Pre-production on new Alien film will start next week

Started by 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯, Mar 05, 2015, 11:06:59 AM

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Pre-production on new Alien film will start next week (Read 28,710 times)

swarm87

and the final franchise from my childhood goes into the money printer......

Jarac

Jarac

#46
Quote from: swarm87 on Mar 06, 2015, 02:56:32 AM
and the final franchise from my childhood goes into the money printer......

That happened long ago with Resurrection. Even the producers said that it would "destroy the franchise", but they greenlit it anyway. Why? Because MONEY! Let's not act like Alien is JUST selling out. It sold out a long time ago.

I'm just hoping I get a good film out of it, because there hasn't been one since 1992 it can be argued.

OpenMaw

I think it happened with Alien 3. Alien and Aliens were modestly budgeted. Alien 3 is when the series was looked upon as a "tentpole" franchise. They needed to make money with that film. They rushed a release date without having completed their pre production cycle.

Russ

Quote from: Nazrel on Mar 05, 2015, 07:13:37 PM

"There are two factors [Neill Blomkamp] needs: Ripley and the Aliens," Weaver said


This right here is what bugs me. The whole idea that the Alien franchise HAS to have Ripley, its a crock.

Though i wouldnt be upset to see ron peralman, something tells me it wouldnt be too far out there.

Just responded to Hicks in another thread on this thing: I'm sure that this film will be the end of one saga (Rippers and Hicks) and the jumping off point for a new one.

I get that cinematically, for this movie, Rippers has to be in it,

Spoiler
but I just started reading the "Sea of Sorrows" novel and it was going great right up until the psychic guy is revealed to be a descendant of Ripley's! I'm a big, big, big supporter of bring her back, retcon with the hypersleep dream and all that, but I really was surprised to see her shoehorned into "Out of the Shadows" and then into "Sea of Sorrows". I mean - why? OOTS could have worked without the whole Ripley thing; I don't know how much the plot of "River of Pain" hinges on the descendant thing, but really - out side of the movies should be a place to explore other aspects
[close]

Valaquen

Quote from: swarm87 on Mar 06, 2015, 02:56:32 AM
and the final franchise from my childhood goes into the money printer......

Money overtook creative concerns in this series about 25 years ago...

Born Of Cold Light

Quote from: OpenMaw on Mar 06, 2015, 03:59:05 AM
I think it happened with Alien 3. Alien and Aliens were modestly budgeted. Alien 3 is when the series was looked upon as a "tentpole" franchise. They needed to make money with that film. They rushed a release date without having completed their pre production cycle.

If Alien 3 was simply to be a money-maker, they would have made an Aliens clone, not gotten into wooden planets, monks, prisoners, a bald Ripley and only one alien.

BringbackJonesy!

Since the unexpected possibility of 'real' Ripley returning onscreen, it's been interesting to read all the different points of view in the recent articles around here.

Some seem to want a continuation of where Ripley clone 8 left off in the open-ended Alien Resurrection...while others want Alien 3 & Alien Res dismissed altogether.  And some of those that want Alien 3 & Alien Res dismissed, want them referenced in some way, even if only as 'bad dreams'...while others want them totally ignored altogether.  So some of us are going to be a bit miffed it seems, depending on the the outcome.

On top of that, if the characters end up alive and well in this new movie, it seems that some of us would look on this scenario as being set in some kind of 'alternate' universe/timeline along the lines of the latest Star Trek movie reboots.  Anyway, call it what you will - reboot, re-imagining, 'alternative' scenario, or  'fan fiction' - one thing's for sure...I never would have guessed in a million years that we end up getting an Alien 5 movie with Weaver playing the ACTUAL Ripley once more after all these years!!

And personally, as someone who prefers to look on the Alien 3 & Alien Res sequels to Aliens as being nothing more than a couple of disturbing 'cryo-sleep nightmares'...the possibility of an 'alternate' onscreen outcome for Ripley, Hicks, and Newt is more than I could have ever hoped for in this franchise.

While there's certainly some watchable moments in Alien 3, it's depressingly downbeat storyline set amongst a cast of mainly unlikeable characters was NOT the way I hoped this franchise would continue after Aliens.  It's relentlessly nihilistic tone in drab surroundings was certainly an unexpected and wrong-footing turn of events, I'll give it that...but I'd have much rather spent some more time with Hicks & Newt again - especially as the expectations for this sequel were sky-high at the time, after the previous successes of Alien & Aliens.  And of course, the events of Alien 3 unfortunately led to the ridiculous storyline that was concocted for Alien Resurrection...which presented us all with the absolute low-point of the franchise...the 'Newborn'... *shudder*

So yeah, I welcome this 'alternative' sequel to Aliens if it indeed comes about...especially if we get Hick's back for a while too, as Blomkamp's concept art promises.  (I sure hope he'll wear an 'eye-patch' though, as that dead eyeball just looks gross in the artwork!)

In the meantime, I'll continue to think of the Aliens sequels as being merely 'bad dreams'...and the 4 main 'continuity anomalies' of Alien 3's intro. scenes make it very easy for me to do so -

1.  The fact that there's a mysterious appearance of an egg which is attached to the ceiling (!) of a section of the Sulaco's interior...despite the fact that the Queen had her egg-sac completely ripped off in Aliens.  (yes, there's one or two theories, but none that satisfy me)

2.  The fact that the lettering on the Sulaco is now WHITE instead of BLACK.  (yes, we only got to see the other side of the Sulaco in Aliens, but I prefer to believe that the lettering was black on BOTH sides of the ship)

3.  The fact that it's NOT actually Newt in the cryo-tube  (it's a different actress altogether - no big deal, but it suits my purpose!)

4.  The fact that the cryo-tubes are a totally DIFFERENT design to the ones that Ripley & co. entered at the end of Aliens. 

And here's a good article which covers these and a couple of others in depth - http://www.weyland-yutani-archives.com/archive/1094   

But of course, anyone who doesn't like Blomkamp's take on things can equally look on it as being the 'fan fiction' scenario instead, and stick with the original storyline.  Just take your pick.

Valaquen

Quote from: Born Of Cold Light on Mar 06, 2015, 08:28:42 PM
Quote from: OpenMaw on Mar 06, 2015, 03:59:05 AM
I think it happened with Alien 3. Alien and Aliens were modestly budgeted. Alien 3 is when the series was looked upon as a "tentpole" franchise. They needed to make money with that film. They rushed a release date without having completed their pre production cycle.

If Alien 3 was simply to be a money-maker, they would have made an Aliens clone, not gotten into wooden planets, monks, prisoners, a bald Ripley and only one alien.

The reason we idn't get the wooden world was because Fox realised they needed Alien 3 (their moneymaker James Bond was in a lot of legal trouble at the time) and they got cold feet about it being "weird". Fincher kept trying to make someting unique but they scuttled everything they could. Fincher used a "tea cup" to "beer mug" analogy to describe it. Alien 3 isn't remotely leftfield because Fox wanted it to be; they got brave and hired Ward and then f**ked up by trying to reign it all in and ruined the film as a result. David Fincher's real Alien 3 would have been wonderful, but they didn't even allow the conditions for him to sit down and work out the frankenstein script they thrust on his plate..

NetworkATTH

It's interesting, Fincher was initially hired and didn't know of the Ward script (I'm assuming), I read he thought (along the lines of) "Oh man, a sequel to Aliens, I can't wait for pulse rifles etc. etc." and overall he was chained to Giler and Hill's recycling of aspects said Ward script. So, I'm assuming he was hired and initially wanted to go the action route. But he interpreted the script, and wanted to pull it off in a way he thought would work, but even then the Studio just went out with "Nah, here's how we'd imagine it".  I'd imagine some writers we're not hearing (I'm not implying anyone associated with the Alien franchise, I'm thinking along the lines of consistent Fox writers and Giler and Hill) were about were consulted about how they could play it as safe as possible with what they were given. And Fincher probably didn't want to play it safe.

Add to the constant rewrites and shooting without a script, Fox totally jumped the gun with Ward (hell of a script, would have loved to seen it)

Born Of Cold Light

Quote from: Valaquen on Mar 07, 2015, 03:00:32 AM
Quote from: Born Of Cold Light on Mar 06, 2015, 08:28:42 PM
Quote from: OpenMaw on Mar 06, 2015, 03:59:05 AM
I think it happened with Alien 3. Alien and Aliens were modestly budgeted. Alien 3 is when the series was looked upon as a "tentpole" franchise. They needed to make money with that film. They rushed a release date without having completed their pre production cycle.

If Alien 3 was simply to be a money-maker, they would have made an Aliens clone, not gotten into wooden planets, monks, prisoners, a bald Ripley and only one alien.

The reason we idn't get the wooden world was because Fox realised they needed Alien 3 (their moneymaker James Bond was in a lot of legal trouble at the time) and they got cold feet about it being "weird". Fincher kept trying to make someting unique but they scuttled everything they could. Fincher used a "tea cup" to "beer mug" analogy to describe it. Alien 3 isn't remotely leftfield because Fox wanted it to be; they got brave and hired Ward and then f**ked up by trying to reign it all in and ruined the film as a result. David Fincher's real Alien 3 would have been wonderful, but they didn't even allow the conditions for him to sit down and work out the frankenstein script they thrust on his plate..

You're right that Fox butchered alot of Finch's ideas but still, it was not a typical Alien film in the least.  Remember this is the time when the Alien franchise was close to the height of its popularity with toys, video games, comics and everything in between.  Xenomorph ripoffs were popping up left and right and Giger art or Giger-inspired art was quite popular.  It would have been a relatively simple matter to add some guns and more aliens to the movie and make it a more action-oriented film.  Maybe they could have been like the video games, with Ripley (and maybe a handful of surviving prisoners) navigating the labyrinthine of the Fury facility, rescuing others and fighting aliens.  Given the fact that some of those guys are the last type of people you want to have firearms, this could have made an interesting dynamic.  Honestly, come to think of it, this could have made a better film and one that was more in line with the rest of the Alien franchise at the time.  But instead, Fox made something far different that bucked the trends at the time.  That has to count for something.

BringbackJonesy!

BringbackJonesy!

#55
Blomkamp's proposal for Alien 5 (I wonder what it's final title will be?) looks like it will throw up a variety of choices for the fans between it and the original Alien 3 & Alien Resurrection storylines.  For instance -

1.  You can choose to happily accept BOTH outcomes regardless, and just alternate between which one you decide to watch, depending on your mood at the time.

2.  You can choose to look on one outcome as being your favourite, and just look on the other as occurring in some kind of bizarre 'alternate' universe/timeline.

(Some may wish to include Prometheus and/or the AvP movies in this 'alternate' universe/timeline too, by the way!

3.  You can choose to dismiss one outcome as merely being some kind of disturbing 'cryo-nightmare(s)' Ripley went on to have after Aliens concluded, which didn't actually happen.

(...and EVEN if Blomkamp's version ends up referencing the original movies as being Ripley's feverish 'cryo-nightmare(s)', you can still choose to dismiss his outcome as the one which is Ripley's ACTUAL 'cryo-nightmare' if you wish! - you decide)

4.  In fact, you can choose to totally ignore EVERY outcome altogether if you wish, and think of them as ALL being 'cryo-nightmares'...or simply mere 'fan fiction which shouldn't even be considered worthy of being associated with the greatness of Alien & Aliens.

______________


I outlined some of the reasons which make it easy for me to imagine Alien 3 & Alien Resurrection as just being feverish 'cryo-nightmares' a few posts back....as I look on the producer's 'special edition' (Assembly Cut) of Alien 3 as a very mixed bag too, compared to some others around here.

For instance, I think the Theatrical version's 'Dog-burster' (a Rottweiler) imagery is superior to the 'Ox-burster' version...and is a far better fit for the final grown-up creature seen in the movie.

Despite this, I would have been interested to see how Fincher's proper 'special edition' version would have turned out, if he'd done it himself...and wonder if we would have seen a lot more of the deleted shots of his fully-formed creature incorporated.  Ah well, it was not to be.  However, for those of you who may be unaware of some of the still-deleted material from Fincher's entry, here's a link to a very good description of it, along with some pics and clips -

And as for the hugely frustrating Prometheus movie...I will only include it into my own personal Alien canon once I get around to fan editing a version for myself which excludes the shots of the 'Engineer' getting into the 'pilot's chair'...so that I can imagine some OTHER 'spacejockey' being piloted the ship seen in Alien after all!  ;D


Apologies, I accidentally posted my previous comments before I was finished, so here's that link to the Alien 3 deleted material that was missing - http://www.weyland-yutani-archives.com/archive/1121

As far as Prometheus is concerned, I was also about to say that in the meantime I can only watch Agent 9's excellent 'Prometheus Special Edition' fan edit with any satisfaction...seeing as it includes a lot of the great deleted moments, along with the younger 'Weyald' scene as it's intro.  (google/youtube his fine trailer for that, and seek it out if you're interested)

I just hope that Prometheus 2 will give us far less loose-ends than the Theatrical cut did.

Son Of Kane

Uhhhhh...


The Derelict on LV-426 and the crashed Juggernaut on LV-223 are two different ships y'know?

Plus there's enough differences between them that you can reasonably see the Engineers and the SJ two different things.

(Without a null fan cut.)



The Cruentus

Originally they was supposed to be the same ship, same pilot too and would been a direct prequel to Alien, but Fox decided it was time to interfere again to meet their "executive meddling" quota.

Son Of Kane

Which is probably for the best considering how many people dislike the design of the Engineers.

(I love them myself but hey, can't please everyone.)

Even I personally don't like to think of the Engineers and the SJ as the same thing, there's just too many differences between them for someone like me- I like to think that considering they are "human" the Engineers see the SJ the same way we do and decided to imitate him.

(This would account for all of the differences between them right down to the bio weapons each used.)

The Cruentus

While I like to see them as the same thing, I can't really ignore how different they are, and while I would say size difference doesn't always mean different species, I believe the size difference is quite noticably between the SJ pilot and the Engineer. The engineer is like 9ft while the SJ was a giant.

Xenomrph had that theory too that maybe the SJ created the Engineers and then the latter sought to do the same.

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