Work on the Sequels Stopped?

[oduodu]

This has me worried even more . Fox is asking outlets why the movie didn't do better?

Maybe they should have fan test screenings for the outlets only.

Here we have communities full of people who would give a nut just for the privilege of being involved in a consulting process. There is a whole EU to fall back on. Will they now actually  take the advice of dedicated fans ? I hope there is some feedback on this.

Yes I know hindsight.

They should be consulting the general audience. Alien fans liked it, but they aren't a big enough demographic. The brand has been in decline since the first sequel thirty years ago. Each sequel made less than the one before it, with the exceptions of AvP and Prometheus - in other words, being an "Alien" movie is not enough to sustain the franchise.

My theory is that Alien endures because it offers and experience no other sci-fi or horror movie offers. If they want to make successful sequels, they need to continuously offer new experiences. The retreads offer diminishing returns and I don't see that trend reversing now after over 30 years of it holding steady.

They should poll general audiences, sci-fi fans, and bloggers like John Kenneth Muir who know the franchise but aren't fanatically devoted.

And if they are going to stick with female protagonists for every movie, and Ridley isn't going to return, they really must hire female creative teams behind the camera. At the very least a female director, and preferably a female screenwriter, as well.

Well said. I can't argue against what you said. I think Prometheus tried to establish a new fanbase - a new "mystery" so to speak. But then you had to build around that mystery. Even if Scott said that we were just wiped out(or supposed to be) because the engineers were unhappy with us - no explanation why or anything shows the thinking of the engineers etc - there was no payoff or hints in this regard on covenant - people wanted that IMHO at least. 

Will they now actually  take the advice of dedicated fans ?

They want marines with pulse rifles shooting lots of aliens.

So?

[SM]

Quite.

They did it once and it worked.  Why not another combat themed film.

[monkeylove]

Honestly, I think smaller budgets are just what this franchise needs. Alien had tight, claustrophobic sets and atmosphere because of a limited budget. Same with Aliens.

It will also mean lower ticket prices and movies that click because they offer something new given limited budgets. The Alien franchise will be competing with that as well as with other franchises that resemble it.

The studio and studd whine too much. Just make the movie. This is a part of a scifi saga that must be continued, want it or not.

I think their goal is to maximize profits, with continuing any "saga" as secondary.

[SM]

Alien wasn't low budget.

[monkeylove]

Fatality!

Anyway, it's all good - "The Alien franchises future is assured!" according to SciFied, because...

I'm not sure.

From what I know, distribution costs are supposed to be deducted from box office revenues.

[SM]

Oh probably.  I don't know how the economics works.

I daresay, neither does Mr Singleton.

[Mustangjeff]

wtf is this "team ridley" "team blomkamp" Twilight kinda bullshit?

Come on people

Its laughable is what it is.

I'm willing to pat the guy on the back when he does well..  I thought The Martian was a great movie.  Staying fairly true to the source material was a wise decision IMO.   But..  I'm too old for blind hero worship.  I felt that way about Lucas when I was growing up, and then he trotted out those special editions and prequels. 

Sounds vaguely familiar.

[Protozoid]

This has me worried even more . Fox is asking outlets why the movie didn't do better?

Maybe they should have fan test screenings for the outlets only.

Here we have communities full of people who would give a nut just for the privilege of being involved in a consulting process. There is a whole EU to fall back on. Will they now actually  take the advice of dedicated fans ? I hope there is some feedback on this.

Yes I know hindsight.

They should be consulting the general audience. Alien fans liked it, but they aren't a big enough demographic. The brand has been in decline since the first sequel thirty years ago. Each sequel made less than the one before it, with the exceptions of AvP and Prometheus - in other words, being an "Alien" movie is not enough to sustain the franchise.

My theory is that Alien endures because it offers and experience no other sci-fi or horror movie offers. If they want to make successful sequels, they need to continuously offer new experiences. The retreads offer diminishing returns and I don't see that trend reversing now after over 30 years of it holding steady.

They should poll general audiences, sci-fi fans, and bloggers like John Kenneth Muir who know the franchise but aren't fanatically devoted.

And if they are going to stick with female protagonists for every movie, and Ridley isn't going to return, they really must hire female creative teams behind the camera. At the very least a female director, and preferably a female screenwriter, as well.

Well said. I can't argue against what you said. I think Prometheus tried to establish a new fanbase - a new "mystery" so to speak. But then you had to build around that mystery. Even if Scott said that we were just wiped out(or supposed to be) because the engineers were unhappy with us - no explanation why or anything shows the thinking of the engineers etc - there was no payoff or hints in this regard on covenant - people wanted that IMHO at least. 

I agree. Prometheus did a very good job of avoiding the pitfalls that Covenant fell into. I think Prometheus 2 would have done substantially better than Covenant, but studio logic doesn't understand why a fresh approach would be more profitable when movies like The Force Awakens make billions doing the opposite. But this isn't Star Wars, where fans demand the same "feel" for each movie, imho. The lesson to learn from Star Wars is develop that same characters over a span of many films and tell a tightly-integrated storyline. When they dropped the setup from Prometheus and killed the protagonist, they lost the central drive of the story and as a result Covenant was rudderless and its ending felt like a hollow promise.

And if they are going to stick with female protagonists for every movie, and Ridley isn't going to return, they really must hire female creative teams behind the camera. At the very least a female director, and preferably a female screenwriter, as well.

Might as well just go full Ghostbusters reboot and make all the characters female except for villains and idiots. Those can be played by men. 

It would be kind of awesome to have robots in Covenant 2 that look like Vickers and Call. That's about as fan-service-y as I would ever dare to go, and it would be a cool excuse for bringing back Charlize and Winona.

[kwisatz]

Prequel Lucas is playing in its own league though.

[brokentusk420]

The input of "dedicated" fans? No, no, no, HELL NO. You would get better input from a dog. 

[0321recon]

The input of "dedicated" fans? No, no, no, HELL NO. You would get better input from a dog. 

[windebieste]

Movies made by a committee?  I heard they suck.  A movie made by a committee of fans..? 

HAHAHAHAHAA!!!1!!

-Windebieste.

[newagescamartist]

Marines aren't what made Aliens a badass movie. It was the characters who happened to be marines. Oh, and good storytelling and film-making. Shoehorning guys with pulse rifles into the series again won't automatically make for a good movie. Any teenager could write this sort of fan-fiction. I'm perfectly fine with any direction at this point as long as we get a great movie. Covenant was a great movie, but apparently because it didn't make as much money as expected it's a turkey. Sucks.

[SM]

Why do they need to be "shoehorned" in?

[Seed-and-Weed]

Going back for a cat is bordering on the insane. What if she actually already were portrayed as a mother in Alien? Going back for a cat with her daughter waiting at home? I dont even know how i would call such a person.

A human.

Interestingly, in Alien audio commentary, Ridley did commented on the Ripley saving the cat. Said that he is glad nobody questioned why she went back for the cat.