By posting some pretty cool concept art on social media, Neill Blomkamp pretty much willed himself into his dream job of helming an Alien sequel. But after the announcement that he would be taking on Alien 5, which would have brought Sigourney Weaver back into the fold, Chappie......didn’t do as well as everybody thought it would, and while Blomkamp continued to tease the project, anything official on the sequel was not forthcoming. Then, Ridley Scott came along and announced Prometheus 2 was now called Alien: Paradise Lost, signalling his return to the franchise proper a lot sooner than we thought. Alien 5 was still said to be on the cards, and would tie into Paradise Lost, but even though it was announced first, it seemed to be less and less priority for Fox. Now, the inevitable has happened, and the sequel has been put on hold, perhaps indefinitely. Blomkamp himself broke the news on Twitter, saying:
alien is kinda holding/ pending prometheus 2. So I shall be working on other things... as much as I love the xeno- and Lt ripley
— Иeill BlomkΛmp (@NeillBlomkamp) October 30, 2015
It seems Fox are putting all their money on Scott to rejuvenate the series, and who knows, depending on how its received, Blomkamp may get his chance to work on his dream movie again. But as it stands now, Xenomorphs aren’t in his foreseeable future. It’ll be interesting to see what he turns his attention to now. Will we finally see District 10, the sequel to the movie that made his name, or will he try his hand at another original idea? His follow-ups to District 9, Elysium and Chappie, didn’t exactly receive the same acclaim as his first feature, but he is still one of the finest voices in modern sic-fi, and whatever he has planned for his next movie should be watched with great interest.
As for Alien: Paradise Lost, production is set to begin next year, with a release date eyed for May 30th 2017.
