Katherine Waterston regarding Alien: Covenant sequel

Started by Immortan Jonesy, Jan 11, 2019, 08:42:22 PM

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Katherine Waterston regarding Alien: Covenant sequel (Read 24,981 times)

Corporal Hicks

Quote from: The Eighth Passenger on Jan 18, 2019, 09:50:36 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 18, 2019, 08:52:35 AM
I don't mind the idea of him with some Engineer-technology. I had expected (hoped) he'd come back in Covenant with some funky Engineer body.

That would have looked f'king ridiculous. Can you imagine a little pinheaded David noggin mounted on top of a humongous Engineer body?  :laugh:

I'm sure he'd have figured out a way to make it more aesthetically pleasing to him. 

Necronomicon II

Grafted to his toned buttocks of steel. ;D

bb-15

Quote from: Choppa Dutchy on Jan 15, 2019, 11:58:21 AM
Just like Alien Resurrection hinted at a sequel back in 1997, 20th Century Fox took a look at box office receipts and hit the cancellation button.
When the Alien Covenant bombed, they did the same thing. 
The Alien / Prometheus prequel time-line is dead, effectively.
When we eventually do see the Alien franchise return to the big screen (and I'm convinced it will happen), it won't a continuation of what Ridley Scott had planned (although I would have loved to have seen what David did next).  I think they'll instead revisit the Ripley character, or, most likely, her daughter, Amanda.
Reduce the budget, take the franchise back to it's horror-house roots.  That's what I think is more likely.

I understand the disappointment but AC did not bomb. It underperformed.
A box office "bomb" is when a movie can't make double the production budget at the box office. (Studios get about 1/2 of box office money partly through strange Hollywood accounting.)
So a "bomb" can't even pay for its production budget (and make up other costs through streaming, cable, disk sales).
- Examples of box office bombs; "Solo: A Star Wars Story", "Star Trek Beyond", "Green Lantern", "John Carter".

"Alien Covenant" had a Production Budget = $97 million.
Total box office = $240,891,763.
AC made 2.48 times its production budget.
That's about the same ratio as "Batman Begins" (box office 2.49 times the production budget); also not a bomb.

The difference is that in the past Fox and Warner Brothers would do sequels for underperforming films.
Disney which is now in charge of Fox films, wants blockbusters. Alien and Predator movies haven't been blockbusters for decades.

;)

Necronomicon II

Nor should they necessarily be blockbusters.

yhe1

Quote from: bb-15 on Jan 20, 2019, 09:03:17 PM
Quote from: Choppa Dutchy on Jan 15, 2019, 11:58:21 AM
Just like Alien Resurrection hinted at a sequel back in 1997, 20th Century Fox took a look at box office receipts and hit the cancellation button.
When the Alien Covenant bombed, they did the same thing. 
The Alien / Prometheus prequel time-line is dead, effectively.
When we eventually do see the Alien franchise return to the big screen (and I'm convinced it will happen), it won't a continuation of what Ridley Scott had planned (although I would have loved to have seen what David did next).  I think they'll instead revisit the Ripley character, or, most likely, her daughter, Amanda.
Reduce the budget, take the franchise back to it's horror-house roots.  That's what I think is more likely.


I understand the disappointment but AC did not bomb. It underperformed.
A box office "bomb" is when a movie can't make double the production budget at the box office. (Studios get about 1/2 of box office money partly through strange Hollywood accounting.)
So a "bomb" can't even pay for its production budget (and make up other costs through streaming, cable, disk sales).
- Examples of box office bombs; "Solo: A Star Wars Story", "Star Trek Beyond", "Green Lantern", "John Carter".

"Alien Covenant" had a Production Budget = $97 million.
Total box office = $240,891,763.
AC made 2.48 times its production budget.
That's about the same ratio as "Batman Begins" (box office 2.49 times the production budget); also not a bomb.

The difference is that in the past Fox and Warner Brothers would do sequels for underperforming films.
Disney which is now in charge of Fox films, wants blockbusters. Alien and Predator movies haven't been blockbusters for decades.

;)


It is a bomb because the marketing for AC was really expensive.

PsyKore

Yeah, marketing was huge. But Fox are silly though; putting huge amounts of money into and expecting big financial results for a nihilistic horror monster film no one is taking their kids or grandparents to see. It still did well considering the franchise's reputation and its restrictions as a genre, however.

Alien and Aliens became famous (don't know if they were actual blockbusters in their time) and made money because they were good films. Nowadays they try to do it the other way around.

SiL

Quote from: PsyKore on Jan 23, 2019, 12:03:49 AM
Yeah, marketing was huge. But Fox are silly though; putting huge amounts of money into and expecting big financial results for a nihilistic horror monster film no one is taking their kids or grandparents to see. It still did well considering the franchise's reputation and its restrictions as a genre, however.
Prometheus did it and did well financially.

PsyKore

Quote from: SiL on Jan 23, 2019, 12:17:11 AM
Quote from: PsyKore on Jan 23, 2019, 12:03:49 AM
Yeah, marketing was huge. But Fox are silly though; putting huge amounts of money into and expecting big financial results for a nihilistic horror monster film no one is taking their kids or grandparents to see. It still did well considering the franchise's reputation and its restrictions as a genre, however.
Prometheus did it and did well financially.

Granted. But not under the 'Alien' name.

Huggs

I'd wager a lot of the Prometheus money was hype because it was the first film movie set strictly in the Alien universe (non AVP) since Resurrection and also saw the return of the original director. Hell, I almost went to see it, and I hadn't been to the theater since Aladdin at that point. Even my father was asking if I was going to see the "new alien movie".

The Old One

The Old One

#69
^Yep.

SiL

And none of this changes the fact they put huge amounts of money into a nihilistic monster movie and got that money back. Clearly the genre isn't the issue.

The Old One

The Old One

#71
Agreed.

It's the f**king writing.

Necronomicon II

It had a hell of a trailer too. Two of them.

PsyKore

Quote from: SiL on Jan 23, 2019, 02:48:52 AM
And none of this changes the fact they put huge amounts of money into a nihilistic monster movie and got that money back. Clearly the genre isn't the issue.

I disagree. Genre definitely is a factor. Covenant was marketed like a slasher film, to be like a classic Alien movie, with emphasis on gore and the return of the classic creature. Prometheus, even though it's related to the franchise, had much more broader appeal because it wasn't sold like a slasher.

SiL

SiL

#74
Quote from: PsyKore on Jan 23, 2019, 10:57:07 AM
I disagree. Genre definitely is a factor. Covenant was marketed like a slasher film, to be like a classic Alien movie, with emphasis on gore and the return of the classic creature. Prometheus, even though it's related to the franchise, had much more broader appeal because it wasn't sold like a slasher.
Then your argument is marketing is important, and I'm not about to question that because it is.

We could also argue whether people simply felt Covenant was a worse movie, but that's harder to quantify.

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