Entertainment Today and Beyond

ALIEN PREQUEL officially confirmed

According to the movie site Collider, Carl Rinsch, a commercials and music video director for Scott Free Productions has officially been handed the reigns to direct a new Alien movie for 20th Century Fox. Even though Ridley Scott, the director of the first film in the Alien franchise, will produce, is there any real reason to do another Alien film? Reportedly the game plan is to create a prequel and stick with the original concept of one Alien on a spaceship, but is this enough to get a new generation excited for a series that has produced six films featuring ‘Aliens’.

When Alien first came out in 1979 the premise was fairly original and highly effective. With John Carpenter’s Halloween released just one year before, audiences got their moneys worth with Ridley Scott’s scare fest. The project that had been pitched to the studio as ‘Jaws in space’ radiated with audiences and became a solid word of mouth hit. At the time, Sigourney Weaver was an unknown but, after the first Alien sequel, her character of Ellen Ripley would become the greatest heroine in the history of film. What’s interesting about the sequel is that James Cameron produced one of the most fascinating follow-ups ever.  He took Scott’s horror concept and turned it into an amazing action film that I have no problem calling a masterpiece. The relationship between Weaver’s Ripley and the little girl Newt is an example of a script with a heart that elevated the genre to the very highest level. The film worked at such a high level that it almost guaranteed anything following in this franchise would be a letdown.

While Alien 3 (1992) is a well made film (David Fincher’s directorial debut) and a solid watch, audiences were somewhat disappointed. The film is much smaller in scope than Cameron’s epic and the screenwriter’s decision to kill the character of Newt off-screen before the story kicks in is one of the greatest blunders ever for any franchise movie property. 

Alien Resurrection (1997) had its moments but the idea of bringing Ripley back as half Alien/half human never really went over well with fans and it was obvious that the premise was wearing itself thin. In 2004 Fox combined the Alien and Predator franchises and delivered the watchable but totally mediocre Alien vs. Predator. With a cast of mostly unknown actors and a relatively economical budget, the film produced a nice profit for the studio and the result was the 2007 sequel Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. While rejected by most fans and critically trashed I enjoyed Requiem strictly as B-movie fare. Still I knew in my gut that movies featuring the Alien had pretty much run their course. So the question is: Is Ridley Scott’s involvement in this prequel reason to get excited? I say marginally, but I still feel that this franchise has little juice left regardless of who is involved. Filming on this new Alien film could get underway later this year.

May 31, 2009 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | And Beyond - Trailers & News | Alien prequel announced, Carl Rinsch, Ridley Scott | Leave a Comment