Remember Alien: Covenant? It’s okay if you don’t. Released this past May, Sir Ridley Scott’s prequel/sequel came and went faster than Sgt. Apone in Aliens, grossing $74 million domestically with a worldwide total of $232 million buckeroos. That’s not awful, but hardly good news for 20th Century Fox, who spent $97 million on the thing.
Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is mulling things over now, which means all of those crazy ideas that Scott has floating in his head — you know, like using digital effects to connect the prequels to the beginning of Alien, specifically Ellen Ripley’s storyline — may not come to fruition. And here’s our reaction to that news…
Then again, who knows, seeing how Scott has a full plate right now. As The Playlist points out, he’s currently working on All the Money in the World, which he hopes to finish ahead of awards season, and then he’ll reportedly be tackling Don Winslow’s drug drama, The Cartel. That gives Fox plenty of time to come back around to his two Alien sequels.
Or maybe they’re thinking: Hmm, let’s see, it doesn’t seem like fans are gravitating to the idea of us over-explaining the Alien mythos. Maybe, just maybe, they want to see what might have happened if Ripley and Hicks and Newt survived Aliens. Perhaps we should give Neill Blomkamp a call and start circling that idea again? Hmm, indeed.
Ideally, they’d close the doors on the entire franchise a la Fiorina “Fury” 161, but who are we kidding, we know that a studio isn’t going to walk away from a potentially lucrative franchise. Especially one that is signature to them and hasn’t been scooped up into the Disney family. So, if you have to make one, why not do Alien 5.
Bottom line: If it puts Michael Biehn on the big screen again, we’re all for it.
