, or if they should intervene and chart a new course for the future.

Watch The Final Countdown on Peacock.

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Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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