In a recent interview with Sky Movies, Neill Blomkamp went into more detail about his next film, which will be a new Alien film. Like many folks, Blomkamp wasn’t a fan of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, and is planning for his film to take place after Aliens, effectively ignoring half of the series. This is an interesting approach, and it has stirred up a lot of debate online. Many fans are upset that the canon is being disregarded so flippantly, others are happy to see an alternate take on where Ripley’s story could go. I’m not married to the idea of “canon,” and we live in a world where stories are rebooted all the time. While this movie could definitely turn out poorly, I don’t think we need to cling so preciously to the concept of “canon.” If it’s good, then great! If not, then oh well! We already have some wonderful Alien films we can always re-watch any time. Read more…
Remember that Alien pitch director Neil Blompkamp (District 9) came up with on his own, something Fox wasn’t even really aware of until he showed them? He said he wasn’t planning on making it, that it was just something he was working on for fun. But uh…it seems he changed his mind! In a post on Instagram, Blompkamp shared another xenomorph drawing, writing “Um… So I think it’s officially my next film. #alien” as well. Obviously that’s not much to go on, but it sounds like the Alien franchise will get a new installment of some sort from an imaginative director that would fit it well. Read more…
Talk about left field: Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9, has been posting concept art on his Instagram from an Alien film he was working on. Yes, really. Blomkamp doesn’t really elaborate too much, aside from saying “Was working on this. Don’t think I am anymore. Love it though.” Theories abound, one mentioning that perhaps Blomkamp and Sigourney Weaver began brainstorming an idea while working together on his upcoming film (currently in post-production), Chappie. Either way, this seems to be fairly dead, especially with Blomkamp posting the concept art freely… although perhaps it’s a power play to garner interest? Well, probably not. Gaze upon the gorgeous art below! Read more…
It’s hard to think of many aliens more iconic than the Xenomorph of Ridley Scott’s Alien. Scott realizes we still need new attempts though, so apparently he has teased a new alien to appear in the third act of Prometheus 2. Scott said that he’d avoid species from previous Alien films, and to “Stop the dragons.” The rumor of God or Satan being involved was also denied. I’m not that surprised, I always figured there were more aliens in that version of space. I’d be interested to hear how they may relate to other species though. Read more…
Sega is putting fans of Alien in a very awkward position right now. They’re publishing Alien: Isolation, a game that promises to emulate the first movie’s horror and tension instead of taking its cues from Aliens. Now, you can pre-order anywhere and get upgraded to the Nostromo Edition, which includes a bonus mission, “Crew Expendable.” The mission will feature Sigourney Weever and other original cast from the film and let you play as Ellen Ripley, Dallas, or Parker as they try to lure the xenomorph to the airlock after Brett’s death. If you preorder from Gamestop, you also get “Last Survivor,” which has Ripley trying to escape on the Narcissus during the film’s climax. Those missions sound great, but that’s not the problem. Read more…
Super7 has some pretty cool collectibles at SDCC this year (like this Alien egg with blind-boxed figures contained inside), but the one that really caught my eye was their Alien Egg Chamber playset, complete with Kane, base, and cardboard backdrop. The perfect finishing touch? The Kenner-style retro boxart. It’s perfect! Sadly, you’ll have to be attending SDCC to grab these, and they’ll be limited to only 250 pieces at $100 each. Yeah, it’s a little much, but it’ll probably be a rare collectible in the future so… good luck, SDCC folks! Check out their Facebook page here to more updates. Read more…
Hans Ruedi Giger, a Swiss artist responsible for much of the design of Alien, Prometheus, and many other films, has passed away at age 74, due to injuries caused by a fall. H.R. Giger was most well-known for his biomechanical art, which combined living and mechanical elements in horrifying fashion. One of his paintings, Necronom IV, was reused by the artist as the template from which Alien‘s xenomorph was designed. It’s impossible to sum up this man’s artist accomplishments beyond Alien, but a good place to start would be checking out collections of his art like Necronomicon. It’s sure to give you nightmares. Read more…
We still don’t know if the game Alien: Isolation will be any good, but at the very least the developers seem to have their hearts in the right place. In this recent developer diary, they go over their love for the original Alien film and how they’re working to preserve the “lo-fi sci-fi” feel it had. They also state that they refused to make anything that couldn’t have been built on the original set, which is a bit of a stretch, but I appreciate the care and thought they’re putting into it. According to this, they also ran UI elements through VHS tapes to give them that “rough” and “fuzzy” feeling. I hope it all pays off! The video is embedded below. Read more…
I’m overly optimistic, perhaps. After years of bad Alien games, I keep hoping, beyond all reason, that the next one will be good. Creative Assembly’s upcoming Alien: Isolation looks to be doing a lot of things right: there’s only one alien, you have to be sneaky, there’s no modern technology (it all abides by the original film’s standards), and your main item is a motion detector. All the pieces are there, but it remains to be seen if they come together well. I really hope it does, because I want a good Alien game… so bad. CA announced that the game will arrive October 7th, later this year, so I’ll report back then. Let’s hope we’re not disappointed! Read more…
The most recent game based on Alien/Aliens was 2013’s Aliens: Colonial Marines, one of the worst games of the year that failed to live up to any of the apparently-false advertising and press demos. Everyone’s rightfully wary of any future games in the franchise, but let’s give Creative Assembly (known for Total War) a shot. They’re making Alien: Isolation, a survival horror game about Amanda Ripley — the daughter mentioned as having died of old age at the beginning of Aliens — exploring a space station to find info on Ellen Ripley and the Nostromo. Instead of hundreds of xenomorph enemies that are treated like cannon fodder, there’s only one, nine-foot-tall, formidable xenomorph that hunts Amanda throughout the game; they’re clearly aiming more for the horror of Alien than the action of Aliens with this game. Read more…
With the recent release of Star Trek Into Darkness and the constant buzz surrounding 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII, the franchises continue to be big in the public eye. But if these two franchises were stars, how bright would they be? The New Yorker has charted the two franchises, as well as several other prominent franchises throughout the past few decades, to see which franchise has raked in the most money. Unsurprisingly, James Bond wins that, due to there being 24 films in the franchise. But when ranked by what a franchise’s average film earned, Star Wars was the clear winner, as well as in franchise profitability. (Even the prequels couldn’t ruin that!) Since we can’t embed it, you can see the full chart here and find where your favorite franchise wound up. Read more…
Take a moment next time you watch E.T. or Alien, and really pay attention to the effects that helped make those movies so memorable, because you’re looking at the work of Carlo Rambaldi. He designed the cuddly extra-terrestrial from Steven Spielberg’s film, among many other popular works. He also famously created the effects for 1971’s A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin dog mutilation scenes, which at the time, were considered so realistic the film’s director was prosecuted for animal cruelty, only to be proved innocent by Rambaldi’s film props. He passed away at 86 after a long illness, and will be dearly missed.
Just look at that beautiful image up there. That’s a new LEGO set due this holiday season based on Bag End, from the Hobbit. And it’s amazing. I doubt there is a more perfect LEGO set on the market right now. Like I said, you’ll have to wait till Christmas to grab it, but San Diego Comic-Con has brought us this first look. We’ve also got some Star Wars LEGOs and Kenner Alien figures after the jump! Read more…
And now Ridley Scott wants Harrison Ford for Blade Runner II? The saddest thing an artist can do is to be forced to go back to their past to amuse the masses. This was the trap that poor George Lucas fell into: Try-and-try as he did to remake Star Wars he couldn’t pull it off. The result? Of course we all stood in line and watched Jar Jar Binks, but now that it’s been more than a decade since The Phantom Menace and today fanboys still yearn for the real thing — Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. And sadly I fear Ridley Scott is going down the same path to schlockdom. Read more…
I have to admit that as a jaded fanboy the idea of revisiting the Alien universe leaves me feeling a bit jaded — but this trailer that Ridley Scott could pull this thing off: Read more…
So that’s pretty much that. Ridley Scott announced today that his planned Alien prequel is dead, but he’s making a new film with ideas from the abandoned project. The new film, titled Prometheus, is being penned by Scott and Damon Lindelof, and Scott extolls its “unique, large and provocative” ideas. According to Scott, the film has “Alien DNA,” though he means in terms of concept and scope, not that actual xenomorph DNA will figure into the plot somehow. Fox, to their credit, has backed Scott’s plan and given the film a March 9th, 2012 release date.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 10, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
Word was that Ridley Scott’s long-planned prequel to the sci-fi classic Alien had been pushed back to 2013 or 2014 at best, or shelved at worst. But it looks like it’s finally happening, with production slated to begin in March and a promise of old-school claustrophobia and horror. There’s even casting going on, with some notable hopefuls, including Michelle Yeoh. Sounds good so far! The only weird thing is the actual title, which is “Paradise,” though we’re not sure if it’s just Paradise or whether it’ll be called Alien: Paradise or something along those lines. Kind of an odd name for an Alien movie, but maybe it’s supposed to be ironic. Read more…
What makes this Alien themed USB device so cool is that when you plug it in it sticks out its inner mouth you and lights up in red at random: Read more…
The old school Alien Facehugger was a nasty creature: A nasty parasitoid that makes contact with the hosts mouth and wraps its tail around the victims throat. However this cuter version of the Alien Facehugger is made out of plush and just wants to be your friend (and to amuse your friends at parties): Read more…
I won’t give away my age but at the time I couldn’t see Alien because i was an R rated movie and i was too young — so what funny about this commercial was that they had a toy for the film which was clearly aimed a kids. It should be noted that a bit after the film came out that it was very popular in the early days of cable television, along with other R rated science fiction films I discovered from that era like Mad Max and the Warriors. Read more…
