In a world where studios are always looking for an idea big enough to support a whole franchise worth of movies, the Alien series continues to be a potential goldmine for whoever can return it to the glory days of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), both major blockbusters.
Ridley Scott returned to the series in 2012 for Prometheus, which raked in a respectable $400 million worldwide off a $125 million budget. But this year’s sequel, Alien: Covenant, pulled in just over half that and the word is Scott’s next installment has been scrapped as Fox “reassesses” the franchise. We’re sure the recent merger with Disney probably played a part in that as well.
Whatever the reason, now would be the time for a different director to step up and share his vision for the future of the series. And that’s exactly what District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp is doing, putting out more concept art for his Alien 5 treatment that was scrapped in 2014 to make room for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequels.
One image shows an alien xenomorph doing what xenomorphs do best: coming out of the darkness to snatch humans in compromised positions. The next shows another one of the famous combat ships from James Cameron’s Aliens film. It’s just the latest tease of concept art that makes us wonder what could have been, and now might be again?
While we’re sure reaction will be torn between Ridley Scott and Neill Blomkamp fans as to whether a potential switch in vision would be a good thing, it’s worth noting that everyone who got a close look at Blomkamp’s vision for Alien 5 came away impressed. That includes James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver, who was more than willing to sign on and return as Ripley for a story that jettisoned the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection into space and started fresh off the end of Aliens.
Who knows what will happen with the Alien franchise moving forward, but we doubt we’ve seen the last of the xenomorphs. And with a lot of legwork and a decent amount of internet hype already built up behind him, Blomkamp’s vision for the series might be awfully tempting for Disney.