Confirmed: Blomkamp to direct Alien sequel.

[Lord Revan]

ST1's only true "sin" was its dreadfully slow pace I mean the story was ok in and of itself, not great but not bad either.

The slow pace is the root cause of sin, but not the actual sin. Rather a lot of screentime in TMP is taken up with extended FX shots intercut with long sequences of people looking at the FX shot. Not doing anything, just looking at the FX shot the audience just spent a minute watching do nothing and will spend the next minute watching still do nothing.

That's not "slow pace", that's "fucking incompetent moviemaking". It's a fundamental failure in adapting the original TV pilot script they had into a feature length piece, which also showed its ugly head in the story of the very first theatrical Star Trek movie not actually being about the characters of Star Trek. Sure they were in it, but it wasn't about them, nothing that happened required those characters to be there because it was adapted from a script intended to launch completely different characters.

I wonder how much of that was due to Star Wars or more accurately Paramount not giving the film makers enough time to work due wanting to cash in on the success of Star Wars with their own Scifi blockbuster.

[NecronLord]

Threads merged.

[Channel72]

Alien is one of the best sci-fi horror movies ever made.
Aliens is one of the best sci-fi action/horror movies ever made.

The rest of them really didn't accomplish anything of note. And Prometheus was such a wasted opportunity to do a prequel.

Judging from what is known so far, it seems like Clone-Ripley and Hicks might be making a return. Colonial Marines is considered canon, which would explain why Hicks is still alive (though the game itself was terrible).

IMO it would be far better if they simply ignored Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection entirely. You could have Ripley, Hicks Newt and what's left of Bishop survive and make it back home. They part ways, and many years pass by uneventfully (would would explain why the characters have aged) before Hicks and Ripley are drawn into the events of this film. While it might be a bit of a stretch, it'd still be a helluva lot better than what we got in Alien 3.

Or perhaps it would be better if they simply made a movie version of Alien Isolation? IMO though the game had it flaws it did prove that the Xenomorph can still be a deadly, terrifying creature when properly handled.

EDIT: Plus, I also like how they tried their absolute best to make the game look and feel like the first Alien. It might not have been perfect, but at least you could tell that they actually cared about what they were doing.

I'm one of the few idiots who liked Alien 3.... but yeah, there's really nowhere to go after that, at least if you want to include Sigourney Weaver. If they have to include Weaver (which would obviously be a major selling point) then it would likely be best to just ignore everything after Aliens, lest we get another excuse about how Ripley is somehow resurrected using "science".

But I don't know...

I don't really see where they can go with this that wouldn't be repetitive and mediocre. Alien was scary because the creature was this unknown, amorphous pitch black monster. But now everyone knows what a Xenomorph looks like, and how easy they are to kill with um.... shotguns.

I think the best bet would be something like "Alien Isolation", but that's more or less a repeat of the ending of Alien anyway, with Ripley running around in dark hallways while being chased.

The other avenue would be to make it an action film, and have lots of xenomorphs fighting Marines again... except that idea is really stretched pretty thin already. Again, you can kill a xenomorph with a fucking shotgun so we'll need all sorts of contorted plot contrivances (like we had in Aliens) again to ensure the marines actually get their asses kicked.

And then every post-Alien 3 film tried to introduce some new element into the franchise to avoid a rehash of Aliens; except every time they do that the new element ends up just sucking horribly - like that stupid "hybrid" alien thing in Alien Resurrection or whatever. And then of course Prometheus tried something totally new, but I knew that film was pretty much fucked from the start. There's no way you can "explore" the origins of the Space Jockey without making it suck. The only reason the Space Jockey was cool to begin with was that it was entirely mysterious and other-worldly.

Anyway, I really don't see why it's worth continuing this series. Honestly, I thought Alien 3 was a decent conclusion. I know - most people hated it, and it suffered from all sorts of production issues, but it was something pretty different and unique: it had this moody, non-Hollywood realism to it that emanated from the performances and the drab setting - and it was just unabashedly nihilistic (killing off the former characters, plus Ripley's new love interest) which is normally something I'd dislike, but somehow it worked within the setting with these condemned criminals looking for some kind of redemption and Ripley making the ultimate sacrifice at the end. It's at least better than a mindless repeat of marines vs. aliens.

[Crazedwraith]

To nitpick: what's your obsession with them being able to be kill a xenomorph with a shotgun? They kill one alien with a shotgun in Aliens and to do it that shove the thing down its mouth and Hudson gets his arm acid burned in the process.

Sure I get the point that modern weapons being able to kill them lowers the tension a bit. But again, why the shotgun fixation?

[Tribble]

To nitpick: what's your obsession with them being able to be kill a xenomorph with a shotgun? They kill one alien with a shotgun in Aliens and to do it that shove the thing down its mouth and Hudson gets his arm acid burned in the process.

Sure I get the point that modern weapons being able to kill them lowers the tension a bit. But again, why the shotgun fixation?

The reason why the Xenomorph had acid blood in the first place was to address that very issue. The writers realised early on that the number one question would be "why didn't they just shoot it?" So they came up with the idea of the acid blood. Note how extremely acidic the blood was in the first film- just a few drops was enough to punch a hole threw 2 decks, and nearly go through a third! A dying Alien thrashing around and spraying acid everywhere could have caused catastrophic damage to the ship, especially as it tended to hang around the engineering section for the most part. Not to mention it'd probably kill the person who was shooting it. Thus the crew were forced to try and drive it into the airlock and eject it into space.

I also like how the writers addressed another question audience members likely would have asked, which was why they weren't able to track the Alien on their spaceship. If I remember correctly the landing knocked out the internal sensors, and Dallas decided to take off before the repairs were completed.

Interestingly, in a deleted scene the writers also considered another question the audience might have asked, which is why they didn't put on their spacesuits and simply vent out the atmosphere. It was pointed out that the Alien Egg and the facehugger didn't appear to have any problems with the lack of oxygen on the planet, and for all they knew it'd do even better after the atmosphere was vented.

[Grumman]

If the new movie has Ripley in it, it's probably going to suck. To me, doing that would suggest that the writers don't know why Ripley works and are trying to patch their own incompetence with the work of their betters, when Ripley's story really should have ended a few movies ago with her new family riding off into the sunset.

What I'd want and what Prometheus didn't give me is a cast of characters who meet a reasonable standard of competence and morality. Being out of their league is fine - I didn't mind that a space trucker like Lambert was unable to cope emotionally with an Outside Context Problem like "you're trapped in a confined space with a horrible rape monster" - but that's not an excuse for a biologist failing to understand blatant "back the fuck off" behaviour.

[Channel72]

To nitpick: what's your obsession with them being able to be kill a xenomorph with a shotgun? They kill one alien with a shotgun in Aliens and to do it that shove the thing down its mouth and Hudson gets his arm acid burned in the process.

Sure I get the point that modern weapons being able to kill them lowers the tension a bit. But again, why the shotgun fixation?

Whatever - it's just an example. The point is that xenomorphs aren't really that hard to kill with modern weapons (not super advanced "future" weapons either - just, you know... shotguns...), so in order for the aliens to be really dangerous you need to concoct some situation where the characters can't risk damaging equipment (like in Alien/Aliens) or they have no access to firearms (Alien3). That worked nicely in Alien, it worked okay in Aliens (despite the contrivance of having no backup crew stay behind on the mothership). In Alien3 the "no weapons" thing worked pretty well, in my opinion, given the setting.

But by the time Alien Resurrection came around, the characters had firearms and there's seriously this one scene where an alien comes out of the floor slowly, and everyone just stands there instead of shooting it. (And by that point, the movie had foregone the whole "we can't risk damaging equipment" thing, because various aliens were later killed and bled out all over the deck floor.)

And now future movies will need to come up with yet more reasons why they can't just shoot at them from a distance. That's probably why Prometheus tried to go with a totally different approach to the franchise - one that wouldn't be just a rehash of running around in claustrophobic corridors. Sadly, Prometheus turned out to be an incoherent mess.

[Themightytom]

I don't think these aliens need to be super hard to kill.. More like super adaptable and entirely malevolent. the alien in the first movie was terrifying mostly because they were powerless before it and everything they tried to do failed. They came up with flame throwers and the thing out maneuver them. Ripley tries to blow up the entire ship and finds out it is hiding on the escape pod she blows it out the airlock and the damn thing still won't die ?? her biggest fear is that it somehow left a facehugger around to outsmart her again the terror is that it will overcome whatever is thrown at it.
the same elements were in the sequel. A larger group of people without the vulnerability of being in space are slaughtered before we even really see them. The Space Marines go in with all their weapons and get their asses kicked in round 1... Partly due to the limitations of millions deciding to make their nest underneath the reactor.. But also because the aliens outsmarted them. Running through the entire to movies however was another element. Weyland Yutani just utterly having no regard for human life in its pursuit of profit it is one of the archetype for evil corporations. If another Alien movie had those characteristics and the audience can't tell the difference between whether the humans are acting more alien than the aliens, I say that it lives true to the franchise. having Ripley show humanity to Newt and Hicks and having it reciprocated and forming a family only strengthens the audience's bond with the protagonists. I mean I always love the design of the alien and the characters of the Space Marines.. The alien was different and intimidating.. The Marines were familiar enough that we can recognize them but different enough that we wanted to see what they could do.. But that was always just background fluff.. I was always watching the characters. another element was not knowing who would survive. Having a bunch of inmates with quasi religions and stereotypical prison movie quirks wasnt quite the smae as having a ship full of blue collar workers dropping like flies trying to protect themselves and eachother. Resurrection was nearly as bad, I really didnt care about anyone on that except winona ryder because she seemed to be the only one who didnt deserve what was coming.

I agree that completely severinf Alien 3 and 4 would do the franchise as much good as ditching the predators did. I wouldn't expect miracles though.. Highlander dropped t second movie into the hall of shame, rocky seems to have done the same with V but when they kept on... the sequels still weren't that great.. they became fan service.

[Mr. G]

Ironically, Elysium basically had the same plot as the anime Battle Angel Alita - you have your ground-based society, where all the dregs live, and you have you sky-city, where all the wealthy/elite live, and who have great medical technology.

That type of scenario is already a standard trope in science fiction/fantasy I believe.

Instead of just making an alien sequel he should try something new: District 9 was a new movie that was excellent. The Alien movies already have achieved the peak with the concept in the first 2 movies, and the 2nd was good mostly because it wasn't horror like the first but action. So both action and horror alien films are already done for, what remains is perhaps making an alien comedy? Well, Alien 4 was more like a self conscious parody of the franchise already than a honest flick.

[Grumman]

Ironically, Elysium basically had the same plot as the anime Battle Angel Alita - you have your ground-based society, where all the dregs live, and you have you sky-city, where all the wealthy/elite live, and who have great medical technology.

That type of scenario is already a standard trope in science fiction/fantasy I believe.

I agree. Necromunda's another example that comes to mind.

[Sea Skimmer]

Metropolis, 1927 would be the start of that in film. The actual story theme of a split society goes back way further.

[FedRebel]

Alien is one of the best sci-fi horror movies ever made.
Aliens is one of the best sci-fi action/horror movies ever made.

The rest of them really didn't accomplish anything of note. And Prometheus was such a wasted opportunity to do a prequel.

Agreed, Alien 3 was a production disaster though, Resurrection was more of a Firefly prototype.

Judging from what is known so far, it seems like Clone-Ripley and Hicks might be making a return. Colonial Marines is considered canon, which would explain why Hicks is still alive (though the game itself was terrible).

It'd have to be a Clone Hicks if we're assuming the same Ripley 8 (she's got 200 years on Hicks.)

The Concept artwork has Weyland-Yutani references, guess Walmart decided to keep the branding or this is a different setting that's ignoring 3 and 4

[Tribble]

I don't think these aliens need to be super hard to kill.. More like super adaptable and entirely malevolent. the alien in the first movie was terrifying mostly because they were powerless before it and everything they tried to do failed. They came up with flame throwers and the thing out maneuver them. Ripley tries to blow up the entire ship and finds out it is hiding on the escape pod she blows it out the airlock and the damn thing still won't die ?? her biggest fear is that it somehow left a facehugger around to outsmart her again the terror is that it will overcome whatever is thrown at it.
the same elements were in the sequel. A larger group of people without the vulnerability of being in space are slaughtered before we even really see them. The Space Marines go in with all their weapons and get their asses kicked in round 1... Partly due to the limitations of millions deciding to make their nest underneath the reactor.. But also because the aliens outsmarted them. Running through the entire to movies however was another element. Weyland Yutani just utterly having no regard for human life in its pursuit of profit it is one of the archetype for evil corporations. If another Alien movie had those characteristics and the audience can't tell the difference between whether the humans are acting more alien than the aliens, I say that it lives true to the franchise. having Ripley show humanity to Newt and Hicks and having it reciprocated and forming a family only strengthens the audience's bond with the protagonists. I mean I always love the design of the alien and the characters of the Space Marines.. The alien was different and intimidating.. The Marines were familiar enough that we can recognize them but different enough that we wanted to see what they could do.. But that was always just background fluff.. I was always watching the characters. another element was not knowing who would survive. Having a bunch of inmates with quasi religions and stereotypical prison movie quirks wasnt quite the smae as having a ship full of blue collar workers dropping like flies trying to protect themselves and eachother. Resurrection was nearly as bad, I really didnt care about anyone on that except winona ryder because she seemed to be the only one who didnt deserve what was coming.

I agree that completely severinf Alien 3 and 4 would do the franchise as much good as ditching the predators did. I wouldn't expect miracles though.. Highlander dropped t second movie into the hall of shame, rocky seems to have done the same with V but when they kept on... the sequels still weren't that great.. they became fan service.

IMO another thing which made the first Alien terrifying was that it was.. completely alien. And not just in its physical characteristics and life cycle. It had no known origin, it made no attempt at communication, and its motivations were completely unknown*. Ash speculated that it was the "perfect survivor" but IMO there was more to it than that. When it ambushed its victims it could have slaughtered them right away, but instead it waited until they spotted it, slowly moved in for the kill, then took its time killing them. It could have killed Ripley when she literally walked right into it, but instead it let her go. It could have killed Jones with ease, but instead it merely picked up the crate, observed the cat for awhile, then placed the crate back down. It could have killed Ripley the moment she boarded the shuttle, but instead it simply observed her and only made a move when she started shooting jets at it. And God knows what it did to Lambert. Clearly it was interested in doing more than just killing/eating its prey, there was some kind of intelligence at work here, and the fact that we had absolutely no clue as to why it did what it did made it all the more terrifying.

* A deleted scene suggests that the Alien wanted to capture at least some of the crew in order to turn them into eggs. However, Ridley Scott ended up cutting the scene (mostly due to pacing), and never considered it canon. And obviously Aliens rendered the scene non-canon anyways by introducing the Alien Queen.

It'd have to be a Clone Hicks if we're assuming the same Ripley 8 (she's got 200 years on Hicks.)

The Concept artwork has Weyland-Yutani references, guess Walmart decided to keep the branding or this is a different setting that's ignoring 3 and 4

It's possible that Hicks went into cyrosleep for some reason and was woken up by the time of the film. Silly, yes, but sadly no more silly than Alien Resurrection in general. I hope that's not the direction they take.

Just for the record, I'm in the camp that believes that the Alien franchise had run its course by Aliens, and a new film isn't necessary.

[Flagg]

They are throwing out Alien 3 and Resurrection. Which pisses me off. Alien 3 was awesome, and though Resurrection was a steaming pile, I'm more interested in Alien Hybrid with Acid Blood Ripley than I am with "heroine survived previous action movie to fight again!" Ripley. Yeah, I liked Hicks and Newt, but they are fucking dead, Alien 3 was great, and all the fattynerds can eat my ass.

[Oskuro]

I for one didn't hate Alien 3, and like Resurrection (I mean... Ron Perlman!), and would've liked that the clone-hybrid Ripley be explored better, her new powers and abilities that make her a badass action hero lady, as well as her strange motherly-like relationship with the monsters she once loathed. In fact they could even slap a yellow power armour on her and send her hunting for space pirates...

Ok, half kidding, I really did like Alien 3 and Resurrection, and having Ripley gradually evolve from victim to ass-kicking lady was something I liked about the whole series.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I'd just like to see them come up with something that doesn't involve Ripley at all. Love the character, but there are billions of humans out there more likely to meet a xenomorph in that universe.