Ridley Scott has been trying to make a comeback to his earlier days of glory for some years now, most notably by revisiting his game-changing sci-fi/horror franchise, Alien. However, Scott’s first attempt an Alien prequel (2014’s Prometheus) turned out to be a mixed bag, which both critics and fans tore apart for its combination of lackluster story and weak connection to the larger Alien mythos.
This summer, we got the Prometheus sequel Alien: Covenant, which promised to better connect the prequel storyline to the original Alien film, and get the franchise back to its original sci-fi/horror roots. However, as of now, it’s being reported by THR that Alien: Covenant is officially being viewed as a flop by 20th Century Fox, after its theatrical run sputtered out with just $232 million worldwide on a (approx) $100 million budget.
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In light of that, it’s being reported that Ridley Scott’s two planned sequels to Alien: Covenant may get outright canceled or retooled by 20th Century Fox.
Here’s The Plan…
In the past few months, Ridley Scott has teased the following stage of Alien movies. According to the filmmaker, the Alien: Covenant sequel would reconnect things to Prometheus by having the Engineers (and other parties) taking notice of the devastation caused by Michael Fassbender’s David on the Engineer homeworld:
“There will be three or four different players coming into investigate,” Scott said, “One of which will be the Engineers arriving back to find their planet decimated… Where we go next is obvious,”
That proposed storyline hasn’t exactly gotten fans too excited, as it still sounds like the sort of heady and extraneous storyline of the Engineers started in Prometheus will be dragged out through yet another film. With Alien: Covenant demonstrating a clear amount of fan fatigue with the franchise, hearing that Scott plans to dig even deepr into his own missteps is… worrying, to say the least.
On the other hand, District 9 director Neil Blompkamp floated plans a year ago for Alien 5, a direct sequel to Aliens that was going to bring back original Aliens stars Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), Michael Biehn (Hicks), and Carrie Henn (Newt), back into the franchise. When Ridley Scott came in for Alien: Covenant and the planned sequels, that all but killed Blomkamp’s hopes for Alien 5 to happen:
slim
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) January 21, 2017
Still, if Fox wants to keep the Alien franchise going, without losing so much revenue, then perhaps a changing of the guard is needed. Even if Blomkamp’s Alien 5 doesn’t happen, there’s already been talk about getting Weaver’s Ripley back into the franchise in some capacity, which would definitely be a major draw for longtime fans.
While the future is being determined, Alien: Covenant is ending its theatrical run, and waiting for home video release.
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