Few movie franchises have arguably promised so much but delivered so little than the Alien franchise. After Ridley Scott changed the movie industry with his remarkably tense first Alien movie, people have been longing for the franchises return to its horror roots. And while the first sequel from James Cameron was great, it was more of an action blockbuster than pure horror. All later sequels though, irrespective of genre, never came close to achieving that same remarkable high of the original despite numerous attempts and promises by other filmmakers. When Scott returned to the franchise he started though, there was the belief we would finally get that Alien movie fans have always wanted – except those two movies, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, are arguably two of the worst films in the franchise.
With that mixed reception along with Disney now owning the franchise rights, it was thought that the Alien series was maybe being put in hibernation. However, according to Scott in an interview with Forbes, he is still in discussions about future Alien movies, though the exact direction they will take is not currently clear:
That’s in process. We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant. Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because Prometheus woke it up very well. But you know, you’re asking fundamental questions like, ‘Has the Alien himself, the facehugger, the chestburster, have they all run out of steam? Do you have to rethink the whole bloody thing and simply use the word to franchise?’ That’s always the fundamental question.
Have they all run out of steam? Perhaps the franchise has and they need to return to the drawing board to decide what to do with it all or indeed if they should consider an Alien film anytime soon. We can often be critical of big movie reboots, but in the case of Alien, it might be a good idea to consider starting all over again in the distant future rather than trying to retcon now complex stories to hold everything together. Or, perhaps even better, Disney should hand this over to Blumhouse. They certainly know how to reboot a horror franchise and with a low budget too, making it far less risky than all these last big epic film productions that have fallen flat.
Last Updated: September 8, 2020
RinceThis
September 8, 2020 at 12:20
Defo space (meh) for a new series of films. Just remove him from the storyboard. He can’t write for shit. His obsession with Origin/religion is also getting a bit much. After one ep of Raised by Wolves (he directed the first 2, didn’t write) I was done. Give the franchise to someone like John Krasinski.
Son of Banana Jim
September 8, 2020 at 15:59
Basically, the Alien, Predator and even the Terminator franchises have been allowed to run themselves into the ground. They’ve been diminished to such an extend that the only kind thing to do is to take any and all new scripts, put them into a furnace, and let the flames consume them… And then thereafter, put any one against the wall (to face a firing squad) who would even consider new reboots, prequels or sequels.
Just let the dead stay dead…. https://media4.giphy.com/media/lck0qwKrqD7VrI2Qw2/giphy.gif
JWT-80
September 8, 2020 at 17:31
Sometimes dead is better.