Arrival grossed less than half of the other in the list. So the argument still hold: Sci fi now, mostly are without aliens Since I'm on F. Herbert. The "Whipping star" book is about weird alien : stars (sound like Solaris, but it's not). You might also enjoy reading his short stories with aliens Since I'm on Arrival, it's bit for bit taken from a short story from F.Herbert (beside the twist end). Remember the worst part of the movie? The army guy trying to blow the alien.... Yeah me neither. It's a weak plot. It's also weak in F.Herbert story. But it's proof, they ripped the original material without elevating it much
For the record: It's not that sci fi is without aliens. It's that most of sci fi these days is so absurd that you don't recognize it's sci fi. I remember the halcyon days when Star Wars was finally ending and maybe we'd get back to serious sci fi again. And granted: that space gave us Arrival, Passengers, Interstellar, etc. But it also gave us an endless sea of fuckin' superheroes. Sci fi now, mostly are without aliens
