Alien 5 to be directed by Neill Blomkamp

[TigerClaw]

Its official, the 5th film in the Alien franchise, Will be directed by Neill Blomkamp. The new film will take place years after Prometheus 2, Which is still being developed by Ridley Scott, Who will also be producing the new Alien film.
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/ne...mp-1201436551/

[NinjaPug]

I'm just glad they're still developing a sequel to Prometheus.

[Spike Spiegel]

Prometheus was terribly underrated, IMHO.

I'm still trying to figure out if this is going to retcon Alien 3 and Resurrection.

[THGhost]

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

I'm still trying to figure out if this is going to retcon Alien 3 and Resurrection.

Given Sigourney Weaver's age, if she's going to star in it as Ripley, it'll have to be set after them. Besides, I really want to see what happens after Resurrection. Surely Call's batteries will have worn out by now, leaving Ripley to defend for herself.

[Candy Kappa]

Eeeew... It's going to be canon with Prometheous. My interest went from 100 to -25 real quick.

[pennydreadful]

Yeah, I absolutely loathed Prometheus... as a sci-fi movie, I'm sure that plenty of people found it enjoyable - but I'm definitely not one of those people. As an entry to the Aliens franchise, it fell flat - it was slow-moving and had zero tension and I was bored out of my skull. When I invest 90+ minutes of my time for a movie that has the Aliens brand on it, I expect to see xenomorphs (and not some rubbish 5 seconds of footage that's tacked onto the very end of the movie).

Back on-topic slightly (as I could rant forever about Prometheus) - I would prefer that they just ignore Alien 3 and Resurrection altogether and make this movie the sequel to Aliens that we should've gotten in the first place. I like Alien 3, I really do - but I have no problems admitting that it was a rushed-out movie that suffered hugely as a final product because of the ridiculous amount of studio interference.

[B-Man]

Yeah I too didn't find Prometheus satisfying as a sci-fi/thriller, let alone as a friggin Alien prequel (seriously, THAT was the Space Jockey movie???). It tries to be smart & thought-provoking & then turns into a dumb monster movie two seconds later. The only real thoughts I was left with was Fassbender is a great actor / Theron is hot / Can we have a *real* Alien movie next please...

This is great news. It's been the Alien Quadrilogy long enough. Blomkamp's fan art was a direct sequel to Aliens. It'd be something if Fox let's him retcon Alien3 and Resurrection and make the Aliens sequel we never got (it'd be a studio commissioned fan film). I've always had a soft spot for Alien 3 (good movie/bad sequel) but there's no getting around the fact it's not what anybody wanted after Aliens. The whole thing is an epic slap in the face. Resurrection was a fun return to Aliens-style shoot em' up but the last act completely f*cks it over. Can't wait to see how this pans out & its not stopping Prometheus fans from getting their sequel too (I wonder if the two films will be released in the same year).

also, its such a bummer that Alien vs Predator didn't work out. They gave it two goes and both were pathetic. It'll never happen again. A potentially amazing movie franchise down the drain

[pennydreadful]

Resurrection had enjoyable moments, but I'd hesitate to call it a good Aliens film. Or even a good film at all.

I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I find that Joss Whedon tends to write the same characters over and over in everything he does. That, combined with the weird French art-house frippery ("you are a beautiful, beautiful butterfly!"), just ended up making it a garbled mess (is it horror? is it comedy? is it action?)... and ultimately, the end result was that the xenomorphs were not scary. Which I consider unforgivable, considering that we know from the first two films that they can be scary. Giger created one of the most iconic screen monsters of all time, which plays on so many subconscious fears - there's no excuse for a non-scary xenomorph.

Ripley's arc fizzled out entirely - we should've been faced with a character who's had her entire life destroyed by these monsters, a character who gave her life to wiping them out... now she's been brought back and she's got part of them in her - we should've gotten some emotional conflict. Instead, we get standard Whedon-esque wisecracks, jokes about her inability to pronounce the word "fork", basketball brawls and eventually, she buddies up with the little gang of Firefly-clones. There's no emotional resonance to the film - it's popcorn fluff. And y'know, that's fair enough, it is what it is - but I feel that Ripley and the fans deserved something more.

I own Resurrection, I watch it, it's not 100% worthless as a piece of cinema - it has some funny moments, some likable characters (most of whom were killed off far too early) and a talented cast, but I feel that in the end, the whole thing was let down by the script and the director. Ultimately, while it may be entertaining as a film, it's once again a very, very flawed entry to the franchise... and I find Whedon's incessant tropery to be rather grating unless it's meted out in small doses. His brand of humor does not work with the tone that the series requires. The dry humor of Aliens worked without detracting from the fact that they were in a scary situation - the uber-hip, self-aware posturing we got in Resurrection (and that Whedon inserts into everything he does) lowered the stakes for the situation they were in.

I'm not even going to get into the AvP messes, because that's just too much rage for one day, and I fear that I'd start bleeding from the eyeballs if I dwell on it for too long.

[Spike Spiegel]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

I would prefer that they just ignore Alien 3 and Resurrection altogether and make this movie the sequel to Aliens that we should've gotten in the first place. I like Alien 3, I really do - but I have no problems admitting that it was a rushed-out movie that suffered hugely as a final product because of the ridiculous amount of studio interference.

You should check out the first few volumes of the Dark Horse "Aliens" comics and shed a tear at what could have been. Hicks and Newt are in the first storyarc, but later reprints changed their names after Alien 3 was released in '92. Ripley appeared too, but was then retconned into being a synthetic that used Ripley as a template.

[pennydreadful]

Oh yeah, I love the Dark Horse comics (and a number of the novels as well) - probably why I'm such an uppity snot about the movie-verse.

I really love the arc they did where jelly from the alien queen became this new cult drug; it'd be really interesting to see that in a movie.

[Metalwolf]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

Yeah, I absolutely loathed Prometheus... as a sci-fi movie, I'm sure that plenty of people found it enjoyable - but I'm definitely not one of those people. As an entry to the Aliens franchise, it fell flat - it was slow-moving and had zero tension and I was bored out of my skull. When I invest 90+ minutes of my time for a movie that has the Aliens brand on it, I expect to see xenomorphs (and not some rubbish 5 seconds of footage that's tacked onto the very end of the movie).

I think as an entry to the Aliens franchise, it did one thing that I can't forgive it for- and that is retconning the alien out Aliens. They are no longer 'perfect organisms' from outer space, but something that is the result of a black goo created by these pale giants that are the predecessors to humanity.

When I learned that, I thught 'What the hell?! Part of the Aliens appeal is that they are aliens, why did they have to make them related to humans in some way? It's the most dullest trope in the book!" To be honest, I would rather have had stuff with AvP over Prometheus, because at least AvP let them remain aliens. Heck, I would have even taken the freakish looking NewBorn from Resurrection keeping it's weird intersex genitals over anything making the Aliens not alien. All of that gladly, over the stupid Prometheus retcon.

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

Oh yeah, I love the Dark Horse comics (and a number of the novels as well) - probably why I'm such an uppity snot about the movie-verse.

I really love the arc they did where jelly from the alien queen became this new cult drug; it'd be really interesting to see that in a movie.

I loved those comics too, they just did a lot of cool and quirky stuff that made stuff interesting. Did you ever see the one that had the synth Alien 'Norbert?' I thought he was cool, even though he was kind of programmed to work for the bad guys.

[B-Man]

penny I agree with your take on Resurrection but I liked it's use of Xenomorphs. It took them out of the shadows & treated them as animals, like Velociraptors or something. I remember seeing in theaters and thinking "well this is new". They do work better as the serial killers who hide in the backseat & kill you while you're piloting a ship but Resurrection's take on them was freshing. I don't think that film was ever meant to be scary (the chestburster scene is almost a gag). Hard to make the Xenomorphs scary when they're well-lit & always out in the open. I wonder how Blomkamp will portray them.

[pennydreadful]

Originally Posted by Metalwolf

I think as an entry to the Aliens franchise, it did one thing that I can't forgive it for- and that is retconning the alien out Aliens. They are no longer 'perfect organisms' from outer space, but something that is the result of a black goo created by these pale giants that are the predecessors to humanity.

When I learned that, I thught 'What the hell?! Part of the Aliens appeal is that they are aliens, why did they have to make them related to humans in some way? It's the most dullest trope in the book!" To be honest, I would rather have had stuff with AvP over Prometheus, because at least AvP let them remain aliens. Heck, I would have even taken the freakish looking NewBorn from Resurrection keeping it's weird intersex genitals over anything making the Aliens not alien. All of that gladly, over the stupid Prometheus retcon.

I loved those comics too, they just did a lot of cool and quirky stuff that made stuff interesting. Did you ever see the one that had the synth Alien 'Norbert?' I thought he was cool, even though he was kind of programmed to work for the bad guys.

gods, yes. The black goo and convoluted origin with the Engineers was just... yeah. In all honesty, I don't see the need for a backstory explaining how the aliens were created. Can't the monster just be a monster? Isn't part of the not knowing what adds to their mystique?

I think sometimes in fandoms, we think we want a thing... and then when you get it, you realize that you're better off not knowing and having a bit of mystery, because no origin will ever match up with what you had in your head. If every little thing is explained and laid out to the nth degree... sometimes it takes away some of the magic.

Case in point: both the Star Wars prequels and Wolverine: Origins (the comic, not the movie). Both a huge let-down. Some things are just better left alone.

Perhaps there are some things... man was not meant to tamper with.

I do remember the story you mentioned, but I've got to admit, it's been a such a long time that I don't have much more than a vague recollection of it. I remember there was another really good book I read where this insane artist guy had a captive alien and he was recording its screams and turning it into sort of weird avante-garde music. As you can imagine, it did not end well for him.

Originally Posted by B-Man

penny I agree with your take on Resurrection but I liked it's use of Xenomorphs. It took them out of the shadows & treated them as animals, like Velociraptors or something. I remember seeing in theaters and thinking "well this is new". They do work better as the serial killers who hide in the backseat & kill you while you're piloting a ship but Resurrection's take on them was freshing. I don't think that film was ever meant to be scary (the chestburster scene is almost a gag). Hard to make the Xenomorphs scary when they're well-lit & always out in the open. I wonder how Blomkamp will portray them.

It was fun seeing them in the water, I'll give you that. I probably just would've enjoyed it more if the scene weren't so well-lit and if it were executed a little differently. I like to think of them as aliens rather than animals - it makes them scarier when you're not quite sure exactly how intelligent they are; it keeps you guessing.

What made Aliens so pants-sh*ttingly scary is that you didn't just see the xenomorphs - you saw what they'd done to the colony. That's the key to a good Aliens flick - knowing the right balance of xenomorph action. Not enough (like Prometheus) and it's a suckfest. Too much, and taking them out of the dark (like Resurrection) and it's also a problem.

I actually really liked a lot of Giger's redesign ideas for the alien in the third movie (I don't know if you've seen the doco on the box-set, but he had some beautiful ideas and there was a 3d maquette that had been made up which was just... wow. It had all the sleek lines of the creature we saw in the movie, but there were blades in between the fingers and it was just a magnificent redesign - it would've been great to have seen it that way).

It's interesting to explore the idea of variations in physiology depending on which creature they gestated in - though of course, if you take it too far, we end up with silliness like the hybrid in AvP.

I have high hopes that this is going to be a return to form; I get the impression that Blomkamp will have a fair amount of creative control over the project, based on my interpretation of what he's said in interviews.

[THGhost]

I really enjoy the Special Edition of Alien 3, loathe the Theatrical Cut and I enjoy Resurrection for what it is. Prometheus - it has its fair share of problems and probably doesn't even deserve to be considered canon within the Alien franchise at all, but I still like it. It's a decent Sci-Fi flick if nothing else.

I think it would be a big thing to ask for audiences to forget that 3 & Resurrection even happened. Some people will still want to know what happened after "Ripley" and Call arrived back on Earth (it was Earth, wasn't it?).

I'm just glad a new director can breathe new life into the franchise, because I think it's pretty clear that Ridley Scott has forgotten what make the first Alien so great in the first place.

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

I actually really liked a lot of Giger's redesign ideas for the alien in the third movie (I don't know if you've seen the doco on the box-set, but he had some beautiful ideas and there was a 3d maquette that had been made up which was just... wow. It had all the sleek lines of the creature we saw in the movie, but there were blades in between the fingers and it was just a magnificent redesign - it would've been great to have seen it that way).

It had pouty lips and licked your guts out from the inside at one point, I seem to remember.

This may be controversial, but the last couple of times I've watched Aliens, it's kinda grated on me. It has that problem that afflicts a lot of military themed movies is so far as you are continuously told what a crack, bad-ass unit the protagonists are, but all on screen evidence points to a bunch of douche-bags who suck at their jobs.

Probably the thing that grinds the most is why can't Gorman just come right out and say "Hey guys, your dangerously close to a huge reactor that will explode and kill us all if you shoot it." Instead he just says no live fire, with no explanation or thought to how they are going to defend themselves. Apone makes them hand in their ammunition, because he knows that his elite unit of highly trained military specialists will disobey orders and start firing at the slightest provocation. Then they run around screaming and acting the fool until half of them are dead. 1337.

I don't like the domeless aliens either. The Alien Queen however, is probably one of the coolest things ever made.

[turtlefanforever]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

Yeah, I absolutely loathed Prometheus... as a sci-fi movie, I'm sure that plenty of people found it enjoyable - but I'm definitely not one of those people. As an entry to the Aliens franchise, it fell flat - it was slow-moving and had zero tension and I was bored out of my skull. When I invest 90+ minutes of my time for a movie that has the Aliens brand on it, I expect to see xenomorphs (and not some rubbish 5 seconds of footage that's tacked onto the very end of the movie).

Back on-topic slightly (as I could rant forever about Prometheus) - I would prefer that they just ignore Alien 3 and Resurrection altogether and make this movie the sequel to Aliens that we should've gotten in the first place. I like Alien 3, I really do - but I have no problems admitting that it was a rushed-out movie that suffered hugely as a final product because of the ridiculous amount of studio interference.

I hated that movie!!

but on the topic at hand I'm cautiously optimistic about what they can do.

[Spike Spiegel]

Originally Posted by ProactiveMan

It had pouty lips and licked your guts out from the inside at one point, I seem to remember.

This looks a lot more menacing and Freudian than the creature we got in the final version.

Originally Posted by ProactiveMan

Probably the thing that grinds the most is why can't Gorman just come right out and say "Hey guys, your dangerously close to a huge reactor that will explode and kill us all if you shoot it." Instead he just says no live fire, with no explanation or thought to how they are going to defend themselves. Apone makes them hand in their ammunition, because he knows that his elite unit of highly trained military specialists will disobey orders and start firing at the slightest provocation. Then they run around screaming and acting the fool until half of them are dead. 1337.

I agree. If they're supposed to be such an awesome team, why don't they ever synergize? Realistically, the marines should have been way more likely to survive than Ripley and Newt.

I still have a soft spot for Vasquez, and the deaths of Spunkmeyer and Ferro (the lady piloting the other drop ship) always seemed cheap to me. Also, this movie is one of many sci-fi films where the black dude (actually both of them!) die about five minutes after the nasties show up.

Looking at the concept art again, I am curious about how they will bring the action back to Earth. After all that teasing about Weyland-Yutani's plans for the creatures, it would be interesting to see how it all pans out. What if they manage to breed a human-alien hybrid that is different from what we've already seen?

[pennydreadful]

Originally Posted by ProactiveMan

Probably the thing that grinds the most is why can't Gorman just come right out and say "Hey guys, your dangerously close to a huge reactor that will explode and kill us all if you shoot it." Instead he just says no live fire, with no explanation or thought to how they are going to defend themselves. Apone makes them hand in their ammunition, because he knows that his elite unit of highly trained military specialists will disobey orders and start firing at the slightest provocation. Then they run around screaming and acting the fool until half of them are dead. 1337.

I don't like the domeless aliens either. The Alien Queen however, is probably one of the coolest things ever made.

Yeah but let's be honest - Gorman was an asshole who had no idea what he was doing.

I actually felt the Alien Queen was a little too top-heavy in the design, but I loved that she had a second set of arms - I thought that was really cool.

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/...for_alien3.jpg

This looks a lot more menacing and Freudian than the creature we got in the final version.

Word - it's deliciously psychosexually creepy; Giger at his finest.

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

I still have a soft spot for Vasquez, and the deaths of Spunkmeyer and Ferro (the lady piloting the other drop ship) always seemed cheap to me. Also, this movie is one of many sci-fi films where the black dude (actually both of them!) die about five minutes after the nasties show up.

It will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody that I have harbored a sweaty, illicit crush on Vasquez for years.

I thought it was a shame that Drake was killed off so early actually; I thought the dynamic between Drake and Vasquez was really fun. It was a shame to see Hudson die as well, though he was a (lovable) schmuck so we knew he probably wasn't going to make it to the end.

Zero surprise that both black characters got waxed early in - it ain't just with sci fi films; Hollywood has some thing about killing off black characters as early as possible in horror movies as well.

[pennydreadful]

So we've now got official word that the new movie will take place directly after Aliens, and will not be in continuity with Alien 3 or Resurrection - which I'm completely happy with.

http://www.slashfilm.com/blomkamps-alien/

Anyone here curious as to whether we'll get to see a grown-up Newt? Or whether Lance will be back as Bishop (or another Bishop model)?

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

So we've now got official word that the new movie will take place directly after Aliens, and will not be in continuity with Alien 3 or Resurrection - which I'm completely happy with.

http://www.slashfilm.com/blomkamps-alien/

Anyone here curious as to whether we'll get to see a grown-up Newt? Or whether Lance will be back as Bishop (or another Bishop model)?

That's great news.