The Alien movies are some of the scariest and best-looking sci-fi horror movies ever
made.
Unfortunately, while the Xenomorph queen might be unkillable, it doesn't look like the franchise
has quite the same luck.
Here's why we're afraid that Alien 5 might never make it to the big screen.
When Ridley Scott revealed that he was developing prequels to Alien it was a huge day for fans
of the franchise, but maybe we shouldn't have gotten so excited.
2012's Prometheus wasn't exactly a disaster, but the numbers it posted at the domestic
box office were a cause for concern.
"A king has his reign, and then he dies.
It's inevitable."
The movie failed to recoup its $130 million budget domestically, though success in overseas
markets just about made a sequel viable.
2017's Alien: Covenant wound up underperforming both critically and commercially, however,
leaving the status of the franchise in jeopardy.
Scott was open about his plans to start filming a sequel within a year of Covenant's release,
but it doesn't seem like the box office returns were good enough for him to get a green light
from the studio.
Of course, no more Alien prequels doesn't necessarily mean no more Alien sequels, but
confidence and interest in the series is low following Covenant, echoing the fallout that
followed 1997's disastrous Alien: Resurrection.
The franchise was put back into back hypersleep for years, and the same could be happening
right now.
H.R. Giger's contribution to the Alien franchise has been well-noted, but Scott is of the belief
that Giger's iconic creation has now lost its ability to scare audiences.
He told Hollywood Reporter that:
"I think the beast has almost run out, personally...
You've got to come in with something else.
You've got to replace that."
The franchise is named and based around the existence of this vicious alien, so if it
just isn't scary anymore, is there even any point in making an Alien 5?
It was terrifying in its day, but maybe it's possible that it takes more than a creature
from outer space to excite audiences.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest complaints Alien fans had with Prometheus?
The lack of Xenomorphs.
Scott attempted to remedy that with Covenant, bringing the Alien back for another go despite
the director's earlier claims that the creature wasn't scary anymore.
It was a fickle move that didn't go unnoticed by fans or critics.
After the film flopped, he reverted to his original stance and stressed that he wanted
the franchise to explore artificial intelligence.
"I don't understand."
"I guess that's because I'm a human being, and you're a robot."
And even though he did bring the Xenomorphs back in Covenant, much of the focus remained
on Michael Fassbender's android, David.
Scott even clarified that any further prequels would keep the focus squarely on the androids.
Scott laid out a vision for a planet led by David, but that vision sounds closer to Blade
Runner than it does Alien.
The further the franchise drifts away from its roots, the less likely it is we'll ever
see round 5 of Ripley versus the Xenomorph.
While Alien films could still be released under the Fox studio name in the coming years,
they'll probably be made under the supervision of its soon-to-be parent company Disney.
Alien is one of the many properties that Disney will have access to when it fully completes
its takeover of Fox, which is a cause of concern for some, Ridley Scott included.
Speaking to Digital Spy, the veteran filmmaker expressed concern over what rating any future
Alien movies would shoot for.
"I've been with Fox for a number of years now.
I'm hoping I'll still probably be there, so whether or not [Disney] go ahead with such
a dark subject as Aliens remains to be seen."
Disney's got a lot of franchises it's juggling at the moment: The Marvel Cinematic Universe
continues to dominate Hollywood, and Star Wars isn't exactly a small franchise either.
That's not even mentioning any of their many other films and projects, all of which might
get in the way of pushing out more Alien films any time soon.
Disney has a lot going on and will no doubt be wary of messing with Alien canon, whether
that be with Scott's prequels or any potential sequels.
Ridley Scott isn't the only director who could have made Alien 5.
Neill Blomkam, the director of District 9, was in talks to direct a sequel that would
have picked up immediately after Aliens, avoiding the baggage from Alien 3 and Resurrection.
Both Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn would have returned as Ripley and Hicks, and Biehn
even floated the possibility of Newt coming back as a 27-year-old woman.
"Can I dream?"
"Yes, honey.
I think we both can."
Fans hoped that this long-awaited sequel would inject some new acid blood into the fading
franchise.
So what happened?
In two words: Alien Covenant.
Blomkamp said that preparation for his sequel really got going in 2015.
This was around the time that Ridley Scott had just finished his work on critical and
commercial sci-fi smash The Martian, leaving him with an open slate waiting to be filled.
This effectively gave the studio a choice, and they sided with Scott's prequels over
a Blomkamp sequel.
In January 2018, Blomkamp tweeted out that the Alien 5 project was 100% dead and buried,
and that he had moved on to other work.
There's a really good reason that Neill Blomkamp wanted his movie to take place after James
Cameron's Aliens, the first sequel to Ridley Scott's original.
1992's Alien 3 was trashed by the majority of critics, who praised director David Fincher
for taking some admirable risks but concluded that too few of them paid off in this plot
hole-riddled script.
Why did the ship crash land?
If the ship's sensors picked up the fire, then why didn't the ship's sprinkler system
activate?
How did the egg even get on the ship after the events of Aliens?
Alien 3 left us with more questions than answers and the very premise of the movie was dubious.
Alien: Resurrection was only slighter better received, with a story that made little sense
and a bizarre escalation of the classic Alien design.
In fact, the most impressive and memorable moment in Resurrection belongs entirely to
Sigourney Weaver sinking a basketball through the basket behind her back, without the help
of special effects.
Ridley Scott ignored all Alien films not directed by him when he began work on his prequels,
and 2017's Covenant more or less erases them.
At this point, nobody really knows where Alien 5 would fit into all of this.
When he revealed that Hicks and Newt were potentially returning in Neill Blomkamp's
planned Alien 5, Michael Biehn also suggested that Sigourney Weaver would be bowing out
in favor of a new lead who would be able to carry the franchise going forward.
Speaking to Icons of Fright in 2015, Biehn said that:
"They’re planning on bringing me and Newt back, and at this point, Newt will be around
twenty-seven years old.
I know that every actress in Hollywood is going to want to play this one, it’s really
a passing of the torch between Sigourney and this younger actress who would play Newt.
It would keep the franchise alive, and the studios would make money, because that's what
the bottom line is now: money."
"I ain't here to be your friend.
I'm here to make money.
You got that?"
It doesn't look as though Newt will be returning any time soon, but Biehn is right about one
thing: money talks in Hollywood, and franchise longevity is key.
Would bringing Sigourney Weaver back for another run out as Ripley achieve that?
It would probably be easier for Disney to simply wipe the slate clean and start over
with the Alien franchise, putting the prequels, original series, and any chance of an Alien
5 to bed.
In fact, prior to the acquisition deal with Disney, Fox was reportedly planning on doing
just that.
But who said the reboot had to be on the big screen?
Fresh rumors of a TV show set in the Alien universe emerged in April 2018.
It was welcome news for fans after Blomkamp's Alien 5 died, but things went quiet in the
months that followed, making the rumors seem less like insider information and more like
eager fan predictions.
Fox was never likely to greenlight an Alien television show with the Disney deal looming
large.
However, now that the merger it basically a done deal, Disney might just go ahead and
do it for them.
We know that Disney is heavily investing in an upcoming streaming service in an effort
to establish a foothold in the Netflix-dominated field.
The new service will boast original Marvel and Star Wars shows when it goes live in 2019,
and adding an Alien series to the mix could only add to the hype.
It might not be Alien 5 but you may be seeing more of your favorite acid-blooded, deadly
Xenomorph queen sometime soon on the small screen.
"Get away from her, you BITCH!"