...Blomkamp.
http://instagram.com/p/zQwEQ0qhBq/
Beat me too it soap.adored District nine and Elysium he's got a great eye for visuals and that exosuit in district was like a wet dream for me.
Interesting.
From the looks of the concept art he posted a while back it seems as though he's doing a direct sequel to Aliens - one that retcons Alien 3 and Resurrection out of existence.
Now this sounds like an Alien film I can get behind, I just hope they get a decent script. (I am still convinced that Prometheus 2 will never happen, no matter what they say).
Quote from: radiator on 19 February, 2015, 01:36:01 AM
Interesting.
From the looks of the concept art he posted a while back it seems as though he's doing a direct sequel to Aliens - one that retcons Alien 3 and Resurrection out of existence.
Now this sounds like an Alien film I can get behind, I just hope they get a decent script. (I am still convinced that Prometheus 2 will never happen, no matter what they say).
Well if done well I could certainly live with that!
I liked Alien 3 but no movie can retcon the disaster that was Resurrection out of existence.
Quote from: radiator on 19 February, 2015, 01:36:01 AM
Interesting.
From the looks of the concept art he posted a while back it seems as though he's doing a direct sequel to Aliens - one that retcons Alien 3 and Resurrection out of existence.
So the Alien franchise equivalent of Superman Returns? There's a good portent.
I just don't want anymore Ripley/Sigourney Weaver. That story should be done.
(I thought it was incredibly dumb that the recent Alien Isolation game had a main character who had to be Ripley's daughter,.)
If this news had come just after District 9, I'd be reacting differently. Prometheus wouldn't have been announced and then disappointed me so much. Elysium would yet to have proved itself to be so terrible. I'd have been excited, giddy even.
Now, not so much.
However, the guy can direct and has a flair for the epic. His plan does seem to revolve around retconning everything after Aliens, which I can get behind, given the bone-headed decision-making that killed off everyone except Ripley before the credits had even rolled in Alien 3.
Who knows? This may prove to be the continuation of the Alien universe that Prometheus failed to deliver.
I'm a huge fan of Alien & Aliens, and would love to see what Blomkamp could come up with.
Alien 3 was actually a pretty good film, just a disappointment in comparison to its predecessors.
Alien Resurrection; not so good, but I think I'm physically incapable of disliking anything co-starring Ron Perlman.
Prometheus; visually sumptuous with some fine ideas and performances, just terribly executed.
Alien Vs Predator 1+2; Ok and quite, quite poor respectively.
If Blomkamp's direction contradicts any or all of these, I wouldn't mind a whole lot.
For me, some of the best stories set in the Alien universe were in the early Dark Horse comics (some of which also had a different post-Aliens continuity).
And in contrast to Gordon Rennie's (and also my best mates) opinion; I thought using Ripley's daughter Amanda as the protagonist in Alien Isolation was a great idea.
The game could have worked with a new, unconnected character, but for me, the 'personal connection' was a nice touch.
Here's one reason why; http://youtu.be/EXrAeQ0SV4A (NB- SPOILER, if you haven't played it yet).
I'm all ALIENed out. There's 2 good movies out of 7 involving them. That's not a good hit rate.
And never mind that "Ripley's story is done", those two movies really told me all I needed to know about the aliens themselves; the rest can be left to viewer's imagination. I don't need everything explained to me in fine detail.
And I didn't really rate District 9 - though it should have been just my cup of tea.
So more like: In space, no one can hear you shit.
And here comes the hypocritical bit:
- If somebody made a movie of that first Dark Horse (?) Aliens vs. Predator comic, it'd be great. I remember liking that. (Though I may be misremembering)
- I'll probably still go see it though 'cos, you know, big science fiction movies are great at the cinema even when they are crap.
I like Alien 3, and think it would be a shame to nuke it from continuity, and if the new film can't fit into the continuity then it'll never quite sit well for me, it'll always be a spin-off/alternate universe thing which I'll never be fully invested in.
Saying that, if he sets it after Aliens then he can probably do whatever he wants as long as he can get Ripley, a young girl and a man into those cryo tubes by the end (unless I'm mis-remembering and the Sulaco DEFINITELY went straight to Fiorina after the events of Aliens, could be scope to add some adventures in-between).
QuoteIf somebody made a movie of that first Dark Horse (?) Aliens vs. Predator comic, it'd be great. I remember liking that. (Though I may be misremembering)
You're not - it was a great comic and still holds up.
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 19 February, 2015, 12:37:29 PM
QuoteIf somebody made a movie of that first Dark Horse (?) Aliens vs. Predator comic, it'd be great. I remember liking that. (Though I may be misremembering)
You're not - it was a great comic and still holds up.
I agree too, awesome graphic novel!
(http://i.imgur.com/mWmlcbv.jpg?1)
The problem with the Alien franchise for me is that it continued to take itself far too seriously after becoming palpably daft with Alien 3 and Resurrection. I would have welcomed it if the franchise stopped being so sullen and openly took a deliberate swerve into self-awareness and became something like the first Tremors movie (but with Aliens instead of giant worms).
The Colonial Marines game made a point of shitting on the 3rd and 4th Alien movies, too, but it might have been a dream or something by the end as I got bored and stopped playing at some sneaking bit.
The potential pitfall with this new movie is that it looks a bit fan-servicey, like it's 'the sequel to Aliens (you think) you want'.
Say what you want about Alien 3, at least it did the complete opposite of what people were expecting.
That's not really a plus if most people expected "a film that isn't shite."
It's also arguable that if something's a sequel, the whole point of making it is to service fans of the original. I don't know who said it, but there's a quote about the Friday the 13th movies being perfect sequels because they made the same film 9 times over and gave fans exactly what they wanted.
I want to see what character Sharlto Copley will play.
Quote from: radiator on 19 February, 2015, 05:48:57 PM
Say what you want about Alien 3, at least it did the complete opposite of what people were expecting.
Every Alien sequel has done that - rebooted itself in a different direction. The Blomkamp idea is to make a typical sequel.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 19 February, 2015, 06:00:35 PM
Quote from: radiator on 19 February, 2015, 05:48:57 PM
Say what you want about Alien 3, at least it did the complete opposite of what people were expecting.
Every Alien sequel has done that - rebooted itself in a different direction. The Blomkamp idea is to make a typical sequel.
Hardly. Alien Resurrection - people with lots of guns running around dark metallic corridors with aliens jumping out at them, while trying to get to a vessel in order to escape the structure they're in going nuclear self-destruct - seemed strangely familiar, somehow.
Still, radiator has a point. Alien3 if nothing else did it's own thing. There was a lot to commend in the film, the casting was excellent and some of the dialogue memorable: 'you don't wanna know me sister...' is a fairly grim intro for Ripley into the prison. A lot was wrong as well mind you, but they certainly didn't pander to expectations. Z
I think most people are put off by Alien³ simply because Newt and Hicks were killed in such a blatant manner.
For me that was a minor failing in a wider catalogue of errors. It had no chance though...what was it...3 directors fired before David Fincher came in and had to stitch it all together?
I have a lot of time for Alien 3. I like that they didn't try to top Aliens in the action stakes, because it wouldn't have measured up (which is what worries me about this new film). 3 drags a bit, sure, but I still think it has a lot to recommend it, and it at least made sense and delivered closure unlike Prometheus, which is a far weaker film imo. Personally I like the bleak nihilism, and killing off Newt and Hicks didn't bother me as much as it did others - this is a horror franchise first and foremost after all. I feel like a lot of people dismiss it purely because of that which is a bit silly. This Badass Digest nails it for me:
http://badassdigest.com/2015/02/19/why-newt-and-hicks-had-to-die-in-alien-3/?utm_content=bufferacc35&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer (http://badassdigest.com/2015/02/19/why-newt-and-hicks-had-to-die-in-alien-3/?utm_content=bufferacc35&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)
I almost feel like Resurrection could have been decent with a different director. Jeunet is a wonderfully talented filmmaker, but hiring him was perhaps a gamble that didn't pay off. I remember both Danny Boyle and Peter Jackson almost got the job - would have been interesting to see what they each would have done with it.
QuoteEvery Alien sequel has done that - rebooted itself in a different direction. The Blomkamp idea is to make a typical sequel.
I know. That's why I said:
QuoteThe potential pitfall with this new movie is that it looks a bit fan-servicey, like it's 'the sequel to Aliens (you think) you want'.
Giving the audience 'what they want' is what got us to where we are - endless prequels, franchise revivals and the prospect of a Boba Fett spin-off movie.
I always had the sense that resurrection was an attempt by the franchise owners to get back on track; the difficulty was that Alien3 in a way kinda like DOC thrashed the cosy concept and coupled with bad direction and a shite plot the film failed to tick any box whatsoever for me. I wish they had just tried to do something different. Z
I think the AvP movie was made ten years too early - when it was being pitched as a movie franchise everyone seemed to regard it as a horrible sell-out, creatively bankrupt thing, and gave it to that hack Paul WS Anderson. But if it were made now where every studio desperately wants in on shared universes, and it were based on that (very good) original comic series it could have been great.
Peter Briggs's script for AvP - based closely on the original Dark Horse mini-series - is far superior to what we eventually got from back supreme Paul WS Anderson. As a calling card, it got Peter a lot of other work - he wrote the first Hellboy film and was hired to work on an unproduced version of the Stallone Dredd - and the script's fairly easily findable online.
Pete's a big 2000AD fan, btw. He keeps on telling me that one day he'll option and write a Necronauts movie.
Quote from: GordonR on 19 February, 2015, 07:32:08 PM
Hardly. Alien Resurrection - people with lots of guns running around dark metallic corridors with aliens jumping out at them, while trying to get to a vessel in order to escape the structure they're in going nuclear self-destruct - seemed strangely familiar, somehow.
And they're the general surface tropes that all films in the series flute around with but yet the four films feel different,
Prometheus too. Even if you believe the maligned
Resurrection with its shift in tone to Jeunet goofiness and exaggerated visual style is the same, the rest aren't, so not "hardly" at all.
Quote from: radiator on 19 February, 2015, 05:48:57 PM
The potential pitfall with this new movie is that it looks a bit fan-servicey, like it's 'the sequel to Aliens (you think) you want'.
I hope they get the 65+ year old Sigourney Weaver to re-use the "Get away from her, you bitch" line again.
That would be great.
This, along with the forthcoming Terminator Genisys, Sci-Fi fan's have a lot to look forward to.
I'm not usually too keen on reboots and retcons but I'm up for this.
Apart from the first two, the series as a whole is a mess of bad continuity and mostly shit films. I would be all too happy to have the surviving characters from Aliens wake up from an unusually long cryosleep and declare all the subsequent films a bad dream.
Could do worse than adopt the tone and themes of the first DH Aliens comic, although the bits with the Space Jockey might not tie in too well with Prometheus...
I like 3 a lot, and I know that's an unpopular view. I don't like/love it anywhere near as much as Alien or Aliens, but it has a look and atmosphere about it that I love. I honestly don't remember feeling disappointed by it at the time, was too young to see it in the cinema but I remember reading the novelization and then watching it on video and feeling like it was a decent closer to the series.
Resurrection on the other hand I was disappointed by. I think just tonally it's so far from the first 3 that it's really, really difficult to see it as part of the same series so it just doesn't click with me. If I turn off the Alien fan part of me and just watch it as a sci-fi adventure movie I can actually enjoy it a fair bit, it reminds me a lot of the Dark Horse Aliens comics in a lot of ways. Too much of a departure for it to click into the canon for me but not a bad looking popcorn flick.
I came around to Alien 3 after seeing the director's cut on one of the (many, many) "ilogies" that have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, but, killing off Newt and Hicks was necessary only insofar as the script required Ripley to be alone against a prison full of scumbags. I'm sure there are writers out there who had great ideas based on this "micro family" trying to keep itself together in the face of xenomorphs, the Company, and the Marine Corps.
Anyway, Newt and Hicks aside, what we got was okay, with several stand-out bits (Ripley talking to what's left of Bishop; Ripley going in search of the alien after she finds out she's impregnated; a few others).
It's difficult to see where they could take the series. James Cameron's Aliens introduced the life cycle of the creature and that sort of rapped it up pretty much. Beyond that it's either repeating the old dark house gag [Alien] or cowboys and Indians [Aliens] both of which we've seen already.
The Colonial Marines game certainly had the feel and look of the Aliens Universe but it was just a linear shooter set in the Aliens/Predator Universe with a plot about fighting Weyland Yutani mercenaries. Not much originality there but I think like the first two Terminator Films it's a difficult act to follow up on. Both later Terminator Films seemed to lack the magic that surrounded the first two Movies and the same could be said of the Alien franchise.
So where do you go with it? No idea but Neill Blomkamp sure has his work cut out. I hope the Film gets made but I'm certainly not hoping for anything other than a well made Movie that hopefully isn't TOO generic.
Yeah I agree with the above.
I don't know much about the Aliens Vs Predator comics but I remember hearing about a story where the humans hired Predator mercenaries to help defend Earth cities from out of control Aliens.
I don't know if the story was any good but I think the premise is quite interesting - and the theme of an uneasy alliance and culture clash between humans and predators would at least make it different to what went before.
I just wish people would devote their creative energies into making NEW films rather than all this rebooting and reimagining.
Create some new ideas rather then just retreading old franchises.
DDD is correct of course, but then films like Jupiter Ascending can happen just as easily.
Hear, hear. The issue probably isn't a dearth of new ideas; but the utter conservatism of the financiers. Z
Quote from: ZenArcade on 20 February, 2015, 02:01:15 PM
but the utter conservatism of the financiers.
But can you blame them? Jupiter Ascending may have been a stinker, but a decent SF actioner with a major Hollywood star like Edge of Tomorrow also tanked in the US. If people go and see reboots, re-imaginings and franchise instalments and reject original projects, who in their right mind would greenlight $100M+ spends on original concepts...
Cheers
Jim
Absolutely, it is after all a business and the profit is predicated upon mass appeal of the product. This is I guess, why the kind of film a lot of people on this board would like to see, will never be made. For all of the reasons outlined. Crap isn't it. Z :(
Quote from: Dandontdare on 20 February, 2015, 01:57:17 PM
I just wish people would devote their creative energies into making NEW films rather than all this rebooting and reimagining.
Create some new ideas rather then just retreading old franchises.
Unless, of course,
Dredd.
I know I'm getting old when every time I see 100+ million price tags on movies I just think it's a fucking obscenity, the inevitable end result of which is Sony executives complaining that Spider-Man needs an immediate overhaul because the last movie only made 630 million dollars in profit.
On the Alien 3 offscreen cast bump-off debate, like most I didn't like that Hicks and Newt were knocked off in A3, but like several of my mates, it was only because we were sick of Ripley being the focus of the films and would rather someone else took over, and the scattershot nature of A3 only helped the notion that it was an unnecessary extension to a franchise that had run its course rather than a continuation of an ongoing storyline. Alienpocalypse is the next obvious place to take the franchise for my money: Aliens infesting Earth would tick a lot of "safe" boxes thanks to Walking Dead, 100, Z Nation, etc proving apocalypsey stuff can sell to a wide audience, and few movies went broke doing large-scale disaster porn.
(Not directed at anyone here), but I often find the sneery attitude towards sequels / franchises to be baffling.
What about The Empire Strikes Back, The Avengers, X-Men 2, Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead 2, indeed Aliens itself?
If the original film was great, and there's scope to continue a story with the same characters / universe, then why not?
Most of us have been reading the continuing weekly adventures of a geriatric future cop for the past 30+ years.
QuoteI like 3 a lot, and I know that's an unpopular view. I don't like/love it anywhere near as much as Alien or Aliens, but it has a look and atmosphere about it that I love. I honestly don't remember feeling disappointed by it at the time, was too young to see it in the cinema but I remember reading the novelization and then watching it on video and feeling like it was a decent closer to the series.
Resurrection on the other hand I was disappointed by. I think just tonally it's so far from the first 3 that it's really, really difficult to see it as part of the same series so it just doesn't click with me. If I turn off the Alien fan part of me and just watch it as a sci-fi adventure movie I can actually enjoy it a fair bit, it reminds me a lot of the Dark Horse Aliens comics in a lot of ways. Too much of a departure for it to click into the canon for me but not a bad looking popcorn flick.
Pretty much sums up my feelings exactly. I still think, the odd dodgy visual effect aside, A3 has great atmosphere. I love all of the British character actors too, from Brian Glover to Paul McGann and Ralph Brown - found out recently that Richard E Grant was originally down to play the role that eventually went to Charles Dance - so it would have been a crazy Withnail reunion.
The main thing I remember from Resurrection is that crazy bit where Winona Ryder's character miraculously appears on the other side of a locked door after falling to her 'death'. It was the first time I became aware of the term 'plot hole'.
I've got nothing against sequels, I love a good sequel, but when you've made seven movies and the last 4 or 5 were shite, it's time to move on. And by move on, I don't mean reboot it and make the first one all over again.
Also, Blomkamp is such a lucky bastard! I would now put him in the same room as Simon Pegg, a sci-fi geek who not only got to play Montgomery Scott, but is now getting to WRITE the third frickin' film as well, and...well, make damn sure they know how lucky they both are.
Quote from: wedgeski on 20 February, 2015, 05:05:59 PM
Also, Blomkamp is such a lucky bastard! I would now put him in the same room as Simon Pegg, a sci-fi geek who not only got to play Montgomery Scott, but is now getting to WRITE the third frickin' film as well, and...well, make damn sure they know how lucky they both are.
To be fair it's not just luck. They've both worked bloody hard and directed their energies and talent to get to places where they get to do these things.
Hard work and intelligence an unbeatable combination. To be fair to Wedgski, he/she was just using a turn of phrase. Z
Quote from: ZenArcade on 20 February, 2015, 02:01:15 PM
Hear, hear. The issue probably isn't a dearth of new ideas; but the utter conservatism of the financiers. Z
That oftentimes reflects the conservatism of the audience.
Yes it does indeed. Z
Quote from: Bear (PhD) on 20 February, 2015, 03:45:54 PM
I know I'm getting old when every time I see 100+ million price tags on movies I just think it's a fucking obscenity, the inevitable end result of which is Sony executives complaining that Spider-Man needs an immediate overhaul because the last movie only made 630 million dollars in profit.
Apparently, the leaked internal SONY emails reveal that
Amazeballs Spider-Man 2 only made
$65 million, before overheads, and after its box-office split with theatres. The cost of its budget and marketing spend were huge (over $300 million) and SONY were depending on it being a $billion earner.
Like many on here, I am a big Aliens fan but I do appreciate that the first two punched far above their weight and the various follow-ups have struggled to do as well. I'm still happy to hear they are doing another movie but the odds do already seem against them. I guess this one could buck the trend but I can't help thinking that for whatever reason - Hollywood just seems to really be struggling to make any decent movies at the moment. Or perhaps its just me and I miss those glory sci-fi days of the 70s/80s. :(
I agree that movie budgets have got way, way out of hand. The reported production budget of Aliens (today thought of as a big budget epic sci fi adventure) was $18m (which would apparently be around $40m in today's money). That seems completely insane to me. Surely with advances in technology films should be getting cheaper to make and distribute?
I remember reading about the Dredd movie and the huge percentage of the budget needed for post completion marketing. Z
Quote from: Recrewt on 20 February, 2015, 10:53:29 PM
Like many on here, I am a big Aliens fan but I do appreciate that the first two punched far above their weight
Above their weight? What on Earth does that mean ?
Think I've seen 3 Alien films, 2 were OK then it got very boring (in my opinion, it was many years ago).
I've discovered in this thread (I think, it's late) there have been many sequels. And Aliens fans did not like them.
Do something ORIGINAL ?
Quote from: Fungus on 21 February, 2015, 03:48:29 AM
Quote from: Recrewt on 20 February, 2015, 10:53:29 PM
Like many on here, I am a big Aliens fan but I do appreciate that the first two punched far above their weight
Above their weight? What on Earth does that mean ?
On paper, the plot to the first Alien movie is basically the same as many B monster movies. It even has a guy in a rubber suit as the monster. But, the execution far exceeds this to make it one of the best movies ever made.
Quote from: Recrewt on 22 February, 2015, 10:37:11 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 21 February, 2015, 03:48:29 AM
Quote from: Recrewt on 20 February, 2015, 10:53:29 PM
Like many on here, I am a big Aliens fan but I do appreciate that the first two punched far above their weight
Above their weight? What on Earth does that mean ?
On paper, the plot to the first Alien movie is basically the same as many B monster movies. It even has a guy in a rubber suit as the monster. But, the execution far exceeds this to make it one of the best movies ever made.
S'right.
Why is Alien so great? Hans Rudi Giger, that's why.
Also an out of this world cast*....Harry Dean Stanton ffs. Z
*no pun
Quote from: Professor Cardigan on 22 February, 2015, 10:43:25 PM
Quote from: Recrewt on 22 February, 2015, 10:37:11 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 21 February, 2015, 03:48:29 AM
Quote from: Recrewt on 20 February, 2015, 10:53:29 PM
Like many on here, I am a big Aliens fan but I do appreciate that the first two punched far above their weight
Above their weight? What on Earth does that mean ?
On paper, the plot to the first Alien movie is basically the same as many B monster movies. It even has a guy in a rubber suit as the monster. But, the execution far exceeds this to make it one of the best movies ever made.
S'right.
I have been shouted down more than once for pointing out that Alien is just Halloween on a spaceship.
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 23 February, 2015, 08:31:12 AM
Quote from: Professor Cardigan on 22 February, 2015, 10:43:25 PM
Quote from: Recrewt on 22 February, 2015, 10:37:11 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 21 February, 2015, 03:48:29 AM
Quote from: Recrewt on 20 February, 2015, 10:53:29 PM
Like many on here, I am a big Aliens fan but I do appreciate that the first two punched far above their weight
Above their weight? What on Earth does that mean ?
On paper, the plot to the first Alien movie is basically the same as many B monster movies. It even has a guy in a rubber suit as the monster. But, the execution far exceeds this to make it one of the best movies ever made.
S'right.
I have been shouted down more than once for pointing out that Alien is just Halloween on a spaceship.
The writers would be amongst the first to agree with you!
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 20 February, 2015, 05:32:40 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 20 February, 2015, 05:05:59 PM
Also, Blomkamp is such a lucky bastard! I would now put him in the same room as Simon Pegg, a sci-fi geek who not only got to play Montgomery Scott, but is now getting to WRITE the third frickin' film as well, and...well, make damn sure they know how lucky they both are.
To be fair it's not just luck. They've both worked bloody hard and directed their energies and talent to get to places where they get to do these things.
Absolutely...but there are plenty of people out there who worked equally as hard, but didn't get to make the next Alien film. :) I don't begrudge these guys anything. This is just unadulterated envy flooding through my fingertips.
I honestly don't mind Aliens cubed. It was a decent enough movie that would have made an adequate sequel if it hadn't disregarded everything that made Aliens great.
But that aside, i'm pretty excited for this. I assume Promethiarse 2 has been dropped then.
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 24 February, 2015, 09:25:45 AM
I honestly don't mind Aliens cubed. It was a decent enough movie that would have made an adequate sequel if it hadn't disregarded everything that made Aliens great.
But that aside, i'm pretty excited for this. I assume Promethiarse 2 has been dropped then.
Not that I've heard.
I just can't see Prometheus 2 ever happening. For one thing, i dont think there's a viable audience given how many were burned by the terrible first film. I cant see Scott getting around to it and i also can't see any writer wanting to pick up that poisoned chalice. The obviously tacked-on 'to be continued' ending was the very definition of painting oneself into a narrative corner.
Scott does continue to drop little tit-bits of info regarding Prometheus 2 (And Blade Runner 2....), every time he's interviewed about anything, but yes, I cant see it happening either.
It made a ton of money, so in theory a sequel could happen. The reason I don't see it happening is because the original writer came to the studio with a finished script everyone loved (to the point they considered detaching it from the Alien franchise altogether and shooting it as a springboard for a different franchise) only for Scott to hop on board and spend a few days - actual fucking days - telling the writer how his script sucked, before attaching other screenwriters to the project to write conflicting drafts and making the original writer go around doing PR for several months saying what a genius Scott was. I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think he'll be too interested in returning, and without a pre-existing script with good buzz for Scott to glom onto and ruin, I don't see him coming back, either.
They have a script now, apparently...
QuoteThe reason I don't see it happening is because the original writer came to the studio with a finished script everyone loved (to the point they considered detaching it from the Alien franchise altogether and shooting it as a springboard for a different franchise) only for Scott to hop on board and spend a few days - actual fucking days - telling the writer how his script sucked, before attaching other screenwriters to the project to write conflicting drafts
This is apparently also
exactly what happened with Scott's lavishly-budgeted but already-forgotten Robin Hood movie from a a few years ago that starred Rusty Crow.
Started life as an original script called 'Nottingham' that was a fresh take on the mythos that multiple studios wanted to make and was the subject of a heated bidding war - after going through the Ridders wringer it ended up as a bland retelling of the Robin Hood story that opened to weak reviews and flopped at the box office.
You can read all about it here: http://sex-in-a-sub.blogspot.com/2010/05/robbing-from-poor-writer.html (http://sex-in-a-sub.blogspot.com/2010/05/robbing-from-poor-writer.html)
Script for ALIEN: ENGINEERS - http://www.joblo.com/scripts/Alien-Engineers-ORIGINAL-PROMETHEUS-SCRIPT.pdf
I like it a lot better than what made it to screen, mostly because everything makes a lot more sense.
Bits I like about the final script:
* David becomes more subtle and interesting - he's about the only thing that does work.
* That weird Kubrickian scene were Weyland turns up.
The character of David was interesting... up to a point, but ultimately turned out to be just as muddled and inconsistent as everything else in the film. A weird amalgam of Ash and Bishop, veering from sort-of villain to sort-of hero and back again for no reason whatsoever, and also like every other character, doing boneheaded stupid things that made no sense at all.
They mainly make sense from the point of view of him really hating people and wanting to passively aggressively mess them up.
Oh, and, not in final script, he can read all the labels on the Engineer equipment, which are visible in the ultraviolet spectrum. Hence a lot of the "random" touching of things.
Later writer Damon Lindelof has admirable respect for keeping things mysterious, but doesn't seem to understand that you need to keep the underlying causality or you end up with an utter mess. Or maybe he does understand that and people keep handing him fat wads of cash anyway.
QuoteThey mainly make sense from the point of view of him really hating people and wanting to passively aggressively mess them up.
Do you mean in the actual film, or the original script? Because in the film he does some seriously stupid shit for what are, at best, very vague and/or nonsensical reasons.
But yeah, I've heard the original script sheds a lot of light on some of the dumber stuff that made it into the final film. I think it's unfair how much flak Lindelof gets when, as I understand it, Scott is pretty much entirely to blame for the appalling state of the script that was ultimately filmed.
New film is sequel to Aliens, ignore Alien 3&4.
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien/34304/alien-5-to-ignore-alien-3-and-alien-resurrection (http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien/34304/alien-5-to-ignore-alien-3-and-alien-resurrection)
I become progressively less excited by this movie, the more I hear about it.
Cheers
Jim
As a big fan of the first two movies who doesn't really like 3 and 4 at all (bar some of the visual elements) is sounding promising to me. I really hope they get Michael biehn on board.
I'm a big fan of the original Engineers script, which is a better and more complete film that what we got but does, admittedly, slip into Aliens territory in the last third.
I would've been okay with that, mind you, but I can see how Ridley Scott, who has certainly made it clear he didn't want to make "just" another Alien film, started looking for a rewrite. It's just a pity that most of the characters suffered so badly in the process.
I like Michael Biehn as much as the next man but his story has been told. Same with Ripley. I can see some merit in following an older Newt though.
Does anyone know what happens to the Aliens once they've killed everyone and consumed whatever resources they need to survive. Do they just die or go into stasis or something? Maybe they're engineered to consume everything as soon as possible and then die off (probably makes sense if they're a bio-weapon).
I might have to dig out my DH Omnibuses to verify this but I do seem to remember in one of the early comics (make of this what you will then) but when an adult 'soldier' Xeno has served it's supposed to keel over and allows itself to be eaten by the stronger individuals of the clan.
Speaking of comics, did anyone else read the Dark Horse series recently, Fire and Stone? It was a handful of series (Aliens, Aliens vs Predator, Predator, Prometheus) that all interlinked and told one big story. The release schedule was a real mess so reading them as they came out made no sense whatsoever, but after waiting for them all to come out (and getting the 'correct' reading order from the internet) I read through them all yesterday and quite enjoyed it, even if it was all a bit mad at times.
Quote from: radiator on 24 February, 2015, 04:32:56 PM
I just can't see Prometheus 2 ever happening. For one thing, i dont think there's a viable audience given how many were burned by the terrible first film.
People went to see Star Wars episodes II & III despite being burned by Phantom menace. Go figure.
Quote from: JamesC on 26 February, 2015, 10:39:13 AM
Does anyone know what happens to the Aliens once they've killed everyone and consumed whatever resources they need to survive. Do they just die or go into stasis or something? Maybe they're engineered to consume everything as soon as possible and then die off (probably makes sense if they're a bio-weapon).
One of the original ideas from the first film, was that any victim, and in fact the adult Alien xenomorph itself - once its job was done, was to turn into a Face-hugger carrying egg.
This idea was partially re-instated for the Directors cut of Alien - the scene were Ripley finds Dallas, and Brett cocooned , and both are at different stages of 'transformation'.
Un-filmed, but part of the original concept, was that the adult xenomorph - presumabley believing its job was done, had gone onto the shuttlecraft Narcissus to 'bed down' and revert to an egg. Ripley upon finding it had to force it to come after her, so she could blow it out of the hatch. So from the egg, to the adult, and then back to the egg again.
I must admit, I quite like that concept. It has a pleasing, and a bizarre, symmetry to it.
And one worthy of being called 'alien'.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 26 February, 2015, 04:08:20 PM
Quote from: radiator on 24 February, 2015, 04:32:56 PM
I just can't see Prometheus 2 ever happening. For one thing, i dont think there's a viable audience given how many were burned by the terrible first film.
People went to see Star Wars episodes II & III despite being burned by Phantom menace. Go figure.
' What power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of Heaven?'
Maybe 3 & 4 was all a dream?
I quite like 3, especially for reinstating some of the psychosexual undetones that Aliens lacked, but I also like the fan theory that it's Ripley' s cryosleep nightmare, explaining the plot holes, e.g. where did the (either unexplained "super" or more than one) facehugger come from?
Now we just need Prometheus 2 to explain how the Aliens travel back in time to appear in the AVP films and the series continuity is all good again.
Quote from: Rog69 on 26 February, 2015, 09:24:23 PM
Now we just need Prometheus 2 to explain how the Aliens travel back in time to appear in the AVP films and the series continuity is all good again.
I am willing to believe a great many things in the AVP verse are canon. Thise movies aren't one of them.
Really, we're only talking about erasing Alien 3, right? Resurrection's set way in the future from 3 so it still stands as possible. Also, while I have a soft spot for 3, if the actual makers of the movie don't care much for it - Fincher notoriously won't ever even discuss his experiences directing it - then it's fair game to paint over it. IMHO, of course.
JP the whole plot thread with the Alien Species is that they are a super efficient predator. Now a lot of people would infer from this that this is because they are intrinsically stronger and more robust than anything we could envisage . This is I feel not sufficiently a rigorous enough a determinant view on what a true 'ultimate' predator would be. The over compensation against and negation of alternate outcomes would be hardwired as a survival instinct. When the Queen entered the Sulaco the first thing which would have happened as a basal fact would have been the laying of a sequence of eggs. The species wins upon reproduction over fight. Z
Quote from: blackmocco on 26 February, 2015, 10:55:14 PM
Really, we're only talking about erasing Alien 3, right? Resurrection's set way in the future from 3 so it still stands as possible. Also, while I have a soft spot for 3, if the actual makers of the movie don't care much for it - Fincher notoriously won't ever even discuss his experiences directing it - then it's fair game to paint over it. IMHO, of course.
Yeah, but Ripley was cloned from blood samples taken by Tywin Lannister in Alien 3, so there's that.
Quote from: ZenArcade on 26 February, 2015, 11:12:56 PM
JP the whole plot thread with the Alien Species is that they are a super efficient predator. Now a lot of people would infer from this that this is because they are intrinsically stronger and more robust than anything we could envisage . This is I feel not sufficiently a rigorous enough a determinant view on what a true 'ultimate' predator would be. The over compensation against and negation of alternate outcomes would be hardwired as a survival instinct. When the Queen entered the Sulaco the first thing which would have happened as a basal fact would have been the laying of a sequence of eggs. The species wins upon reproduction over fight. Z
Yeah but the queen's just ripped her ovipostor off. And was clinging to the dropship with no time to lay eggs on the Sulaco. And it means Ripley didn't have a quick check for eggs before going into cryo.
Quote from: JPMaybe on 27 February, 2015, 07:18:47 AM
Quote from: ZenArcade on 26 February, 2015, 11:12:56 PM
JP the whole plot thread with the Alien Species is that they are a super efficient predator. Now a lot of people would infer from this that this is because they are intrinsically stronger and more robust than anything we could envisage . This is I feel not sufficiently a rigorous enough a determinant view on what a true 'ultimate' predator would be. The over compensation against and negation of alternate outcomes would be hardwired as a survival instinct. When the Queen entered the Sulaco the first thing which would have happened as a basal fact would have been the laying of a sequence of eggs. The species wins upon reproduction over fight. Z
Yeah but the queen's just ripped her ovipostor off. And was clinging to the dropship with no time to lay eggs on the Sulaco. And it means Ripley didn't have a quick check for eggs before going into cryo.
Not to mention she was only on the Sulaco for a few minutes and in full view of someone the whole time.
I think it's a pretty appalling plot hole and it doesn't deserve any effort from fans to try to rationalise it on the film makers behalf.
At the very end of the ALIENS credits music, you can hear an egg opening. So it was always the film makers intention that there was a face hugger on board. They just didn't explain the ins and outs of it. (Queen could have still had a mostly formed egg up her chuff etc.) I'm willing to let this plot hole slide.
Or even grabbed one or two up before she scarpered. Plenty of nooks and crannies to serve as hideyholes on that Beastie.
Quote from: Tordelback on 27 February, 2015, 12:42:51 PM
Or even grabbed one or two up before she scarpered. Plenty of nooks and crannies to serve as hideyholes on that Beastie.
Been a while since I paid much attention to Aliens fandom, but ISTR a fairly plausible theory that Bishop had more than enough time to do an extra run to the Sulaco once he'd got the dropship down to the planet...
Cheers
Jim
I tend to think in terms of the Queens basic motivations. She/it is primarily concerned with the perpetuation of her/its line, to the exclusion of all other determinants.
The reaction after her/its hive was destroyed would not be a get the nasty human who did this. Anthropomising her/its actions as revenge behaviour accords an alien creature attributes 'alien' to her/it.
All we see of the variant types of the creature in all of the movies from face hugger, alien in the first film through to the Queen are creatures who use blunt, direct, brutal strategies in order to breed. We see at least two different means of accomplishing this: Face hugger embryo implantation and the embryo implantation used by the alien in the first film.
It is not unreasonable to assume the Queen after the compromising of her/its first nest site and upon coming upon a new site, would have eggs secreted about her/its body which as a species imperative would deposit right away. Z
Fair play to you for doing she/it all the way through that post. It must have been annoying.
My main quibble about Aliens was always the number of Xenos that we see. It seemed far too many considering the number of colonists they had to breed on. The deleted scene of the sentry(?) guns only added to that for me.
Quote from: Colin Zeal on 27 February, 2015, 04:03:58 PM
Fair play to you for doing she/it all the way through that post. It must have been annoying.
My main quibble about Aliens was always the number of Xenos that we see. It seemed far too many considering the number of colonists they had to breed on. The deleted scene of the sentry(?) guns only added to that for me.
Its either 158 colonists or 158 workers and their family's depending on the way you read it. Not all the aliens had gestated by the time the marines arrived, (we see one chestburster for narrative reasons) and a few facehuggers were removed before impregnation but that's still 150 odd of the buggers at least.
Quote from: James Stacey on 27 February, 2015, 04:13:08 PM
Quote from: Colin Zeal on 27 February, 2015, 04:03:58 PM
Fair play to you for doing she/it all the way through that post. It must have been annoying.
My main quibble about Aliens was always the number of Xenos that we see. It seemed far too many considering the number of colonists they had to breed on. The deleted scene of the sentry(?) guns only added to that for me.
Its either 158 colonists or 158 workers and their family's depending on the way you read it. Not all the aliens had gestated by the time the marines arrived, (we see one chestburster for narrative reasons) and a few facehuggers were removed before impregnation but that's still 150 odd of the buggers at least.
That's some quality space maths right there!
Always thought it was around the 150 (158) mark in total. The numbers do look more but Commando Forces can give us a heads up on 'tank shock' basically in a state of emotional stress, excitement or fear we tend to see 2 - 3 times what is really there. Z
I'm about to leave the pub and when I get home aliens will be watched so I can work this out. Thank you to those who have given an answer to my question. I'll be back in a few hours.
Okay, and one thing stay same and still is, Aliens is one of so awesome badass films ever! Good luck on try to beat that!
(http://38.media.tumblr.com/81615d83e527b6ac6e27c17df0fa97ed/tumblr_n7k40pBCEF1r8lutfo1_500.gif)
Well I got home from the pub and before I could watch aliens I had to watch alien first. I'm half way through that film and I still have no idea if my count of people in aliens is right or not. Good news though because William hurt has just thrown off the face hugger.
Heh, Arkady has encountered face huggers in Moscow? Z :)
Have a good night kid. :D
Oh dear. Apparently ash is a robot who's working for the company. The only people left alive are Sigourney weaver, a woman who keeps screaming and mr big from live and let die. I do love a happy ending.
I don't see why there is all this fussing about where the new movie will fit in the timeline. I was never particularly bothered that we lost Hicks and Newt off screen in Alien 3 and despite that movie not being as good as the first 2, I thought it did a reasonable job of concluding Ripley's story.
Bringing these folks back just seems like too much fan-service to me and I worry (like it did in Resurrection) that more Ripley will just not end up as good and we will end up thinking "should of stayed dead in 3". Why can't this new movie just pick up after the events of Aliens but use new characters?
Quote from: Recrewt on 28 February, 2015, 12:02:13 PMBringing these folks back just seems like too much fan-service to me
It's the eighth film about Aliens. I don't think fanservice is something that's going to hold it back.
Quote from: Bear "Bear" McBear (bear) on 28 February, 2015, 03:56:57 PM
Quote from: Recrewt on 28 February, 2015, 12:02:13 PMBringing these folks back just seems like too much fan-service to me
It's the eighth film about Aliens. I don't think fanservice is something that's going to hold it back.
Ha, yeah. Thing is, I don't mind them making new movies in the Alien universe but the way they get hung up on certain characters baffles me. I mean, c'mon - hicks was a soldier and newt was a young girl. They were both good in Aliens but they are hardly indispensable.
Well, Chappie seems to be getting a bit of a kicking from the critics.
Let's hope Blomkamp has a lot of help with his Alien script...
Quote from: radiator on 05 March, 2015, 10:20:00 PM
Well, Chappie seems to be getting a bit of a kicking from the critics.
Let's hope Blomkamp has a lot of help with his Alien script...
Agreed. :(
This seems as good a place as any to post these.
Fasnacht is the equivalent of Carnival over here (but you can tell it's a completely unrelated event on account of it always being exactly a week after Mardi Gras.) Basically, the whole town gets smashed for three days while roving bands of drummers and piccolo players wander the streets erratically. At the heart of it are the Fasnacht Cliques. Groups of locals with a band and a basement bar who spend a good part of the preceding year getting organised for the big blowout.
Each clique will have a particular theme to their costume for the year and their lantern (of which more later.) There are stock characters but it's frequently drawn from popular culture or events of the past year. The death of HR Giger made an impression and there were several references to his most famous creation. No, not Penis Landscape, the other one.
Without further ado, allow me to present the First Facehugger Marching Band.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/12c66b60-8e04-401a-a12f-68142a9159b1_zpsatdit4mm.jpg)
Random pack of Xenomorphs.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/b9c09a1b-4d60-4394-89d4-b0c42351baaa_zps49ytkliq.jpg)
The bandleaders are usually identifiable by the extra big heid on their costume. Here a papier mache Giger plays host to a cheeky chestbuster.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/4044c4c6-98e9-427d-9df3-1c39bcf3702f_zpslcvinpxc.jpg)
Another part of the tradition is the lanterns each clique produces to illustrate their chosen theme. These commonly get mired in the - presumably hilarious - minutiae of local politics but can also be simple, striking images. The industry probably keeps signwriters gainfully employed for months and some of the results are quite wonderful pieces in themselves.
Giger portrait.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/9774812d-6e8e-4172-8551-6cc209658aac_zpsfvrhi5bj.jpg)
Reverse view, variation on that thing he did with the woman.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/3c119190-5d74-4a98-bde5-d97d6c942138_zpshqjkbl7o.jpg)
Much more colourful variation on the same theme.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/b2065323-e43b-4d7b-86f9-2531bc53df4a_zpsnzvlnexn.jpg)
Reverse view incorporating Giger imagery into the more common heavy-handed-but-still-not-entirely-clear satire style.
(http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii544/TheCosh/PublicShare/Fasnacht2015/951f6680-01d9-4f1e-8311-09c52a586e19_zpsnsgyebve.jpg)
Cosh- thanks for posting those. Hope you had a good time.
Fantastic stuff Cosh, wonder can I expect similar from this year's St Patrick's parade (answer: no).
Quote from: ZenArcade on 27 February, 2015, 06:58:03 PM
Always thought it was around the 150 (158) mark in total. The numbers do look more but Commando Forces can give us a heads up on 'tank shock' basically in a state of emotional stress, excitement or fear we tend to see 2 - 3 times what is really there. Z
Van Lewen (Company executive), says that it's "60, maybe 70 families". The sign outside Hadley's Hope says Pop: 158.
I did a count when I was a Student (more years ago than I care to remember...), and remember being satisfied with the tally of Colonists vs. Aliens.
Love chubby Alien in that parade.
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 12 March, 2015, 12:05:09 PM
Love chubby Alien in that parade.
News just in; overweight cosplayer sighted.
The Alan Dean Foster mentioned 158 as well. Z
Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 12 March, 2015, 12:05:09 PM
Love chubby Alien in that parade.
It's just acid retention.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/samjparker/the-daily-mail-translation-guide#.ed4WaXAvE (http://www.buzzfeed.com/samjparker/the-daily-mail-translation-guide#.ed4WaXAvE)
Hicks back!
http://www.total-geeks.com/michael-biehn-confirmed-for-alien-sequel/ (http://www.total-geeks.com/michael-biehn-confirmed-for-alien-sequel/)
Quote from: Goaty on 19 March, 2015, 01:17:34 PM
Hicks back!
http://www.total-geeks.com/michael-biehn-confirmed-for-alien-sequel/ (http://www.total-geeks.com/michael-biehn-confirmed-for-alien-sequel/)
So will they ignore the (admittedly lame) Hicks resurrection story from Colonial Marines?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mquByeLRYNM
Ah, curiouser and curiouser. This gets more interesting as it goes along he certainly featured in the Concept art Perhaps they'll bring back Newt as a sort of younger version of Ripley someone a teenage audience could identify with. I assume this takes place a few years after Aliens and I don't think you actually saw Newt and Hicks in Alien 3 though their deaths were mentioned.
Link to artwork below.Don't know if this was for a film but what the hell it's great.Think it's Marek Okon but might be wrong there.
http://40.media.tumblr.com/e3c0f8f15c1eaceb8a6de6546bea8c6c/tumblr_nkys1fxeQQ1qflgwpo3_1280.jpg
Quote from: Link Prime on 19 March, 2015, 01:35:53 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 19 March, 2015, 01:17:34 PM
Hicks back!
http://www.total-geeks.com/michael-biehn-confirmed-for-alien-sequel/ (http://www.total-geeks.com/michael-biehn-confirmed-for-alien-sequel/)
So will they ignore the (admittedly lame) Hicks resurrection story from Colonial Marines?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mquByeLRYNM
Oh god, I just remembered that in the run-up to that game they talked it up as canon, officially sanctioned by Fox and everything. After the reception to the game that now seems mental.
His performance bothered me in it too, totally flat. With any luck that's not an indication of what he'll be like as Hicks in the movie.
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 19 March, 2015, 02:49:56 PM
His performance bothered me in it too, totally flat. With any luck that's not an indication of what he'll be like as Hicks in the movie.
I don't think his heart was in it, Keef; http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/27/aliens-colonial-marines-actor-michael-biehn-says-working-on-the-game-wasnt-fun-at-all/
Quote from: Link Prime on 19 March, 2015, 03:14:26 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 19 March, 2015, 02:49:56 PM
His performance bothered me in it too, totally flat. With any luck that's not an indication of what he'll be like as Hicks in the movie.
I don't think his heart was in it, Keef; http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/07/27/aliens-colonial-marines-actor-michael-biehn-says-working-on-the-game-wasnt-fun-at-all/
Thanks for the link! That's quite reassuring, part of me thought that would be what we'd get on his return as Hicks, and part of me was worried he gave a really flat reading because he just didn't care about videogames (sometimes great actors put in poor videogame performances, seemingly seeing it as beneath them - I really hoped he wasn't of that attitude)!
Passionless sums it up, hopefully he throws himself into the movie role.
Michael Beihn is great as Sgt. Rex 'Power' Colt in the ludicrously 80s Far Cry: Blood Dragon.
The Projection Booth have just done a tremendous episode examining the troubled production of Alien 3, featuring an extensive interview with Vincent Ward about his aborted vision of the film (the infamous, intriguing 'wooden monastery planet' concept).
http://projection-booth.blogspot.com/2015/07/episode-228-alien3.html (http://projection-booth.blogspot.com/2015/07/episode-228-alien3.html)
Which in turn led me to yet again reading up on all the abandoned concepts and various script treatments for the film.
While Alien 3 is a very flawed film, I still like it, because it at least tried to do something original, rather than just trying to rehash or go one better than Aliens (as William Gibson's script did, and which I think will be the problem with Blomkamp's take), which I think is a fool's errand.
It struck me as I was reading through all these aborted attempts though, that the plot of the 2000ad series Kingdom could be repurposed into an excellent premise for an Alien sequel. You wouldn't even have to change it much.
I didn't like Alien 3 precisely because it didn't try anything different - after Cameron's ballsy reinvention of the property as an action movie, A3 retreated back to the "haunted house in space" guff. Shite as it was, Aliens Versus Predator was a far more adventurous, distinctive and inventive sequel than Alien 3.
I like the idea of a Kingdom-esque Alien film!
I remember when I saw that film for the first time n city cinemas.
I had finished work for the day and was still my work uniform. I was a railway worker, but that was just over 15 years ago now.
There was huge billboard advertising the film in the seedier part of town. It had picture of Ripley with her head shaved on the front.
As a the cinema used be right in the basement level of the Myer Centre building, there was a food court with a MacDonalds just out side the huge alcove where the box office was.
I brought my self one of Quarter-Pounder meals and finished off the soft-drink and fries right away before seeing the film. It wasn't until I hopped off the train back home (It's about a hours journey....), that I found the still slightly warm burger still wrapped up in the paper bag in my back pack.
I can still taste that right now, as I ate it walking home.
Not everything I did that night was mentioned here ;)
Wooah!
Neill Blomkamp post this;
https://instagram.com/p/83mcFbqhBk/ (https://instagram.com/p/83mcFbqhBk/)
Oh, that is lovely...
Mmmmm... Happiness is a hot muzzle.
Just need them to bring back the power-loader, Alien queen, and the drop ship, and all the fans will be so happy....
Quote from: Spikes on 17 October, 2015, 12:13:14 PM
Just need them to bring back the power-loader, Alien queen, and the drop ship, and all the fans will be so happy....
Nailed the problem there, Spikes. Just press 'play' on the DVD. Too late to pass that memo on to JJ Abrams, I suppose...?
Looks like Alien 5 is in creative limbo at the moment. Halloween after all.
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien-5/37555/alien-5-is-holding-neill-blomkamp-working-on-other-things
Honestly I'm more interested in Ridley Scott Alien Universe movies, then Blomkamp sequels.
Alien 5 was never more than just a tease but Prometheus 2 seems real. They should just bury both in a director-proof coffin.
I wish the misfire of prometheus could be forgotten and we could progress with the sequel to aliens. I'm not a fan of alien 3 or resurrection. Prometheus was a mess.