If Fox wants to do an ALIEN movie or a reboot or whatever, do an honest-to-God Xeno-centric movie. If they want to continue with these Engineer vs Humankind plot which is set up very nicely in PROMETHEUS despite the movie lazy writing, I would welcome it. You don't confuse and frustrate the fan base, the very worst thing you can do in the age of successful fan-based movies like TWILIGHT & HUNGER GAMES. You stick to the canon, get some real money to up the production values. PROMETHEUS looks incredible but rely too much on a tease rather than full blown science fiction action thrillers everybody was expecting. Remember PROMETHEUS opened with a big $50 million opening. This is huge for a R rated film and there is still a substantial Alien fans out there.
I suggest to Fox to commit to 2 movies:
1. A more adult, contemplative LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in Outer Space plot (after all, LAWRENCE is referenced heavily in PROMETHEUS)
2. A more action oriented Xeno-centric movie that would bring in the fans and continue the franchise in a vigorous new direction
You can even still tie the 2 movies together just like Quentin Tarantino did with KILL BILL movies. KB1 is wall to wall martial-arts action movie. KB2 is a more deliberately paced human drama.
They could split the sequels to PROMETHEUS this way:
PROMETHEUS 2
Another expedition sent to LV 223, this time maybe from rival Yutani who has absorbed Weyland Corp to form mega-conglomerate we all know very well. This is a true sequel in its form with the human crew not knowing what happened before committing the same mistakes but this time they bring in the Colonial Marines used extensively in those Outer World colonies by Weyland. The deacon has evolved into...Xeno. There are more mutations and monstrosities around the abandoned pots. We find out what else is in the OTHER temples. More revelations about the Engineers' method of bio-engineering, more revelations about the black goo. The surviving crew would nuke the whole place ala ALIENS when they find out the place is overrun with Xeno madness and goes to search & rescue Shaw & David (they would find this out from a control console which may be able to record the destinations of the last departing ship - hey I am trying here
). There is a split in the team: some of them want to go home and study species they gather, obeying corporate protocol & interest; the other half want to save Shaw & David, no man left behind. And into Shaw & David story. The writers would have a good time explaining how a tiny human and a severed android pilot an alien ship to an unknown territory. But this is where the find out about the Engineers culture or lack of it (they are just mad scientists wanting to be God-like like Weyland wanting to be immortal). Somehow they feel that humans are either rivals (because of events in LV 223) or pesky insects that would complicate their plan (because we have empathy, code of ethics, compassion etc). They also find out that the Engineers have gone to Earth and set up military base on the Moon to launch an attack on Earth. We would find Shaw & David are on the run from the Engineers as they set off their reptilian pit bulls on them when.....The movie would tie in with the Yutani expedition team arrives, implying that the team decides to rescue Shaw after all, and some Marines action to please the action fans of JC ALIENS. 'We must warn Earth." The saga continues. $170 million domestic, $350 million worldwide
PROMETHEUS 3
ENGINEER vs HUMANS
A gigantic scifi alien invasion movie of epic proportion ala INDEPENDENCE DAY without the gung-ho Will Smith cheesiness. Massive space battles outside the Earth's atmosphere as the Engineers terraformed the Moon to set up military base in defiance of UN Resolutions -- hehehe. The human tech - Nuke, rail guns, EM bombs - have no match for Engineer's arsenal of bizarre technology. This is the time where they also use their bio-tech on humans to neutralize their numbers. Massive viral outbreak turning humans into cannibals & zombies & half Xeno monstrosities turning brothers against brothers, and their sisters too. This is the story where humans find out the Engineer's weakness which come as a twist in the end. No computer virus BS (their tech is bio-based not electronics). The humans defeat the Engineers at the end and they signed a peace treaty at last. The humans take back the now terraformed Moon as the last of the Engineers leave the solar system (Or have they? Mars is nearby).
$ 500 million domestic, $ 1 billion worldwide.
Fox's 3 years of "meh" box office status is solved. Forget about the X-Men movies, forget about James Cameron as the savior. PROMETHEUS is a friend of mankind, and Fox too.
