Remember Universal Pictures’ sci-fi film Distant, starring Anthony Ramos, Naomi Scott, Kristofer Hivju, and Zachary Quinto? Yeah, probably not. The big-budget flick directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck (and produced by DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, and Automatik) has been lost in space since it was shot back in 2020. But now, after five years, it has quietly arrived on Hulu on July 3, 2025, without a single promo push, press release, or even a simple social media announcement.
Originally filmed during the COVID-19 epidemic, where the filmmakers had to adhere to strict protocols (sanitizing, masks, and socially distancing), Distant bounced between release dates over the years: first March 11, 2022, then September 16, then January 27, 2023, before getting completely wiped off the schedule. Even Amblin’s website gave it a brief January 19, 2024 date. But that didn’t happen either.
Then, like a shooting star in the middle of the night, it showed up in Vietnam in 2024, quietly, and then disappeared again. Until now.
Distant follows an Asteroid miner, Andy (Anthony Ramos), who crash-lands on an alien planet after his ship gets hit. His only help is a snarky AI survival suit voiced by Zachary Quinto and radio contact with Naomi (Naomi Scott), who’s stuck in her escape pod somewhere across the landscape. With oxygen running low and time running out, it becomes a rescue mission, with an awkward AI third wheeling in.
Of course, the film had its issues before it even got rolling. Production began on September 21, 2020, in Budapest, Hungary, smack in the middle of the pandemic. And Superman‘s Rachel Brosnahan, who was originally cast as Naomi, was replaced by Smile 2‘s Naomi Scott. That alone would make things complicated. But the bigger issue was that Universal reportedly just didn’t think the movie was good and no one knew what to do with it.
To be fair, the reviews that have surfaced online suggest it’s not nearly as bad as the studio believed. “The plot is solid, despite its somewhat simplistic premise. The visuals are top-notch, well-executed sci-fi effects and with the appropriate tone,” read one Google review. And that checks out. Distant actually looks great: big sets, sleek visuals, and polished effects. This clearly was not a cheap production.
The real problem is the film’s pacing. It’s slow. And intentionally so. This isn’t a shoot-’em-up space adventure (although strange creatures do appear here and there). It’s more contemplative, like Gravity, if you trim out the floating around in space bits and leave in the existential dread.
Over on Reddit, a viewer summed it up: “It took me a while to track down. It wasn’t easy. Couldn’t find it on any streaming site. Still, though honestly, I can see why this thing got shelled. At the same time, I’m kind of sad it did. It is just a bare bone, sci-fi horror, action movie with a little comedy thrown in there. But honestly, the main characters of Andy and Naomi they do carry the movie. Zachary Quinto was the AI Leonard — was really enjoyable.”
And that’s the thing. Compared to some of the awful mess Netflix and others have churned out recently (The Electric State, Straw), Distant isn’t a complete waste of time. It’s decent. A solid weekend watch. Just don’t expect fireworks.
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