For a long time, the “Alien” franchise never had a clear direction. Even James Cameron’s classic sequel “Aliens” took the property in quite a different direction from the tight, focused horror of Ridley Scott’s original, while “Alien3” and “Alien: Resurrection” both proved to be interfered-with, unloved, compromised messes, cueing up a fifteen year stretch when the only time the xenomorph ever appeared on screen was in the terrible cash-in “Alien Vs. Predator” movies.
Things are different now: Ridley Scott returned to the series he created with 2012’s “Prometheus,” and follows it up with the imminent “Alien: Covenant,” which promises to further expand the mythology of the creation of the series, and apparently sets up as many as four more “Alien” movies, including the apparently-next “Alien: Awakening.” But one casualty of Scott’s newfound interest in the series was a different take, set long after the Alien timeline, that would have been directed by “District 9” helmer Neill Blomkamp.
The South African helmer initially announced towards the start of 2015 that he was developing an “Alien” movie that would have ignored everything after “Aliens” and returned Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn to the series, but not long after, rumors suggested that Scott had wanted to move ahead on the film that became “Alien: Covenant” first, and that Blomkamp’s picture was on hold. And after the “Chappie” creator suggested that chances of his film getting made were now “slim” earlier in the year, Scott has more or less ejected the film out of the airlock.
In an interview with Allocine (via Comic Book Resources), Scott was asked about the project, but says that it never got very far, saying, “There was never a screenplay, just an idea that evolved into a pitch of 10 pages.” And, ultimately, Scott says that Fox were the ones that decided to go in another direction. “I was always just a producer, but it didn’t go any further because Fox decided that it didn’t want to do it.”
Given that the cooling on the project coincided with the not-great box office on “Chappie,” that’s maybe not a huge surprise, but we have to say, we were definitely curious about Blomkamp’s take on the series, even if he’s still yet to live up to his first movie. We’ll see whether Scott makes us further regret the project’s demise when “Alien: Covenant” screens very soon — look for our review on Saturday, ahead of the film’s release on May 19th.
Damn that sucks. Maybe Covenant will be good, but I suspect it’s going to be another disappointment. I’d much rather see a sequel to Aliens that dumps 3 and Resurrection.
Well, there goes the only Alien movie i wanted to see
I’m good with this. I personally have a lot of disdain for reboots that say “Hey, ya know, those other movies never happened. Ignore those while we try this again.” Multiple continuties just confuse a series, and they’re lazy ways to correct narrative mistakes. We can all agree that Alien 3 and 4 were disappointments. But they’re made. They’re done. They’re canon. The proper fix for them is to simply move on with sequels that are actually good, like they used to do in the old days.
In the old days, they made original movies that were great. No reboot/sequels.
What old days did you live in? They’ve been making reboots and sequels in Hollywood since the 1930’s, and probably even in the silent era! I can only assume you’re a Millennial or close to that age, and haven’t seen very many movies.
I am 57 (do I look like a millennial?). I love the old movies. They don’t make them like they used to. I should have said they didn’t make remakes at the rate they do now. There is not much original material any more.
Much better.
Although I’d argue that the rate of remakes hasn’t changed, only that these high-profile, big budget remakes have come about in an era where they face a ridiculous amount of scrutiny thanks to the web and give the entirely false impression that the cinema is bereft of originality.
But back in the old days (pick a decade), remakes were cranked out fairly regularly, but without the oppressive weight of near-ubiquitous web “analysis” from every corner of the globe many viewers probably weren’t even aware when they were watching a remake unless it and its predecessor shared some literary source.
I’d also argue that there’s more original material out there now — and from all over the world, at the click of a few buttons — than ever before, but you have to leave the rarified, big money, big studio atmosphere occupied by the likes of Ridley Scott movies and other franchise pictures. This, to me, is one of the biggest disappointments of the web as it applies to cinema: you’d think the only people making movies were the ones churning out sequels, prequels, reboots and franchise wannabes, when there’s so much more happening.
(By the way, I reply to comments based on comments, not avatars, since the latter are often bogus. If yours isn’t, more power to ya! Good to see some folks don’t mind posting a real pic alongside their comments.)
That really is me at the local American Legion.
Well said
Screw you, Ridley. You gave us Alien, but then denied the fans the sequel to Aliens that they actually
deserved and had waited for ever since Alien 3. It was the last chance we had to see Sigourney Weaver return to playing the greatest action role in history, and Ridley did everything he could to stop it (after making the nonsense that was Prometheus).
Well, it’s not like movies get made for, I dunno, the people who pay $23.50 to SEE said films. For me, this is like an allegory for the “Terminator” on-screen universe. I thought something might have been going with the “Terminator: TSCC” TV show. I mean, the creators found a brilliant way to skip over Sarah’s death, thusly making the show a) in “our” time; b) a direct continuation from T2; c) a brilliant “Five Year Plan” for the story, and Thomas Dekker (John Connor) had an equal “FYP” for his character. The only problem was that tons of creativity went into things like “The Bank Vault Gun” and the “upgrades” to the T-888’s fighting ability (such as scissor-like legs that could easily chop heads off of the bad guys). Unfortunately, this being Fox Sci-Fi, these abilities wound up being ignored (couldn’t have dozens of heads flying around – this isn’t SyFy or HBO, where these things like original stories, character development, and scissor legs would have been explored and developed).
Sorry for babbling, but I think this is a prime example of “okay, this franchise started sucking HERE – let’s do a reboot starting 5 minutes before the suckage began”. Not only would it be balls out awesome to do this with Blomkamp, but I could see my hetero-love-boy Michael Biehn doing what he does best – acting in starring roles!
Chappie is good. The studio’s marketing department fucked it up. Now they blamed it on the director, like they always do.
Chappie wasn’t nearly as bad as people make it out. Casting Die Antwoord in it was a monumental mistake tho.
I agree Prometheus was a disappointment, but i’ve found the ‘3’ by fincher really good even no one can do better than R.Scott and O’Bannon. I’m sure of one thing, i try to not spoil myself with so many trailers, Covenant will be 200 times better than Prometheus, it won’t be difficult really.
You see a xenomorph get squished by a crane. There, you’ve watched covenant’s alien =D
(it’s not that bad but it may as-well be, i watched it recently and that’s literally all i remember when it comes to the action surrounding the xenomorph. who lets face it, is what we want to see.)
I’m happy. Sir Ridley Scott is a far better Director than Neil Blomkamp.
Obviously not much of an Alien-fan then, for sitting there celebrating being all “happy” that they will never fix the cruel joke Alien 3 played on everything Aliens was about. This has nothing to do with who is the better filmmaker, but everything to do with that we now thanks to Ridley NEVER will see Ellen Ripley have one last hoorah, we will never see the sequel that Alien and Aliens deserved, and will have to settle with the cruel aberration that was Alien 3.
Alien 3 is not a bad film,the assembly cut is bloody brilliant.
Was*
Chappy was just garbage cause of two “you know who” idiots. Elysium was just bland and B-movie. Scott has better chance producing watchable movie not set in South Africa FFS. Even though characters in Prometheus were just plain stupid, everything else, like design music and cinematography were great.
Ridley Scott has done everything that he possibly could to KILL Neil B’s chance at getting involved in the franchise. From Day 1, he said something like, “Neil idea is certainly interesting, but I kind of cringe at knowing he’s trying to re-invent my franchise.”
Fuck off, Ridley Scott!
me to be honest i can see where ridley going with it ,i can see the idea where blomkamps making the film between aliens,and alien 3 but,the problem there is sigorney is getting on and so has the child actor newt shes grown up ,and it would not fit in with the alien 3 ,but my thought where ridley going with it ,can make a few films with R rating for the fans to enjoy,but yes i think also blomkamps film should go ahead if newt was hiding during the film to the end and hicks and ripley could fight till the escape pod left the ship and used CGI for newt ,but if i am going to get a few alien films left i will go with ridley until it happens or never ,i am not the guy with the money,but put a bet on ridley making good alien films till then enjoy
Damn him,Prometheus was goddamn awful.Covenant looks just as dull.
I don’t think he had any interest in returning to the franchise period, as soon A5 was announced he got pissed (EGO driven) and didn’t want anyone else in his sand box. So he stole or took a risk and changed one script to suit his needs.
Alien 3,4 and the AVP films may not be up to snuff, but at least they are canon. For someone so determined to not want anyone else to direct is a given since the four films I mentioned weren’t that great.
Prometheus was meant to be one film, not two or a trilogy. Now I hear the new one is worse, I’ll be the judge on that when I see it. Last week I looked at his cv, he wants to make 3 more.
I would like to see Neil Blomkamp’s vision of it, and I hope to direct one, one day.