A while back, District 9’s Neill Blomkamp floated some pretty sweet concept art for an Alien sequel, which would bring Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton, and supposedly Micael Biehn back to the series. The concept art lead to the green lighting of Alien 5, with Blomkamp at the helm, and everything seemed to be coming up Milhouse for the South African director in regards to the Alien universe. But then Ridley Scott renamed his Prometheus sequel Alien: Covenant, and Alien 5 just seemed to disappear, apparently put ‘on hold’. Depending on how Alien: Covenant fared, there was that tiny notion at the back of people’s heads that it could always come back, but as it stands now, it’s a dead project. But as it turns out, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaking at tech giant VMware (and reported by Aggressive Comix), Ellen Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver, stated that the project is on temporary hold, and it was a request of Ridley Scott. This is her statement in full:
"Well, I think it is. Ridley asked Neill not to make our Alien 'til after Prometheus 2; he wanted his movie to shoot and be released first. But it’s an amazing script, and Neill and I are really excited about doing it. We’re doing other things until we can get going on that. I’d be really surprised if we didn't do it; because it’s such a great script, and we love working together. So, it’s just going to take a little bit longer to get out to you, but it’ll be worth the wait.”
By Weaver’s comments, Fox could very well be banking on two concurrent Alien franchises, existing at two ends of the series’ timeline (and maybe even meeting in the middle at some stage). It would definitely breath life into the franchise, but I think it really depends on the performance of Alien: Covenant, which comes our way in the Summer of next year. Hopefully, Alien 5 will find its way out of the doldrums and follow not long after.
Speaking at tech giant VMware (and reported by Aggressive Comix), Ellen Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver, stated that the project is on temporary hold, and it was a request of Ridley Scott. This is her statement in full:
"Well, I think it is. Ridley asked Neill not to make our Alien 'til after Prometheus 2; he wanted his movie to shoot and be released first. But it’s an amazing script, and Neill and I are really excited about doing it. We’re doing other things until we can get going on that. I’d be really surprised if we didn't do it; because it’s such a great script, and we love working together. So, it’s just going to take a little bit longer to get out to you, but it’ll be worth the wait.”
By Weaver’s comments, Fox could very well be banking on two concurrent Alien franchises, existing at two ends of the series’ timeline (and maybe even meeting in the middle at some stage). It would definitely breath life into the franchise, but I think it really depends on the performance of Alien: Covenant, which comes our way in the Summer of next year. Hopefully, Alien 5 will find its way out of the doldrums and follow not long after.
