Scott: We are going to make another Alien movie

[Baron Von Marlon]

If you say so.

[Huggs]

Crowd funding for one of the richest corporations in the world?

I felt robbed enough after watching the prequels for the first time. And at $25 for a movie, they don't need anymore of my money.

Doing something like this would set a bad precedent. Dangle a lower budget and make the fans panic, and get half your movie paid for.

[SM]

If you say so.

Oh, but I do!

Throw some money at the kickstarter and you get to watch the whole movie.  If not you can watch the first act and half the second act, and pay for the rest as DLC.

[Local Trouble]

I always wanted to help fund a studio executive's cocaine habit.  What better way than crowdfunding a low budget flick?

[TC]

...
Throw some money at the kickstarter and you get to watch the whole movie.  If not you can watch the first act and half the second act, and pay for the rest as DLC.

LOL! That's so funny!

...No wait, that is a joke... right?

TC

[OpenMaw]

Hell, not that it's likely but Ridley Scott's been known in the past to make a film well enough that midway in production it's budget has been doubled.

I think it was a horror called "creature" or something back in 1979.

As I believe I stated before in this very thread, the original Alien- even adjusted for inflation didn't have a massive budget.
RS was only able to convince FOX to double the budget part-way through production, if the script and execution is as good there's no reason something similar couldn't happen again.

The problem is Ridley Scott. He does not have the same support frame work around him as he did in 1979. He's completely free range now, and can do whatever the cluck he wants. Which is a problem, because what he wants to do changes day to day. Not having people like O'Bannon there, hard asses with direct opinions, he tends to meander and generate very messy, albeit beautiful, work.

[SM]

I don't imagine O'Bannon had a huge influence on Ridley's style.

He got banned from the set.

[whiterabbit]

Wait, wut? I didn't know he was literally banned from set. Always thought that was just an off the cuff remark.

[SM]

Well he said it and that he had to sneak a look at the dailies.

Unless he was making it up.

[Kane's other son]

Ridley Scott pretty much had free reign in 1979 and delivered the movie he wanted.
As far as a new sequel's budget is concerned, it makes financial sense to try and make one for 60-70 million. Covenant showed that Alien is still a viable franchise but it will never reach mega-blockbuster status. Financially speaking it reached its ceiling with Prometheus -and that had the added bonus of Ridley Scott returning to Alien and Sci-fi after decades. You can't repeat that.
If they are expecting a world-wide gross of 200-250 million, they will have to adjust the budget accordingly.

[The Cruentus]

You could still make a decent Alien flick on a reduced budget, but I feel if you go sub-$80m these days it could really start to show.

Perhaps, but if you had the right team and they are dedicated to making it not just for money but for art, and they choose their shots right and have decent lighting and so on, they could get away with having an Alien movie with a lower budget. In fact a lower budget has made some film crew's more creative.

As for effects and suits, lighting can really help with that. Cameron's warriors are iconic but the suits don't look so good when lit and in fact some of them weren't even suits but piecies but on a spandex suit I believe (I hope I am not misremembering again  ) But when his suits were darkly lit under blue and red, the suits looked great.

Of course hiring actors can be an issue, it is true that the more famous they are the more expensive they will be, but unknowns is not really a bad thing, as Sigourney was not as well known as she is now during the first film.

[whiterabbit]

I hate to say it but less money primarily means less computer generated special effects which at this point in time has become boringly repetitive. Which could be good. However... the point of making these movies were for it to be a grand spectacle.

So honest question but is it even worth doing if the grandiose is absent? I'm really starting to question if there isn't enough money to keep the product top notch in all respects, maybe they should walk away.

[The Cruentus]

I think the grandiose element only came in at Prometheus, Alien was a very small film. Aliens upped the ante but was a still small scale film and so was the third. Nothing in them went to Prometheus levels.
The films would benefit from not being grandiose.

[whiterabbit]

Yea but it is a hell of a step back from the original intent. Which I would have to imagine is a rather large pill for Ridley and co to swallow. I really think they need to keep the budget at least near Covenant levels.

[The Cruentus]

Keep the budget perhaps but do better with it. Though I still think they could easily make a decent Alien film on a lower budget.