It’s been a summer of franchises that might have made okay money (largely thanks to international ticket sales) but left audiences disappointed. “Transformers: The Last Knight,” “The Mummy,” and “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” all fall into that category, but “Alien: Covenant” is its own special thing. Not only was the sequel to “Prometheus“/prequel to “Alien” a box office disappointment (it earned nearly $200 million less than its predecessor worldwide), but it arguably severely damaged the brand. Ridley Scott spent the press tour promising at least two more followups, and boldly stated the next film would be in front of cameras within 14 months. However, that may not be happening.
READ MORE: Neill Blomkamp Talks His Unmade ‘Alien’ Movie: “It Really Felt Like A Cool Third Film
THR reveals that Fox is going to “reassess” what they’re doing with Scott’s two planned “Alien” movies. At the moment, the director is shooting “All The Money In The World” which he is racing to complete in time for the awards season, and after that, he’s apparently expected to film the adaptation of Don Winslow‘s drug drama “The Cartel.” If that’s the case, it certainly means the “Alien” franchise is going to be on ice for a while, and by the sounds of it, Fox is considering whether or not they want to proceed with the rest of the narrative Scott has planned out.
Certainly, the “Alien” franchise isn’t going to hibernate. It’s far too valuable for them to leave to the side, but I bet Neill Blomkamp‘s scrapped “Alien” movie is looking more enticing with each passing day. It would certainly be a way to revive the franchise and bring Sigourney Weaver‘s Ripley back to the big screen. That alone would restore the excitement to the series that seems to have faded.
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I hope it’s not completely DOA, I really enjoyed Covenant. If anything, I think one more film to tie up loose ends from Covenant to connect to Alien/Ripley would be great. I love Fassbender’s David.
Until I hear otherwise I’m going to say reassess means Fox is going to map out things so there’s one final Ridley Scott/David movie at smaller more horror appropriate budget to wrap up the story.
If Fox wants to stay in the Ridley Scott business – you can dislike his movies but his Scott Films have hands in a lot of great films from other filmmakers AND Scott himself is one of the few big budget filmmakers who works fast & routinely saves money on large productions (he shaved about $30 million off the budget of Alien: Covenant because of his speed) – it might not be a good idea to end his series cold.
I say let Scott do one final entry, call it DAVID, do it for a budget of $60-70 million (with Ridley Scott directing it will still look like it cost twice that) & release it in the Fall as opposed to the free for all that is the summer movie season.
“Alien” has always been a middling performer of a franchise that has failed to fully break out despite the critical reverence for the original and it’s small but intense fan base. “Aliens” was the closest the series ever came to fulfilling it’s potential, but that was 30 years ago.
The only way forward is to let the series hibernate and heal, and then in a decade or so, bring it back, ignoring everything but the first 2 pictures.
The whole series has become a schizophrenic mess, a clashing combination of low brow, slasher tropes and esoteric musings, neither of which are particularly gripping.