Collider’s Frosty seems to be under the impression that Fox has possible plans to eventually make a giant time jump in the Alien franchise moving past both David’s films Prometheus/Alien: Covenant (will Alien: Awakening ever see the light of day?) and Ripley’s saga. Setting the new batch of Alien films in the distant future. I assume to sever all ties to the previous films, concepts, and characters allowing some need ideas to surface.
Treat as a rumor for the moment. If this didn’t get much traction from our friends over at AVPGalaxy it suggests that there isn’t much fuel to it.
You should always be cautious about rumors from outlets that don’t end up written up on their site. Mainly, because they’re putting their necks out a bit more when it’s in print rather than saying something off-handed as a “rumor” in a video.
I mean this could make some sense, but I’m not entirely sure how accurate this is when Fox had been bouncing between Ridley’s David saga and giving Neill Blomkamp a crack at Alien 5 (Alien 6 was on the table too) with a returning Sigourney Weaver as Ripley finishing her story (possibly handing off the franchise to Newt). James Cameron had given his blessing for Alien 5 along with praising Blomkamp’s script, despite Ridley suggesting it didn’t exist. Budgets aside, Blomkamp likely wasn’t asking for $100M to make his film when he’s able to work with less.
Some are suggesting this means a “reboot”. Although, it’s not a reboot if canon of the Ripley and David films are still intact. A reboot would suggest none of it existed or that the original Alien is being remade, which neither sounds to be the case here, just a big time jump from Alien:Covenant/Alien Resurrection.
This might have a little bit to do with HollywoodReporter’s recent mentioning that the studio is “reassessing” their sequel plans after the box office disappointment of Alien: Covenant, even though the film got decent reactions/reviews. It remains to be seen if Fox will humor Ridley and allow him to finish up with Alien: Awakening focusing on the colonists before it directly connects to the original Alien before these other films are placed into development.
Nothing suggests that Fox is abandoning Awakening but seeking some lower budgeted sequels with Scott on the sidelines as a producer wouldn’t be a terrible idea. I’d personally like to see directors like Jonathan Glazer (Under The Skin, Sexy Beast), Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Blade Runner 2049) or Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) take a run at the franchise with smaller budgets. Denis recently working alongside Ridley on the Blade Runner sequel suggests a level of trust on Scott’s part. Villeneuve has been recently linked to direct The Batman and Bond 25, so he’s certainly open to working on other existing franchises. I don’t think a lot of people noticed that Scott took a lot of shots for Covenant directly from Glazer’s Under The Skin. Given creative freedom and enough time he could develop one hell of a stunningly weird Alien film.
Then again, Neill Blomkamp has been proving with his Oats Studios shorts that he deserves another chance to make an Alien film.
SOURCE: COLLIDER