Alien 5 is on hold. At least, for now. It was rumored early on that Fox may have put the breaks on the film's production since filming for Ridley Scott's Prometheus sequel, Alien: Paradise Lost is set to begin this January. However, in recent interviews with Scott himself, who remains a producer on Blomkamp's fifth Alien instalment, confirmed Alien 5 would hit theaters sometime in 2017 - two years from now. It was also confirmed that Alien 5 would release after Alien: Paradise Lost so as to not interfere with the parallel storylines being explored.
Just recently, Blomkamp himself took to Twitter and wrote the following: "alien is kinda holding/ pending prometheus 2. So I shall be working on other things... as much as I love the xeno- and Lt ripley". This update comes not even a week after he teased the look of Alien 5's new Pulse Rifles...
alien is kinda holding/ pending prometheus 2. So I shall be working on other things... as much as I love the xeno- and Lt ripley
— ?eill BlomkΛmp (@NeillBlomkamp) October 30, 2015
It seems Fox is more focused on Scott's Prometheus 2 / Paradise Lost at the moment, which is undertsandable - the Alien franchise is fairly limited and Alien 5 is likely to be a one-off because of how it fits into the canonical timeline. Prometheus on the other hand has many avenues which can be explored and expanded. Fox and Scott have already set in motion, plans to release up to three more sequels to 2012's Prometheus before they close the door on the mysterious Space Jockey / LV-426 situation.
Is Alien 5 cancelled? No. All this means is that production will remain at a standstill while production on Alien: Paradise Lost continues. As more information surrounding this news develops, we'll be sure to keep you posted.
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 project was inevitably canceled following the merger between 20th Century Fox and Disney. Blomkamp had hoped to revive characters Hicks and Ripley for a new film, rewriting the Alien timeline, chalking up Alien 3 and Resurrection to mere bad dreams. Studio executives decided to can the project and instead took the franchise in a new direction, tapping Fede Alvarez to direct Alien: Romulus.
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 is indefinitely shelved.
