Now Playing Magazine caught up with Paul Anderson and he responds to the recent rumours of him writing a future Alien 5 movie.

“That’s not a reality,” he says. “I’ve heard that. I’ve been doing press lately for AvP and a lot of people said that. I don’t know where that came from. It’s not something I’ve been approached about… You know, when I did AvP, it was very much that I felt like I was making a standalone film that wouldn’t interfere with an Alien 5 or a Predator 3, which are both movies that I would like to see.”

He firmly denies the rumours which means the report on UK Teletext was in fact false.

Sigourney Weaver has done a new interview with IGN FilmForce but it’s nothing we’ve not heard before. She states that there has been talks between her and Ridley Scott but thinks her age is an issue as to whether Fox will make Alien 5.

“Ridley Scott and I have talked about doing one more where we go back to the original planet and see what these creatures came out of. But, I think that it would be probably unlikely that a major studio would go for it, only because one of the lead characters would be a fifty-five-year-old woman. I don’t think the audience would care at all, because I don’t think we’re as ageist as the business is. So I think that we’d be game, but I don’t think that either of us, we’re both so busy, I’m not going to sit down and write the whole script. And I didn’t rush to see Alien Vs. Predator, which looked kind of awful to me, like a video game. But I just hope that the Alien won. The Predator’s such a stupid looking creature.”

Well, I have to admit, I never expected Fox to make a special edition set of Predator 2 but I guess thanks to AvP, that is now happening. DVDAnswers reports that the 2-disc set will be released 25th January 2005 on region 1. No word on region 2 as of yet.

“Fox Home Entertainment has announced a new collector’s edition of Predator 2 which stars Kevin Peter Hall, Danny Glover, Gary Busey and Maria Conchita Alonso. The disc will be available to own from the 25th January next year, and should retail at around $19.98… Extras on this two-disc set will include an audio commentary by Director Stephan Hopkins and the writers Jim Thomas and Scott Thomas, a number of deleted sequences, a promotional gallery, a gag reel, The Predator Goes to Town (1990) featurette, an 1990 International featurette and a Creating the Ultimate Hunter featurette.”

Empire did a recent interview with AvP director Paul Anderson and answers a few things about the film, particularly why the alien life cycle was speeded up. He also makes it clear that he won’t be involved in any potential Alien/Predator sequels because he made AvP to re-ignite interest in the two franchises.

“I’m not attached to any sequel. I never really made the movie with the intention of making a sequel. I wanted to do it as a stand-alone film that could hopefully succeed in its own terms, but also re-energise both franchises. So that Fox could go: “Well, that made a lot of money! If you want to see Predators and Aliens again let’s make a Predator 3, let’s make an Alien 5.” The PredAlien was in the movie because it’s a really cool creature from the comic books and I felt it had to be in the film. I really wanted to see it.”

I hope this isn’t true but two articles on Dark Horizons and IGN FilmForce have reported that UK Teletext said that Paul Anderson is going to write Alien 5.

“UK Teletext reports that British director Paul W. S. Anderson is to write the sixth movie in the “Alien” franchise, according to sources close to the film maker. Whether that includes the return of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) however is unknown. The offer for the moment is simply to pen the script, not to direct as such although that may happen thanks to the success of AVP. “

I assume when they say the sixth movie, they’re counting AvP as part of the Alien franchise. The teletext page is on Channel 4, page 311. Full transcript on the next page.

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Sigourney Weaver has been speaking to Ananova and has since changed her tune from last month’s article. She now says that there’ll probably be another Alien film but she won’t be in it.

“The actress also said there will probably be a fifth Alien film, but she won’t be in it.”I know there’s a script, but I haven’t read it”, she said. “Never say never, but I’m pretty sure this thing is over for me,” she added.”

MovieHole has been speaking to a Fox insider and found out that a possible Alien 5 and Predator 3 may be on the cards in the future. Apparently, there was never any plans to do a sequel to AvP.

“The plan is – new stand-alone “Predator” movies, new stand-alone “Alien” movies. No sequel to “AvP” at the moment. If anything, “AvP” was a way of a re-introducing these characters so that there could be new stand-alone films in their respective series. Never was it a plan to do a series of “AvP” movies. One ‘Predator 3′ pitch that’s been doing the rounds sounds stellar. It’s set in snowy New York, and re-introduces Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Dutch… Best of all, for the studio, it leaves it open for a “Predator 4″ – which is rumoured to feature a female rogue. As for “Alien”, the latest is that it’ll be a Ridley Scott – Sigourney Weaver re-team. Talk is underway, but it’s still early days.”

Sam Park, who wrote a script for Predator 3 a while back has been speaking to MovieHole and says a little bit about his script:

“And “Predator 3″? “Who knows? All I know is that once upon a time I and Clay McBride wrote an unsolicited treatment for “Predator 3″ that Joel Silver liked but he wasn’t interested in producing because he was creating product exclusively for Warner at the time with no connections to Fox who owns the Predator franchise. Everyone that read Clay and my story treatment thought it was terrific along with how it sets up more sequels with unusual twists. I think that if I’m ever to have a chance at pitching a Predator idea to Fox I’ll have to succeed with one of the other script projects first. “

If I remember correctly, his script was called “Predator 3: The Deadlier of the Species” and features Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Dutch, in New York during a blizzard. A Predator comes to New York and tracks down Dutch to try and kill him.

A new article has surfaced on IMDB, where Sigourney Weaver talks about Alien 5. She says she hopes it will be a lot like the first Alien film.

“Hollywood superstar Sigourney Weaver has hinted she may consider starring in another Alien sequel – to explore character Ellen Ripley’s dark side. The statuesque actress – who was nominated an Oscar for her performance in first sequel Aliens – wants the franchise to return to its small beginnings by focusing on the psychology of gun-totting Ripley. Sigourney says, “I always said to Tom Rothman, who runs Fox, that I thought it would be interesting to do a small, spooky movie, more like the first one; a psychological thriller that could take Ripley to whatever the next stage may be. Which side would win out, the Jekyll or the Hyde?”

Some new conceptual artwork for Alien vs Predator has turned up on Yahoo Movies. In the four new pieces, one shows the security team exploring in the pyramid, then the predator statues, then a tomb and finally a picture of someone in an ice chamber. The first artwork image is below, the rest are on the next page.

Thanks to Demonio Cazador for the news.

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