AvPGalaxy's Favourite Movie

[BlueMarsalis79]

Alien's the original one, it's the best one, it's far superior to everything after.

[Voodoo Magic]

These numbers are also part of a poll that's been basically stagnant for 13 years, however, and only really represent the opinions of a tiny group of people that will actually log in online and spend time talking about this kind of stuff in a forum.

Granted, but I think if any new cohort of people were to watch all these films, their conclusion would still be the same.  Aliens would come out on top.  I get the appeal of Alien, and it got the whole ball rolling, but Aliens is just in a league of its own.

I see Aliens very similar to how Terminator 2: Judgment Day was pubically received. Both Alien and The Terminator are wonderful films, but it was the sequels that won the hearts of the masses and elevated the properties into blockbuster franchises.

[Nightmare Asylum]

I'd agree with that in Terminator's case (even though I'm the weirdo that prefers The Terminator to Judgement Day – I still very much love the second one, though) but I really do feel like it is much more evenly split in the case of the first two Alien films, at least in what I've experienced first hand.

[kwisatz]

I'd agree with that in Terminator's case (even though I'm the weirdo that prefers The Terminator to Judgement Day–I still very much love the second one, though) but I really do feel like it is much more evenly split in the case of the first two Alien films, at least in what I've experienced first hand.

What weirdo tho. The first is easily the best: dark, brutal and fast-paced. Actually the second anticipates a lot of the negative phenomena that turn the later installments into shitshows. Only they don't have the upper hand yet.   

[Kradan]

Alien's the original one, it's the best one, it's far superior to everything after.

Because it's original one ?

[Voodoo Magic]

I'd agree with that in Terminator's case (even though I'm the weirdo that prefers The Terminator to Judgement Day – I still very much love the second one, though) but I really do feel like it is much more evenly split in the case of the first two Alien films, at least in what I've experienced first hand.

Well among fans here... Perfect-Organism ain't lying.   

[kwisatz]

It's not rocket science anyway. Both sequels are action-opera versions of their predecessors, giving them mass appeal. Even though well made I'm not sure one can just more or less skip the originality aspect when it comes to their appraisal. Still - opinions be opinions.

[Perfect-Organism]

I'd agree with that in Terminator's case (even though I'm the weirdo that prefers The Terminator to Judgement Day – I still very much love the second one, though) but I really do feel like it is much more evenly split in the case of the first two Alien films, at least in what I've experienced first hand.

Well among fans here... Perfect-Organism ain't lying.   

I kid you not.  Aliens wins by a significant margin.  Marvel would do well to follow the vibe of the second film.  However, I think there would be merit to doing Aliens and Alien comics that follow the tone of those respective films.

[HuDaFuK]

I don't know about that. Out in the general world, in popular culture beyond the confines of the fandom, I actually feel like I've been experiencing more references to, riffs on, etc. the original film these days.

It's certainly a fairly close thing and I'm not trying to deny Alien's influence (and to be honest the over-adoration of Aliens at the expense of the first movie is something that annoys me), but out in the general zeitgeist I'd say the second movie is definitely the most widely loved.

[Spidey3121]

One number that suggests otherwise is box office data. Domestically, using rounded numbers, Alien's $80 million in 1979 would inflate to $285 million in today's dollars. Aliens' $85 million in 1986 would inflate to $200 million in 2020. In raw numbers, Alien grossed $203 million WW versus Aliens' $183 million. This would suggest that Alien is the more popular of the 2, at least in regards to how many people saw each film in theaters.

In regards to how well liked each film is, that's murkier. Obviously Aliens wins the vote here, but it's not a head to head matchup. Alien has a higher RT score (98% vs 97%) and also leads on IMDb (8.4 vs 8.3), but those margins are razor thin.

I do feel the Alien franchise is comparable to the Terminator franchise in that non-fans generally regard them as 2 great films & a bunch of sequels. The difference is financially, T2 drastically outperformed The Terminator, whereas Aliens slightly underperformed Alien.

[Perfect-Organism]

To be fair, Spidey is right.  Aliens is number 2 in terms of dollars.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2017/05/18/every-alien-box-office-take-ranked-worst-to-best-ahead-of-alien-covenant/#99cacdb277a8

[Voodoo Magic]

I think that gets a little tricky because I would imagine it likely adds in Alien's theatrical re-releases. VCRs didn't become an affordable and popular consumer product versus a luxury item until the early 1980s and releases were big before that.

Now if I recall Aliens did about 40-50 million more than Alien worldwide in straight raw numbers. And Aliens had a much bigger opening weekend which was important to Fox, because I believe at the time studios were paid on an age scale: The first week studios earned a bigger percentage of ticket sales versus say the fourth week where the theater claimed more (an encouragement for theaters to keep playing their movies).

I think we need an expert like Val to sort this out. 

[kwisatz]

For what it's worth: Alien has almost 130k votes more on imdb.

It's not the world,  but it's not nothing either.


For comparison: T2 got almost 200k more than T1 and a significantly better rating.

[Perfect-Organism]

For what it's worth: Alien has almost 130k votes more on imdb.

It's not the world,  but it's not nothing either.


For comparison: T2 got almost 200k more than T1 and a significantly better rating.

Huh.

https://ew.com/movies/aliens-elevator-scene/

People are still talking about the film's greatness.

[chopperXgill]

Terminator 2 just expands the lore & world more then Terminator 1. Also It appeals to a wider audience range.

Aliens is just expands the lore & world more then Alien. Also It appeals to a wider audience range.

I guess based James Cameron's track record Avatar 2 is probably going to expand the lore & world. Probably will also appeal to a wider audience range.
(Idk about 3,4,5 James Cameron has never directed a 3rd  or 4th or 5th in a film series)