I'm concerned about the darker themes inherent in those systems (since half the group are youngish teens). Also, I'm assuming there's not much action if they copy the feel of the movies.Alien with the Space Marines book might check all the boxes.
Blade Runner might as well.
Maybe just try a D&D-lite system like the old school clones or even 4e. It would be easier for kids to pick up and basically know how to play.
I'm afraid my D&D burnout would also apply to OSR type systems. Especially since a lot of my exhaustion comes from not having good DM tools to balance encounters and challenge the players fairly. I had a TPK with them a few months ago that really shook them up. So something like OSE or DCC, where character death is taken for granted, may not be a good fit.Dungeon Crawl Classics. Our group went through the same thing and made the switch. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s the antidote to 5e burnout imo.
I have a gamut of interests at the table. The teen boys are interested in science and technology. The girls are into music and anime. I have to acknowledge I know absolutely nothing about anime (even though I've tried to watch it for over a decade), and I wouldn't feel comfortable at all trying to run an anime-inspired game like Avatar. I don't think I can get close to replicating the genre.What kind of gamers are they? Do they like action and combat? Do they like acting like their characters?
What sort of stuff are they interested in outside of playing TTRPGs? That might help find something they're interested in.
They aren't into roleplaying much. They like battle, making progress in the adventure, etc. When I think of the sessions they most enjoyed, it was killing dinosaurs on the Isle of Dread.
My wife is recommending Savage Rifts, which I think is a little on the crunchy side for what this group can handle. I also have Deadlands: Lost Colony for a space western. It would be cool to use something that I already have - since I've already purchased these big, expensive boxed sets with all the nice components.I ran a Last Parsec campaign, which is Savage Worlds, and we had great fun. It was specifically the Eris Beta V campaign we played. It was written for Deluxe, but converting to SWADE is trivial. You would also want the ‘old’ sci-fi companion but that is just a few dollars in PDF and is, again, easily converted. The new sci-fi companion won’t be out for a little while longer yet.
The campaign was great, a mix of investigation, exploration and action. One of the best sci-fi games we have played in a long time.
So maybe one of the Savage Sci-Fi games? Or Vast Grimm (Mork Borg in space)?