Do you enjoy movies and TV shows about alien invasions? Great news, then: There is a ridiculous number of upcoming movies and TV shows about alien invasions! Can we try to predict the most popular alien-invasion theories ahead of time, handicapping their individual odds of emerging as the reigning alien-invasion invasion theory? Why, yes.

Potential Theory No. 1: Doomsday. Hollywood is assuming that we've subconsciously accepted the world is ending, and are interested in having that general anxiety represented, in entertaining fashion, on the big screen. Odds: 1:2

Potential Theory No. 2: It's a good way to make a blockbuster but not pay for stars. 
Hollywood is betting that the timeless alien-invasion concept, coupled with a few intriguing plot twists and attention-grabbing special effects, can pull in at least a tiny fraction of the audience that went to see Avatar not for Sam Worthington. Odds: 2:1

Potential Theory No. 3: Owing to current sociopolitical issues, there are no safe stock movie villains on Earth.  Hollywood, of course, doesn't want to stop making movies where American characters kill bad guys, and has decided making those bad guys aliens is the most politically correct solution. Odds: 5:1

Potential Theory No. 4: Vampire fatigue. While the vampire industry is huge, Hollywood is hedging against the still-inevitable backlash and gearing up the next tried-and-true cinema convention to inexplicably rotate back through the spotlight. Odds: 20:1

Potential Theory No. 5: Immigration issues in the news. Doesn't make a ton of sense: So the fictional aliens are meant to represent the nonfictional aliens? And, if so, what is the real-life parallel for the fictional aliens' advanced murderous technology? That said, someone will convolutedly attempt to make this connection. Odds: 30:1

Potential Theory No. 6: The vagaries of the Hollywood production cycle mean a bunch of alien-invasion movies are seeing release at the same time. As in, the surge is more or less completely arbitrary. Working for this theory: It's the actual explanation. Working against this theory: It's boring! Odds: 50:1

Potential Theory No. 7: Aliens are real and secretly running Hollywood.  Most likely, if aliens were real and secretly running Hollywood, we'd get a bunch of movies featuring friendly species from space, in an attempt to lull us into a false sense of security before the alien Hollywood exec invasion starts. Odds: 1,000:1