Sigourney Weaver says Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 is happening and will be well worth the wait!

I hope Sigourney's right, but remember she was saying similar things about Ghostbusters 3, letting slip that the script featured Dana's son Oscar as one of the new generation of Ghostbusters, but then Amy Pascal and Paul Feig went all feminist on us and gave us the 'Power of Patty'!

While I get that Ridley is adamant to revive interest in the Alien property, after the mixed reception Prometheus got, if he doesn't deliver with Alien: Covenant he could end up doing more harm than good to the franchise.

Alien 5 will be a very different project to Alien: Covenant. I don't see Fox having anyone else direct it besides Blomkamp, with Ridley acting as executive producer. 

Unless we see Fox take a massive U-turn like Sony did with the property, I think we'll be alright. Thank God Sony doesn't own the rights to Alien. Haha

I would think there is a few reasons for for Alien 5 on hold..

1) They knew Alien 5 was getting more interest, and general fans where not keen on some of the elements from Prometheus or where the Synopsis to Prometheus 2 would lead...  (Shaw and David are bound to the Engineer Homeworld called Paradise, where Shaw wishes to get her answers while David is now free to pursue his own questions... but would Shaw find the answers she wants and is Paradise really the Place of its namesake?)

This is kind of what a Prometheus 2 Paradise synopsis would have been like....

But i think fans in general maybe was not to keen on Prometheus, and on the direction it was going... and seeing a lot of interest for Alien 5....

I think Fox and Ridley have re-wrote some parts of the Paradise Lost or split it between 2-3 movies and added another element in to cover the Xeno more...

This movie would give Alien fans a more Alieny movie... but if Alien 5 came out first.... maybe it would effect how fans see Alien Covenant especially if a) Covenant is less Alieny movie than Alien 5 or Alien 5 Bombs..

2) Maybe there are some things in Alien 5 that they wanted to cover, as far as Xeno, Origins, DNA, Engineers and their Technology that Ridley felt could give away a bit of what they want to cover in his Alien Prequel series...

So its a bit like wanting to have Star Wars EP 4-6 released before EP 1-3 as doing it the other way would give away some of the stuff from EP 4-6 and maybe seeing Phantom Menace First may but people who have not seen Star wars off watching any others.

I think you're absolutely right BigDave. If the script for Alien 5 echoes at all any of Bkomkamp's artwork he created as concepts for the project, we know Weyland-Yutani will have set up a research facility on (I assume) LV-426, around the crashed Derelict. Unlike Alien and Aliens which only barely touched on the Derelict, Alien 5 will undoubtedly unearth some new things and many of which I feel will have been somewhat explained in both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Otherwise Alien 5 will be pressed for screentime and rushed to explain what they find inside. It's very smart to release Alien: Covenant before Alien 5. I see Alien 5 releasing between Covenant and Prometheus 3 however. I can also see Alien 5 itself leaving some open-ended questions which will be touched upon in the later Prometheus sequels.

Much respect to Weaver, but how does she know?  A script can look good and still turn to crap.  All this hype for projects that haven't even started production yet (unless I missed something) is kind of annoying.

I really can't wrap my head around this movie. Are they really going to ignore Alien 3!?

Cryo - dream or clones....or just ignore everything.

The concept work does give a number of clues...

As far as the Derelict... who knows, i think they either recover the Derelict or they get there hands on another Engineer Ship... we have to remember the movie is set 20+ years after Aliens and 100 years after Covenant give or take .

The Questions then have to be asked... would the company wait 20 years to go and recover the Derelict? or had they recovered it a lot earlier and simply  the S£"%" dont hit the fan until after a considerable time of them having it in their possession?

Also Ripley manages to somehow come across something related to Engineer Tech.... is this something they come across or is it reverse Engineered from the Engineer Tech or Derelict?

We also have to wonder what does Ripley do for 20 years and then what makes her come back into the Franchise... my money would be that she finds out the Company has its hands on a Derelict/Juggernaut ship and she wants to once again put a stop to it?

But we cant say for sure that its the Derelict..... other options could be..

1) LV-223

2) David 8's Juggernaut

3) Another Juggernaut from some place else

Another thing to remember was that Alien 5 trod on the toes of Prometheus 2 in regards to things that movie would cover... this has to be regarding either or a few of.

a) What remains of Engineers Ships/Technology in the years 2179 - 2200 (is the Derelict the only one left?)

b) What remains of the Xeno DNA by the years 2179 - 2200 (again is the Derelict the only source?)

c) What information is known about the Engineers and their Technology Post 2179?

d) What other kinds of Xenomorph or means of manipulating the DNA are there.

e) What connections do the Xenos have DNA wise to the Black Goo.

I would assume one or more of the above may have been explored in Blomkamps Alien 5 and so they would have to first change some elements but also maybe push a Prometheus Sequel out first to touch upon the above, so that Alien 5 has freedom to explore these without spoiling the Prometheus Sequel..

Maybe this is why the U-Turn.. maybe some elements from latter in the Prometheus series have had to be brought forwards.

The source who gave supposed leaks to Paglen/Green Draft of 2014 did on one of the last times they mentioned the movie... that it seems prehapse they are re-arange the planned Story they wanted to tell.

i.e Prometheus ==> Part 2 ==> Part 3  ==> Alien in a A-Z Fashion.  They said it would be like Star Wars planned 9 movies, a EP 1-9 in a A-Z Fashion but we never got that... what we had was a EP 4-6 then a prequel series 1-3 and then sequel series 7-9 and by watching the movies when complete in a A-Z Fashion would leave some elements of the later movies as being no surprise....  So they are implying that elements to be covered latter in Prometheus Trilogy may have been altered and brought forwards and a new Plot also thrown into the Mix...... a bit like say how Star Wars Rogue One will be to EP1-9....

This is why they wont give no information as they claimed they dont have none really with Covenant but there could be parts of the Paglen/Green Draft that will feature in Alien Covenant and its sequel...

I will put down and update the only and last information they said, but we cant proof any of it now unless Covenant and its sequel use some elements or we manage to see Paglen/Green Final Draft released.