Another one: 'Alien' prepares to be rebooted (1 Viewer)

[oscar_merkx]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/17488/ridley-scott-talks-alien-prequels

Talking at the L.A. Times Hero Complex Film Festival, director Ridley Scott revealed that the script for the "Alien" prequel has been completed and pre-production is currently underway according to FearNet.


As previously reported, the focus will be on the origin of the 'Space Jockey', the unknown alien pilot of the crashed ship carrying the more familiar xenomorph alien eggs in the original 1979 film. Surprising news though is that this prequel may not be the only one with Scott commenting that a second prequel is planned as events will take place well before the events of "Alien".

 

[Edwin-S]

I wish they would quit doing stuff like this. The first film gets its power from the fact that there is no backstory to the Alien, other than the fact that the Alien pods were being transported or somehow had been brought aboard the ship. The crew of the Nostromo stumble across it and that is when the story really starts. Who cares what happened before those events. It's irrelevant. Now, with this prequel, they are going to create a needless backstory that will always be recalled when one goes to watch the original film. Making prequels to well known properties is a worse practice than making endless, poor quality sequels.

 

[WillG]

The AvP movies are prequels as well, but they don't ruin my enjoyment of the other Alien films.


And Ridley has been interested in this story for years. He talks about it on the commentary on the original Alien DVD release.

 

[TravisR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin-S
The first film gets its power from the fact that there is no backstory to the Alien, other than the fact that the Alien pods were being transported or somehow had been brought aboard the ship. The crew of the Nostromo stumble across it and that is when the story really starts. Who cares what happened before those events. It's irrelevant.

I agree with you about the irrelevance of what happened to the ship before the Nostromo gets there but if you're that concerned about the ruining the mystique of the alien or the first movie, don't see this movie and the mystery will remain for you.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S /forum/thread/288508/another-one-alien-prepares-to-be-rebooted/60#post_3701231

 

[Sam Favate]

I agree that leaving some mystery behind what we see in the first film is important. Answers to things like that are never very satisfying. The only potential saving grace for the new movie is that Ridley Scott is behind it (actually, behind "them" -- two prequels are planned).

 

[Merrick Gearing]

Im all in favor of them providing answers about the space jockey. I do have a feeling that it will be revealed that the company knew that the derelict was there and they sent the crew their deliberately to obtain a life sample under the cover of obtaining mineral ore with Ash only knowing the truth.


The funny thing is that the company is as much the bad guy in the series as the aliens are and the company ended up being David Giler and Walter Hill's idea, which Ronald Shusett said he was greatful for that contribution, while O'Bannon said he hated it.


I'm with Shusett on that one.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Im all in favor of them providing answers about the space jockey. I do have a feeling that it will be revealed that the company knew that the derelict was there and they sent the crew their deliberately to obtain a life sample under the cover of obtaining mineral ore with Ash only knowing the truth.

Yeah, I think that's a given that the company knew something was there, but how did they know it and how much did they know? If they're really serious about two prequels, than this first one may not even get into that. The first prequel may be more concerned with the space jockey race and how they obtained the eggs.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

Alien is over 30 years old now, so the filmmakers of the prequel project cannot bank on their audience having intimate familiarity with the details of the original movie. My hope is that they are not so focused on the space jockey and company backstory that they forget to tell a compelling story that can stand alone. I hope for the best with this project, but I do not feel that it is necessary in any way.

 

[Merrick Gearing]

In Ridley we trust.

 

[Phil Edwards]

A prequel to ALIEN makes more sense than any other ideas with the franchise.

There's a whole lot of good ideas that were never used about the Alien life cycle

before the film was retooled by Walter and David Giler.... and Ridley, who proved not to be the

softy do as they tell you type they thought they hired. If they hadn't chopped a chunk off the FX budget

you would have also seen a different ending sequence. I saw Cobb's concept paintings for what was never shot

for that extended sequence, something far more edge-of-the-seat than what exists.


As for the POTA remake... had they let Tim Burton make the film they hired him to make, i.e. an adaptation of the original novel,

then it might have been another interesting Tim Burton movie. That's almost a point in the film where you can see Burton

gave up the fight and just finished the film.


Phil E.

 

[Phil Edwards]

And yes, in Ridley we do trust.


Phil E.

 

[Merrick Gearing]

Originally Posted by Phil Edwards

A prequel to ALIEN makes more sense than any other ideas with the franchise.

There's a whole lot of good ideas that were never used about the Alien life cycle

before the film was retooled by Walter and David Giler.... and Ridley, who proved not to be the

softy do as they tell you type they thought they hired. If they hadn't chopped a chunk off the FX budget

you would have also seen a different ending sequence. I saw Cobb's concept paintings for what was never shot

for that extended sequence, something far more edge-of-the-seat than what exists.


As for the POTA remake... had they let Tim Burton make the film they hired him to make, i.e. an adaptation of the original novel,

then it might have been another interesting Tim Burton movie. That's almost a point in the film where you can see Burton

gave up the fight and just finished the film.


Phil E.

Giler and Hill made excellent changes to the script though. Don't sell them short. They were the ones responsible for creating the company. I also think it was for the better that they left out the life cycle, because it allowed James Cameron to elaborate on it in Aliens.

 

[Sam Favate]

Is this really going to be ready by late 2011? Seems like a lot of work to do to meet that deadline. I keep seeing these movie announcements with built-in release dates that don't seem realistic (X-Men 4, Apes/Ceasar, etc.).

 

[TravisR]

^ I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Merrick Gearing]

If the script is done as Ridley says it is then its not too much a stretch to imagine them start filming late (perhaps sooner) 2010 / early 2011 for completion by late 2011. Since they are working with established material, they don't likely have to spend a very long time on preproduction since they already know what the derelict will look like.

I would imagine they will start casting pretty soon.

 

[SWFF]

[SIZE= 12px]This sounds really bad, if it's true, and if it's true, there's no way in hell I'm gonna see a PG-13 Alien movie. Just ain't gonna happen. [/SIZE]
Is Ridley Scott's Alien prequel falling apart?
SyFy: Fans everywhere rejoiced when Ridley Scott came aboard Fox's origin story for its long-running Alien franchise—and clapped a bit when Lost's Damon Lindelof agreed to rewrite the script. But are budgetary concerns going to derail it?


Apparently, Scott's vision for the prequel—which he has described as "really tough, really nasty"—demands that he spend $250 million to make a film that he wants to be a hard R.


Fox, on the other hand, is looking for a PG-13 movie that would cost far, far less.

Scott is an Oscar-winning Hollywood powerhouse, and, by and large, he gets his way. But if Fox is unwilling to loosen the purse strings—or if Scott is unwilling to compromise—it's entirely possible we'll never get to see Alien: Year One. (Or whatever they'll call it.)

 

[TravisR]

If this info is accurate then Ridley Scott is nuts. Looking at Box Office Mojo, there's only been 60 movies that have made $250 million or more and out of that 60, three of them have been R rated movies (The Hangover, The Matrix Reloaded and The Passion Of The Christ). When you figure that that $250 million doesn't include marketing, etc. then this movie would have to be one of the biggest hits of all time (probably at least in the top 15 of all time) to turn a profit. Does anyone seriously think that this movie would make that kind of money?


It'd be nice to see Ridley Scott make another Alien movie but I certainly can't blame Fox for telling him to get lost if he wants that kind of money.

 

[Mark Hawley]

I'm pretty sure that films like "The Exorcist", "Alien", "The Godfather", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Rambo II", "Lethal Weapon 2" and "T2" would all have grosses of around $250 million each (in some cases much more) when adjusted for inflation.


The "R" rating isn't the audience-killer many studio execs seem to think it is. And a PG-13 "Alien" movie would proably signal to alot of moviegoers that it's a compromised/censored version, making many of us opting to wait for the "uncut/unrated" video release a few months down the line.


An R-rated "Alien" film as scary, exciting and intense as either of the first two "Alien" films would probably have no problem grossing about $500 million worldwide nowadays.


I think Ebert said something along the lines of studios how studios are cutting down films that should be "R" to get a "PG-13" in an effort to gain a more youthful audience, they were in fact losing much of another, older audience.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Mark Hawley

I'm pretty sure that films like "The Exorcist", "Alien", "The Godfather", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Rambo II", "Lethal Weapon 2" and "T2" would all have grosses of around $250 million each (in some cases much more) when adjusted for inflation.

According to Box Office Mojo again, The Exorcist, The Godfather, Beverly Hills Cop and Blazing Saddles are the only R rated movies in the all time top 50 adjusted for inflation. And all of those movies are more than 25 years old, the market is vastly different today than it was back then to make a comparison.


EDIT: Looking at #'s 51- 100 all time adjusted for inflation (this Alien movie would probably have to crack the top 100 of all time adjusted for inflation to make a profit), Animal House, The Passion Of The Christ, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, M.A.S.H. and Terminator 2 make the list in addition to the 4 titles above. So there's been only been nine R rated movies in the top 100 adjusted for inflation and the only one in nearly 20 years that made the kind of money that Alien would need to make is The Passion Of The Christ and that movie is obviously an anamoly since it had tons of repeat viewings and drew in people that don't normally go to the movies.