Home Entertainment Neill Blomkamp's ALIEN movie will ignore ALIEN 3 and ALIEN: RESURRECTION

Neill Blomkamp's ALIEN movie will ignore ALIEN 3 and ALIEN: RESURRECTION

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I’ll just come straight out and say it: I really like Alien 3. I know that it’s seriously flawed, and its final act is a mess (probably due to the film’s almost legendary production woes which saw a young first time director David Fincher being bullied by just about everybody into making the movie they wanted) but there are still many things about it that I loved, like Ripley’s final send-off. To a lesser extent, but similarly so too are there things in Alien: Resurrection that I enjoy. Yes, the script, with all its Ripley clones and hybrid aliens feels awfully fan-fiction-ish – something that not even a Joss Whedon rewrite could fix – but there are some cool ideas to be found there. Basically, as broken as these movies are in places, they certainly have their place in the Alien franchise.

But not to Neill Blomkamp apparently. It would seem that the District 9 filmmaker is about to pull a Superman Returns with his recently announced Alien pet project, as it will be a direct sequel to Aliens, completely ignoring the continuity of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection.

As Blomkamp and star Signourney Weaver explain in this video interview with Sky New where they make the revelation, this new film – the “genetic sibling of Aliens” –  will be replacing the third and fourth entries in the franchise to give Ripley her “proper finish”. As Slashfilm points out though, the irony is that Weaver herself was the one that pushed for Ripley’s death as well as several other story elements in Alien 3. So too, much of Alien: Resurrection was informed by her ideas of the character and the story. And now she’s just going to pretend that it never happened.

While I am looking forward to some of the ideas Blomkamp brings to the table – especially now since the fascinating artwork he released, showing a resurrected Hicks for example, makes sense – I can’t help but feel that this is kind of a slap in the face to the rest of the franchise (except, for the AvP movies. Screw those guys). Also, I am hoping and praying to every deity I know that the “Ripley as an alien pilot” artwork is not some hint that producer Ridley Scott wants to tie this new film into Prometheus somehow. While I don’t hate Scott’s latest take on the franchise, I feel that the Prometheus movies need to go do their own thing off in the far reaches of space first.

But back to the matter at hand: On which side of the debate do you fall? As I know that Alien 3 and Resurrection have a solid army of haters, there will be many people who will be overjoyed by this news of essentially a “new” Alien 3. Are you one of them?

Last Updated: February 26, 2015

18 Comments

  1. RinceThis

    February 26, 2015 at 10:16

    Any new Alien movie, for whatever reason, is wanted!

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      February 27, 2015 at 10:38

      Amen, as long there isn’t a Predator in sight and it doesn’t take place on current day earth.

      Reply

  2. Dutch Matrix

    February 26, 2015 at 10:36

    So… Does Newt survive?
    I have never seen a Blomkamp movie, because, you know, District 9 seems just a little too political for my liking. Aliens land in South Africa. We put them in squatter camps, because Apartheid worked so well the first time (sarcasm).
    Am I happy that Alien 3 and Alien Ressurection will be ignored this time around? Yes. And No. Alien 3 was a decent Alien movie. What got it on my bad side was how easily Hicks and Newt were killed off. They survived all the events of Aliens just to be killed by a crash?

    Reply

    • James Francis

      February 26, 2015 at 13:27

      Yeah, there is a continuity issue there. Will they replace Newt with another young girl? Won’t Ripley look too old then? Or will the script jump ahead a few decades after those events?

      Reply

      • Kervyn Cloete

        February 26, 2015 at 13:35

        I have a feeling that it’s going to be them drifting out in space for decades, which would explain the age difference. That was they can recast Newt as well.

        Reply

        • James Francis

          February 26, 2015 at 13:45

          But wasn’t Ripley in stasis for 40 years or something at the start of Aliens? Consequently she’s younger than her daughter or something like that. So no aging in hypersleep.

          Reply

          • Kervyn Cloete

            February 26, 2015 at 13:49

            Oh yeah, forgot about that. In that case, I have no idea. But I guess that’s why they pay Neill Blomkamp the big bucks and not me.

          • Skyblue

            February 27, 2015 at 10:39

            Tell him!

    • Brady miaau

      February 26, 2015 at 16:12

      Elysium is fun. Not a great story, but it is fun. People forget that and criticise it for poor Sci-fi and plot holes. But it remains fun

      Reply

      • Kervyn Cloete

        February 26, 2015 at 21:04

        I didn’t criticize it for poor sci-fi and plot holes. It actually had some fantastic sci-fi elements. My biggest problem was how immature and sloppy the film’s politics were. It was just so embarrassingly heavy handed. Rich people = evil, poor people = good.

        Reply

    • Skyblue

      February 27, 2015 at 10:25

      “They mostly come out at night, mostly.”

      Reply

  3. James Francis

    February 26, 2015 at 13:26

    I’m a bit sad – I also liked Alien 3. But it does put them in a tough spot as far as Ripley goes.

    Then again, why bring Ripley back at all? I know it’s a gamble, but I think one of the franchise’s problems was that it always had her attached to her hip. Including her at this point is just pandering to fans. Rather focus a bit wider.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      February 27, 2015 at 10:37

      I thought that whole passing of the torch in Resurrection was a bit too obvious but you might be onto something. I personally believe that if they carry on directly from Aliens and get Ripley back into badass/honest mode as in the first 2 films it’ll be great. All that snide, sinister stuff didn’t really work for me in Resurrection.

      Reply

  4. SojournZA

    February 26, 2015 at 16:12

    David Fincher not Lynch, that would have been a weird ass movie

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      February 26, 2015 at 21:05

      Damn it. I’m such a gigantic Fincher fanboy, and yet I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve accidentally done that.

      Reply

  5. Brady miaau

    February 26, 2015 at 16:13

    I sort of like parts of Resurrection. It amused me when Ripley alien acted all tough and had those oneliners, particular at the start of the movie.

    Reply

  6. Skyblue

    February 27, 2015 at 10:33

    So Aliens is my fav movie franchise and my choice of films in order of pure awesome are Aliens, Alien, Alien Resurrection and then Alien 3. “Heresy!” I hear you cry, alas, James Cameron’s bad-ass film clinched it for me becasue I was 13 when I saw it and it blew Star Wars completely out of my little sci-fi loving mind due to it’s awesomeness. Then, Brad Dourif experimenting on Aliens in Resurrection was just too much awesome for me over no weapons against a hybrid alien (which was a pretty cool idea).

    Hearing Blomkamp was involved and seeing the artwork I mentioned to a friend that I reckon they might ignore the 3rd and 4th films and ta da.

    Also, screw those AvP bastards for ruining two great sci-fi franchises in one foul swoop. At least Predators was better if not great.

    Reply

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