Scott: I think the Beast is almost run out, personally.

[0321recon]

RE: the video excerpt and what Mr Scott has said: Absolute bollocks. He's just back-pedalling because it all went to shit. He owned Covenant a little more than he should have and the result is as it is.
The blame is not soley with him though, as the studio should have passed judgement on him being a little "jaded" by "the beast" and f**king given it to someone who actually gives a shit about this franchise (along with better writer(s)). For example, look at what Denis Villeneuve did with our beloved Blade Runner... a proper labour of love.

I agree. Scott is not only to blame. Fox wanted to save some cash instead of taking risks and breaking the universe with Scott's prequels and Blomkamp's alternate Alien3. It was well-known that Scott wasn't keen with the xeno from 2010. Prometheus was successful enough to warrant a sequel. Fox should had green-light Paradise and Blomkamp's film at the same time, and see what result came from that. Though, now were stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only thing they could do, is either reboot the entire damn thing or disregard Covenant as a whole, and break the universe letting Scott do his thing while Blomkamp or someone else continues the franchise post Aliens or Alien3. 

If I were an exec at Fox with the money Covenant got, I'd toss Covenant to the side, greenlight Blomkamp's film, knowing people will come in droves for Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn, from that money finance Scott's Prometheus 2 and whatever other film that goes after Blomkamp's project.

I don't sure people are dying to see Weaver and Biehn. The new Star Wars worked because its new leads are young and attractive people. The same with Jurassic World. People don't care about 1 woman in her late 60s(Weaver) and a man in his late 60s.

The lead of the new Terminator is a new and young woman. Arnold and Linda are going to be supporting.

I agree with you though I'm just throwing a bone for those who claim that Weaver and Biehn are going to resurrect the series since I come across several people with this mindset.

In my personal view, I'm happy with the original trilogy since it told a great story and it should had been left at that. It was a good idea in delving into the mythos with Prometheus, though Covenant did screw things up with not given us a proper Prometheus sequel, and what's worse shoe-horning the xeno in away to mesh both worlds together. Fox screwed the pooch and Scott went along with it. Let's see what happens now. 

[Ingwar]

As I said before, and a lot of you have the same opinion, the beast hasn't run out. I has been misused. And frankly speaking it all started with ... Aliens. That's the fact. It's great movie but it changed Xenomorph into a bug. Alien 3 came back to the roots but then we got ... Resurrection, AvP, AvP:R and Covenant.

I totally agree with Hybrid Network analysis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odz8Wam7n-Y

[Whos_Nick]

Thanks Ingwar, I helped Luke put that video together.

[Ingwar]

Thanks Ingwar, I helped Luke put that video together.

You welcome Is there anybody else here from Hybrid Network?

[FatBrando]

Which is why he can't make a good Alien film. He no longer respects the character, or the fans. If the beast isn't effective anymore it's because the studios and the filmakers have tarnished it with shitty films. But at this point maybe hes right. maybe the answer is to let it rest....for a while...

[Hyperdyne120-a2]

It seems obvious that the studio forced certain ultimatums on Scott, and Scott does play ball. My opinion is that Prometheus was a franchise launcher that wasn't allowed to play out the way the creator planned in the second installment. At least a straight Prometheus sequel would have felt more inspired.

[Immortan Jonesy]

The above pretty much encapsulates the situation at hand. At the end of the day, if you want to look at things from a more neutral, level-headed perspective, the hardcore fans of any series are not the target audience - rather, it is the general public that will help push a film into blockbuster territory.

The studios follow the TRENDS. And if you look at trends, you can understand why FOX did what they did with both Prometheus and Covenant.

From my own reading of the events, FOX made the decision to distance Prometheus from the Alien series because at that moment in time original sci-fi properties were dominating at the box office (Avatar, Inception for example). Considering the haul of Prometheus (and the recent comments about the profitability of the film), it was clearly a good business move.

From a creative stand point, Prometheus would probably NOT have been much different in terms of story had it closer ties with the original Alien. Sure, substitute a chestburster in the MedPod scene or add a xenomorph instead of the Fifield mutation - but it probably wouldn't have been that much different in terms of the tone, characters, and even philosophical nature of Prometheus.

Importantly, I think many fans have misread why FOX wanted to return to the Alien brand with Covenant. I don't think it was solely because of divided opinions of Prometheus.

You have to analyze the trends, the film market, and the business. Look at the resounding box office successes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Jurassic World. Combine this with other successful business ventures such as the Alien: Isolation video game becoming a top selling hit or the success of the Alien themed Halloween attraction at Universal Studios.  FOX was looking at this and thinking, "Nostalgia is in. Star Wars. Jurassic Park. Alien is popular in video game form and at a theme park."

So, my read of the situation, is that FOX felt that returning to the Alien brand would tap into this nostalgia that has been so wildly successful. Unfortunately what they failed to realize is that unlike those other properties, Alien is not going to have multiple generations of family members going to the theaters and introducing kids to the Alien series.

Certainly, after Covenant, what is clear is that the nostalgia trend is not helping Alien.

Again, from a creative standpoint, whether you branded Covenant as Alien or Prometheus, I don't think much would've changed creatively. Frankly, the criticism of Covenant regarding the appearance of the Xenomorph is more about fans' own personal hopes/dreams/visions of the creature than storytelling. So, if you substitute a Xenomorph for a Neomorph or Deacon or another creature at the end of the film, that would've made the film not much different from a story structure, narrative, or character perspective.

This new prequel series is thematically linked to the notion of "creation" - that is Scott's main storytelling concern in these new entries. Scott obviously wanted to elevate the Alien series beyond a horror-science fiction-thriller and take the very subtle (yet present) themes from the original series but place them in a more noticeable position. That likely wouldn't have changed no matter how you branded these films.

With the current situation, it's quite possible FOX doesn't know what to do. They may give Scott more freedom to explore and just lower the budget. In the end, perhaps that is the best circumstance for ending this series on an interesting note.

If Ridley Scott wanted to tell his so-called new mythology, wouldn't have it been easier to make an entire new universe instead of something related to the Alien franchise? Like James Cameron's Avatar, for example. Here you have a movie with a story mostly formed by old ideas (ancient astronauts, creationism and AI implications are not precisely new topics, such as the themes that we can find in Avatar), but taking place in its own universe. That's right, nothing is related to the director's previous franchises. Also, and back on topic, all these "new ideas" are poorly executed, turning these prequels into pretentious films. It didn't add something worthy into the Alien mythos at all and felt shoehorned in.

[Alionic]

Let Scott finish the prequels with one more film before Fox goes full Disney-esque on us with loud explosions and marine space lasers against Alien Queens (and retcons).

[Alienon]

If Ridley Scott wanted to tell his so-called new mythology, wouldn't have it been easier to make an entire new universe instead of something related to the Alien franchise?

Because. You don't understood this. One of millions (not alone) reasons - destroy the ugly AvP. And yes - Prometheus and Covenant better than AvP.

[Mr. Clemens]

Let Scott finish the prequels with one more film before Fox goes full Disney-esque on us with loud explosions and marine space lasers against Alien Queens (and retcons).

Yup. Let's just wrap this sucker up and kill the lights.

[PierreVW]

Let Scott finish the prequels with one more film before Fox goes full Disney-esque on us with loud explosions and marine space lasers against Alien Queens (and retcons).

I agree. Ridley Scott deserves 1 final to close his quadrology.

[Whos_Nick]

Thanks Ingwar, I helped Luke put that video together.

You welcome Is there anybody else here from Hybrid Network?

Just me here

[Thomas]

I do believe that it is possible to do something that will keep the alien franchise relevant, but sadly we have gotten sequel-ities from the movies with the studio pushing for more and more elaborate creature scenes.

Go back to the original and keep it simple but terrifying. In the original we dont even see the creature very much which is why it work so well. Most of the scenes vere up close and personal.

Hire a crew, actor and all that but keep the alien hidden even from the actors. That way its more of a surprise when it actually shows up. You could even have the actors doing scenes but not knowning that it is planned to have the creature attack right in the middle of a scene.

I do admit that i liked prometeus more then i did alien covenant. They could have expanded and added onto the franchise but again the studio pushed for more alien.

i am looking forward to what may come next in the prometeus trilogy, but at the same time im not keeping my hopes up. I didnt with alien covenant.

but nothing is impossible........

[fiveways]

I'm probably the only person here who agrees it is played out.  Between all the bad comics, bad books, questionable crossovers and sequels, mostly crappy video games (isolation was fun but it's a pretty typical idea done well) and general tie-in merch it feels played out.  Taxing it with the baggage of Covenant just kills any interest i would have in anything featuring it.  The universe now feels small and totally centered around humanity.  Gone is the dark weird Giger ideas, gone are the Lovecraftian ancient unspeakable horror.  When you take that away you at least take away my interest. 

I hope for the people who want it Scott finishes his prequel trilogy for you.  I more worry that a budget reduction might really hurt it if he had grand ideas.  I will be waiting for it to show up on Netflix instead of lining up to see it. 

[Vrastal]

I enjoyed both Prometheus and alien covenant.  But its  not played out the ideas just arent what people are into. Alien isolation did it really well.

But it might be that the alien has outlived its movie franchise and has cemented a solid place in video games instead