Tubi Is About To Lose a $150M Sci-Fi Adaptation That Is Finally Getting a Reboot

Tubi subscribers are running out of time to stream a niche cult favorite sci-fi adaptation just as it’s set to get a long-awaited reboot. The streamer has spent April growing its free-to-stream science fiction lineup, stocking films like Gemini Man and Timecrimes, but just weeks after joining Tubi, one movie is already set to leave.

After joining Tubi on April 1st, I Am Number Four has already appeared on the streamer’s “leaving soon” list, meaning it will likely depart at the end of the month. The movie is based on the Lorien Legacies YA sci-fi novels and follows a gifted teenage alien fugitive hiding on Earth from ruthless intergalactic bounty hunters who must move to a small town and embrace his developing superpowers to survive after the first three of his kind are killed. I Am Number Four was a moderate box office success when it hit theaters in 2011, grossing $150 million against a $50 million budget. 15 years later, original screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Miller are reportedly set to return for an I Am Number Four reboot, though details on that have been scarce since reports first surfaced in 2024.

I Am Number Four Was Meant To Be the Start of a Multi-Film YA Franchise

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The upcoming I Am Number Four reboot is a long time coming for fans of the original movie, which was intended to launch a film franchise based on the Lorien Legacies book series. Despite seeming like a shoo-in for a franchise given that it was based on a popular book source, arrived during a time when YA franchises achieved massive popularity, and set up a sequel in the 2011 film, those franchise dreams never came to fruition. The movie’s $150 million gross was considered disappointing for a project aimed at launching a major franchise, failing to become a Twilight or Hunger Games-level hit, and the film was met with mixed reviews at best from critics and general audiences, scoring a 32% critic score and 57% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Paired with creative divergences from the book, it resulted in a sequel to the film, based on the book The Power of Six, being shelved and eventually cancelled.

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The cancellation of a sequel to I Am Number Four has been regarded as a significant disappointment and a missed opportunity in the YA sci-fi genre. Despite its weak reception in 2011, in the more than a decade since I Am Number Four failed to launch a franchise, the movie has shifted from a critically dismissed box-office disappointment to an underrated cult film and a hidden gem of the 2010s YA craze. The movie is solidly entertaining, delivers the exact type of romance you expect from a YA franchise, and has plenty of CGI action, and had it been given the chance to secure a sequel, it could have achieved pretty great world-building.

Where to Stream I Am Number Four After It Leaves Tubi?

I Am Number Four is about to leave Tubi, but it won’t be impossible to find on streaming. Although the film isn’t currently available on any of the major platforms, it can be streamed on AMC+ and Philo, with online renting and purchasing options also available.

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