‘There is simply no overstating the importance of science fiction to the present cultural moment, a moment that sees itself as science fiction’ (1993, 6). Scott Bukatman's apt observation, from his book Terminal Identity, rings just as true today—not just for Hollywood productions, but also for a genre that exists in many countries around the world. American films have long dominated science fiction cinematic discourse because of their cultural capital, sizeable budgets, expansive infrastructure, and extensive distribution networks. They have been a medium for the dissemination of American ideas, both hopes and anxieties, about the present reflected through the future. In addition, science fiction from Hollywood has been widely available and sought after in many parts of the world for over fifty years. Indeed, as Barry Langford has observed, Hollywood films are ‘institutionally implicated in shifting practices of global film distribution and marketing; placed at the cutting edge of changes’ in technological production, generic boundaries, and questions of identity (2005, 184). The world market is not only lucrative for blockbuster science fiction films from the United States. In recent years, it has been key to their very makeup.

This book asks what is going on beyond Hollywood? More and more directors from around the world are turning to the genre of science fiction. This is certainly due to the spread of a digital, neoliberal culture across the globe that views itself as, in Bukatman's terms, science fictional. However, a closer look reveals a much more complex set of meaning-making practices present as directors combine national traditions with generic science fiction tropes often established by Hollywood. Recognizing the sophistication of such films has often remained out of reach for the uninitiated. Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. recently observed that while a film might appear to be a mere knock-off of a Hollywood hit, it actually embeds a ‘double-consciousness by accenting linguistic and imagistic specificity that is largely inaccessible to everyone who does not speak the language or reside in the culture’ (2012, 486). Even in Hollywood, a film that is directed towards domestic viewers will look different from a film with a worldwide audience. Very few science fiction films outside the United States have been able to compete with Hollywood on the global film market place.