Chest Fever
There is, of course, no previously mapped lead-in to a story involving humans in Ridley Scott‘s just-announced Alien prequel. The only back-story alluded to in Scott’s 30-year-old original came when mining-cargo voyagers John Hurt and Veronica Cartwright explored that huge abandoned spacecraft resting on that dark, howling planetoid and came upon that skeletal carcass of a gargantuan creature with an elephant trunk whose rib cage apparently been penetrated from within.
Honestly? I would love to see a subtitled film about a crew of 30-foot-tall life forms with elephant trunks dealing with an alien invasion. No humans, I mean. That would be very cool, very avant-garde. Joe Popcorn wouldn’t like it, of course, but a studio chief who looks to Joe’s wants and needs for movie inspiration needs to go on a sabbatical.
Screenwriter Jon Spaihts will write the prequel screenplay (his pitch to 20th Century Fox and Scott Free having triggered the project). And we’re all presuming that Scott will deliver a class-act feature but c’mon…this is just another lazy greed move-slash-brand reboot. The franchise has been re-thought, re-vamped, re-mined, re-action-figured (I own two black queens from the mid ’90s) and DVD box-setted to death.
If you HAD to do a prequel, getting Ridley (as opposed to, say, Ratner) is a good start for the project…
Joe Popcorn wouldn’t like a film about 30-foot-life forms and rampaging aliens? WTF? As long as they’re not sitting at a table with a giant Andre Gregory, I think the general moviegoing fanboy legions would sprout tiny woodies for that.
For the love of god, why are they doing this to us? Alien is a classic franchise and should be left alone.
No more bloody remakes, reboots, prequels or sequels, PLEASE!
The main thing is where did the Alien come from? It should be interesting to see, and Scott’s name adds to the project. Other than that,how much time will be spent on Ripleys’ and the crews backgrounds? Not much, I think, except for putting the robot on board.
Yeah, I think Joe Popcorn would eat that shit up that you’re describing, but this actually may not be a horrible idea — at least it’s not Snyder or Ratner or Paul W.S. Anderson or some hack like that — Ridley’s film is still the best of the bunch in my eyes.
Scott’s name adds very little. You think the suits won’t have 1000 marketing ideas, script notes, tie-in ideas etc etc etc? Too much money rides on this these days. Ridley’s name will be added for the fan boy base (and I, being from that base, will not likely see this). I don’t want to see any CGI aliens, CGI ships or CGI planets. I don’t care what the origin of the alien is, or what that elephant alien was. Part of the magic and brilliance of the first film, and its enduring legacy, is exactly BECAUSE we don’t know those back stories.
HEY HOLLYWOOD — WE DON’T NEED ANY EXPLANATIONS. WE DON’T NEED TO BE SPOON-FED BACK STORY. LEAVE IT ALONE.
And fuck you.
Brilliant The Band reference.
Snyder is leaps-and-bounds more talented than Ratner or P.W.S.A.
I think Patton Oswalt needs to do another rant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCjIjsZp_Y
Yeah, but I still hate him and he would still butcher an “Alien” movie.
Well said Aris P.
I watched the original for about the 100th time last week, and it is so far and beyond reach of anything that came after it in this franchise. R. Scott, as talented as he is, needs to leave this alone. That type of magic can not be recaptured.
Awesome. And let’s get cracking on a LEVIATHAN prequel.
This could go either way. But, as others have said, if it has to be made thank god it’s Ridley that’s doing it.
Scott already explored- and revealed- what happened to that ancient crew in Alien.
Prequels aren’t necessarily a bad thing. The problem is that no one really understands how to make one anymore. Today’s prequels are constructed more like sequels, with frequent winks and cutesy nods to the previous films.
They also typically have a familiar character(s) shoehorned in- as opposed to creating something entirely new- which simply adds to the feeling of sequelitis.
Today marks perhaps the first time I’m in total agreement with TrashPunk. Aris is quite on top as well.
FUCK
THIS
SHIT
I haven’t read the pitch details but I’m guessing there’s no role for the Ripley character (or the rest of the Nostromo crew) since they would never meet the Aliens. Maybe a CGI de-aged Ian Holm could make sense but that’s a really horrible idea?
This could be cool but really only if they do something 95% new and that 5% is purely what we already know about the Aliens.
Overall, I would be a lot more enthusiastic for this if it wasn’t being done for the current regime at Fox. Didn’t they already fuck Scott over enough with Kingdom of Heaven?
I remember in the late 80s, there was an interview with Cameron where he said that he and Ridley Scott had talked about finishing up the series themselves. Alien 4 would’ve been Cameron’s movie, dealing with the aliens on Earth, and then Alien 5 would’ve been the finale, with Scott finishing up the series on the alien homeworld. I would’ve enjoyed that two-fer.
My Alien “Quadrilogy” box set is my favorite DVD.
Ok, I’m in the minority I guess, because I’m jazzed about this to no end. Instead of seeing yet another Alien vs. Predator film, or Alien vs. Commando or Alien vs. Jack Sparrow or whatever the hell, they’ve actually done something right.
Seeing Scott reexplore that world COULD suck, yes, but he’s a helluva lot more likely to get it right than Stephen Sommers or the latest batch of hip music video-making triplets from Sweden.
Of course, I liked Alien 3, so what do I know?
Alien 3 gets a bad rap.
I’d rather see Ridley Scott do something else, but if this movie is going to be made, there are few others I’d rather see at the helm.
Why stop at alienating Joe Poporn, Jo Hotdog, and Giuseppe Nacho? Why not alienate the fanboys too? Alienate, from the root “alien” after all.
So the prequel should be a movie about the Nostromo crew before they ever met the Alien. In fact, before they were ever on the Nostromo. Their hopes, their fears, their loves, their losses. That one great romance that got away. Kane’s earlier life as a stock broker, before the Great Collapse. Parker’s efforts to run a vintage flight school off a two bit airfield in Kansas. Maybe have him mentor a young blond kid that becomes a slightly older blond guy as the movie goes on. I dunno. I see possibilities, not boxes.
Wait, let me put in my movie exec hat for a second. “Ridley, can we make the flight instructor Dallas instead of Parker? You know, so we don’t confuse the audience? Thanks kid.”
would love to see Bay get a hold of this prequel and just light it up with 30-foot high aliens, huge blasters and crazy space fires!
no, actually, bay is all wrong for this movie, but thanks for playing.
In other news, and sorry for veering off topic, but Disney and JBF are close to a deal with Rob Marshall to direct Pirates 4. Rob Marshall — never would have thought of him for a movie like this.
So I guess Russell Crowe will be fighting aliens then.
Dear Sir Ridley,
Upon completion of the Alien Prequel, please tackle the BLADE RUNNER sequel we all are dying to see. The countless questions that have hounded us for almost 30 years need resolution! Please address the following:
1. An exploration of other “pleasure models” — who they serviced, how much they charged, and why was Pris labelled a “basic” pleasure model… are there “Special” models?
2. A detailed exploration of that rascal Gaff — his backstory, the origins of his language, his future ascension in the police ranks…
3. WHO was Abdul ben Hasann REALLY? What made him go from starry-eyed engineer in Lebanon to snake charmer on the gritty streets of LA?
4. Will there be a cure for Sebastian’s unfortunate accelerated decrepitude?? How did he contract it in the first place?
5. And please, once and for all, what happened to Holden?? We need to know!
Respectfully,
Aris
PS – No need to find out whether Deckerd was a replicant or not… As you yourself mentioned in the Final Cut Supplement DVD — “You’ve got to be a moron to not get it”.
LYT — makes sense as Russell is always fightin’ around the world!
Katrhyn Bigelow. It would be awesome to see her direct something like this.
But, yeah, I’m O.K. with Ridley.
What went on in that original alien ship? I’ve heard conflicting theories from many people.
Was the alien a biological weapon that somehow got out and infected the pilot?
@actionman: Ratner etc shouldn’t be brought up at all, seeing as this was supposed to be directed by Scott’s protege, Carl Rinsch. He’s directed some fantastic commercials. Looks as if the studios didn’t trust the rookie…
This will probably stink but the idea that Scott is attached offers a glimmer of hope.
I think they should be all trippy and do it in 3D CGI with all the original actors (I mean, Weaver, Skerrit, Hurt, Biehn, Henriksen etc) doing to mocap. Yeah…that’s the ticket.
If Russell Crowe is gonna be in it I think you have to bring back the Ridley Scott Snow which performed so effectively with Crowe in Gladiator’s opening, and (to a lesser extent) with Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven. It swirls ever so nicely.
Great… Fox is going to spend $150 million to continue a franchise that has never topped $85 million domestic. At least with Star Trek (similar situation, lucky break) Paramount had tons of Star Trek-related properties that they could re release and cash in on. The Alien series just has the six Alien movies and that’s it. Speaking of which, aren’t the Alien Vs. Predator films defacto Alien prequels?
“I would love to see a subtitled film about a crew of 30-foot-tall life forms with elephant trunks dealing with an alien invasion. No humans, I mean.”
Wasn’t that Battlefield Earth?
“No need to find out whether Deckerd was a replicant or not… As you yourself mentioned in the Final Cut Supplement DVD — “You’ve got to be a moron to not get it”.”
Well, yes, he did ruin all the subtlety of the (Deckard, BTW) replicant question with the Final Cut, but I’m amazed to see somebody refer to that as a positive.
Director returns to franchise after more than 20 years; fanboys willfully ignore the fact that this has proven to have bad film results roughly 100% of the times it has been tried and get themselves excited anyway.
Hell, son, I’d see a subtitled film about a crew of 30-foot-tall life forms with elephant trunks dealing with an alien invasion. Just show me a coupla those chestburstin’ critters and I’ll be in the front row quick as lightin’.
Need to see something other than Transformers 2 anyways. That robot shit sure gets old after you’ve seen the movie twenty times.
“(I own two black queens from the mid ’90s)”
I’m gonna go with Ru Paul and Little Richard. Judges?
“Great… Fox is going to spend $150 million to continue a franchise that has never topped $85 million domestic. ”
You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.
Box office isn’t everything. In this case, it’s nothing– the DVD, television rights, toy marketing, pop and film culture influence, and the fact that you got two outright classic films, one interesting one, and one bizarre one (the AVP films never happened). . . who cares what the box office gross was on these films.
May we get more “flops” like Alien and Aliens, please.
Gordon27 says …
Director returns to franchise after more than 20 years; fanboys willfully ignore the fact that this has proven to have bad film results roughly 100% of the times it has been tried and get themselves excited anyway.
Jose Mojica Marins did an excellent job of wrapping up his Coffin Joe trilogy last year with Embodiment of Evil after a 40 year gap.
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