Entertainment Weekly recently told Bill Paxton about that upcoming Alien sequel (not Prometheus 2 which is coming as well; no, that other one), to which he said that he actually had not known about it, but that he would love to join in!
“That’s the first I’ve heard of that. Maybe. I mean, if you’re going to bring Hicks back, you’ve got to have Hudson!”
Remember how quickly Neil Blomkamp’s concept arts lead to an official announcement of him directing a new Alien movie with Sigourney Weaver returning as the original Ellen Ripley? He published his artworks in January, and in February 20th Century Fox confirmed that he’ll indeed direct a new movie in the Xenomorph universe.
Okay, what has happened since then? Many outlets wrote that Michael Biehn had officially joined the production, but that’s actually still up in the air. What seemed like Biehn’s Instagram account having a confirmation got quickly deleted, and while it’s still not clear whether this confirming Facebook site has any connection to him, his actual official Facebook site hasn’t mentioned anything regarding Hicks’s return. A fan claimed to have gotten a personal confirmation during Pensacola Comic Con, but that doesn’t mean anything.
In February, Lance Henriksen voiced his interest in joining in as well. After implying that his new movie would erase both Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection from the canon and getting lots of disapproval by online communities for that, he changed his stance, stating that his movie will respect what has come before. Even if it’s still highly puzzling how he’ll explain Ripley’s death scene from Alien³. There actually is an explanation for how Corporal Hicks managed to survive, in the Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC Stasis Interrupted (watch it here). By the way: the same video game that explained Hicks’s survival showed Private Hudson’s corpse.
In the same video interview, Blomkamp said that he’d love to focus on the horror aspect:
“That element to me is what is so appealing; to put the audience on the edge of their seat the whole time in a traditional, monster-stalking-you, dark-corridor-way. I love that.”
Blomkamp’s latest movie Chappie launched in March, to both mixed reviews and highly disappointing box office results. It’s far from a bomb, but its complete global haul just covered the budget. Blomkamp’s two previous movies were notable box office hits, and his fantastic District 9 even managed to get a Best Picture nomination.
Later in March, Blomkamp confirmed that he’s talking with Ridley Scott (who is a producer on his Alien movie) so that none of their movie’s plots contradict each other. He added that his working title for the movie is a brave one, and that it spoils a lot.
In May, Blomkamp posted what looks like a man with a weird helmet on, describing it as “@the_larke is coming. He is….wise”. What the fuck is the Larke? It doesn’t look like a character out of the Alien universe. Is it a side project, maybe a music video for his South African best pals Die Antwoord? Is it another short of his or a new original movie that is not Alien? We’ll see. He also posted a behind-the-scenes image of the production of the original Alien, possibly as a reminder that he’s still working on that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Blomkamp’s Alien never became a reality, but I doubt the backlash for Chappie was enough to lose the studio’s trust in him. Ridley Scott won’t start a new movie until early 2016, therefore Blomkamp’s Alien 5 could actually make a late 2016 release date, leaving 2017 for Scott’s Prometheus 2. In a way, Fox would have some kind of shared universe at hands. And right now, studios love shared universes. Sigourney Weaver looks great, but everyone has to face the fact that she’s 65. The studio will want her to wave a gun and shoot armies of bugs on screen. As a result, the studio will be very impatient to start as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, 77-year-old Ridley Scott just began post-production of The Martian. He still hasn’t confirmed that he’ll do Prometheus 2 after that, but of course Fox knows that the previous one was three years ago. It was a massive hit, but it’s slowly leaving public conscience. By the end of 2017, a new Xenomorph movie will have hit theatres. Guaranteed. At the moment, I would bet on Alien 5 coming out first.
What do you think? And got any idea how the screenwriters will explain Ripley’s return?
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