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

[Ingwar]

Blade Runner 2049 is too boring, long and slow for modern moviegoers. It's easy to see why it was a flop at the box office.

Interstellar was long and slow and it made money.

[Scorpio]

There are many different kinds of pretentious. 

[Baron Von Marlon]

I remembered one thing:

Guillermo Del Toro loved and hated PROMETHEUS(3D). Loved it because Guillermo is a huge fan of Ridley Scott but hated it because in his own words, "it was too similar to AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS".

Guillermo Del Toro tried to do a AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS blockbuster during 20 years. Guillermo wanted Tom Cruise as his main star and James Cameron as the main Producer.

Did you read Del Toro's script? Not bad for a Lovecraft-inspired movie but ATMOM unworthy.
I think if someone deviates too much from the original story, they should at least change the title.
That being said, I don't think a lot people would appreciate a direct adaptation. Not enough action, too much talking and no grand finale.

[SM]

A lot of Lovecraft stuff is related after everything has happened, making them difficult to adapt.  I had a crack at adapting Call Of Cthulhu yonks ago and it necessitated a bunch of changes in order to make the protagonist involved in the events rather than just reading about them.

[Biomechanoid]

The Thing is inspired by At the Mountains of madness, but the only similarities is really the Antarctic setting and the fact that the monster can shapeshift. It's not Lovecraftian.

There's quite a bit more similarities than just the two examples you mention.

ATMOM is a horror sci-fi tale set in the Antarctia where human characters discover the remains of an unidentifiable life form and were badly damaged (Carpenter's The Thing 82 connection: split face, the unidentifiable charred remains).

As the story progresses, it's revealed they were ancient aliens (same as Thing's thousands of years old aliens) and some of the 'remains' come to life without notice from the human characters (connection: the remains of the films and the novella mostly play out the same way).

There's a second human camp in ATMOM, where the main characters go there and discover it has been destroyed and the men have been slaughtered (connection: Carpenter's Norwegian camp).

The dogs of ATMOM were also slaughtered just like the violent attack on Carpenter's dogs. Combine all that with the example you mention of the creatures ability to change form just like Carpenter's film and the novella, that's more than just a vague similarity.

[KiramidHead]

A lot of that stuff comes from Who Goes There?... you know, the book that The Thing is actually based on.

[PierreVW]

Blade Runner 2049 is too boring, long and slow for modern moviegoers. It's easy to see why it was a flop at the box office.

Interstellar was long and slow and it made money.

That was Nolan at his peak in terms of box office. Remember all the other Matthew McConaughey movies were flops at the box office.

Bad writing and ideas will do that. Taking something that should be simple, and creating some large philosophical diatribe out of it isn't always the best thing to do. I personally call it, "The Nolan Effect". The beast itself is far from dead, Alien Isolation, unused movie scripts and several of the novels are proof of that. I'm of the personal belief that the narrative needs to move in a different direction immediately; even if it means not finishing the trilogy on film. Let David and his ship become the Space Titanic, (though obviously somewhat different) the mystery ship with thousands of people who fell victim to an accident and vanished into the dark depths of space.


Regardless, It's not the beasts fault. The Prometheus storyline has never really been about the Xenomorph, and when they were used, they were used exceptionally poorly. It's just my opinion, but what's needed now is an "Aliens " type movie. See if Cameron will come back, he's talked about doing another terminator for heaven's sake. Do something with action and alittle spectacle to draw in the younger crowd and therefore the money. Establish new interest and a financial base to take off from. When the choice is transformers or Alien Covenant, people are going to see the explosions and gunfire, not Shakespeare on Mars. An Alien queen being blasted by a colonial Marine will attract more attention than David in his "Little white Onesie".  The Alien universe can handle a good action movie, look at the second film, or better yet, Gibson's Alien 3 script. Or just do like the saw movies, repeated formula (minus any connection to any other film). Random crew on random ship or base encounters an Alien or Aliens and fights to survive. Smaller budget with a consistent offering, and give different people the opportunity to direct each one.


Either way, I don't think it's the beast that's "cooked" or "run out", but I'm starting to think Ridley is. If he has no faith in,  or passion for the beast, he shouldn't be directing the films they're in.

I agree with the concept that ALIEN: ACTION EPIC STYLE would make a lot more money than ALIEN: COVENANT. The problem is the Director:

1.- James Cameron ISN'T interested. He is doing Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5.

2.- Ridley Scott ISN'T interested. He could Direct these in his sleep. He prefers his other personal movies.

3.- Neill Blomkamp is too mediocre.

Maybe Gareth Evans.

[Biomechanoid]

A lot of that stuff comes from Who Goes There?... you know, the book that The Thing is actually based on.

Correct, hence my comments you must have missed in my post.... "and the novella." Which ATMOM, you know, was published 6-7 years before Campbell's novella.

[Baron Von Marlon]

A lot of Lovecraft stuff is related after everything has happened, making them difficult to adapt.  I had a crack at adapting Call Of Cthulhu yonks ago and it necessitated a bunch of changes in order to make the protagonist involved in the events rather than just reading about them.

Did you see the fake old timey version? Not bad.

[SM]

Yeah it was great.

[PierreVW]

I remembered one thing:

Guillermo Del Toro loved and hated PROMETHEUS(3D). Loved it because Guillermo is a huge fan of Ridley Scott but hated it because in his own words, "it was too similar to AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS".

Guillermo Del Toro tried to do a AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS blockbuster during 20 years. Guillermo wanted Tom Cruise as his main star and James Cameron as the main Producer.

Did you read Del Toro's script? Not bad for a Lovecraft-inspired movie but ATMOM unworthy.
I think if someone deviates too much from the original story, they should at least change the title.
That being said, I don't think a lot people would appreciate a direct adaptation. Not enough action, too much talking and no grand finale.

I agree. No traditional hero or action hero in the book.

Tom Cruise was, in theory, playing a new character. A more usual Tom Cruise type of role. With his ultra famous running scenes.

[KiramidHead]

I remembered one thing:

Guillermo Del Toro loved and hated PROMETHEUS(3D). Loved it because Guillermo is a huge fan of Ridley Scott but hated it because in his own words, "it was too similar to AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS".

Guillermo Del Toro tried to do a AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS blockbuster during 20 years. Guillermo wanted Tom Cruise as his main star and James Cameron as the main Producer.

Did you read Del Toro's script? Not bad for a Lovecraft-inspired movie but ATMOM unworthy.
I think if someone deviates too much from the original story, they should at least change the title.
That being said, I don't think a lot people would appreciate a direct adaptation. Not enough action, too much talking and no grand finale.

I agree. No traditional hero or action hero in the book.

Tom Cruise was, in theory, playing a new character. A more usual Tom Cruise type of role. With his ultra famous running scenes.

There was no action hero lead in the script. The closest thing was the dog sled guy who read like he was written for Ron Perlman. Cruise's character was basically helpless the whole time.

[atlantis]

Lol thats easy blame it on the Alien ..hahahah

[Highland]

I think you could possibly do ATMOM if it was set when it was written. Was the del toro script present day?

[Jonesy1974]

ATMOM is number 1 on my wish list of films Id like to see made but I doubt its ever going to happen. Even if it did happen they would struggle to do it justice.