July 23rd, 2016 will see the reunion of Aliens cast mates during a special Q&A event at San Diego Comic-Con this year! Entertainment Weekly reports that despite Fox's decision to withdraw themselves from showing any Alien: Covenant footage at Hall H, they will be hosting a Q&A session with many of the original cast from Aliens, including James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver, Gale Anne Hurd, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Michael Biehn, and Carrie Henn. What's even more exciting is Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 will be a primary topic of conversation!
There will be much to discuss at Comic-Con, since not only is it a look back at a sci-fi classic, but Weaver is working with District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to create a new Aliens sequel, one that picks up where Cameron’s film left off and somewhat de-canonizes David Fincher’sAlien 3 (1992) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection (1997). “It’s just as if, you know, the path forks and one direction goes off to three and four and another direction goes off to Neill’s movie,” Weaver says.
Commemorating the film's 30th anniversary, Fox will also be releasing a special new collectible Aliens Blu-ray box set on September 13th! The box set will also come with some sweet collectible artwork as well!
Pre-orders will be taken at Fox’s Comic-Con booth, and the first 250 will get a lithograph image of Ripley locked in mortal combat with the Alien Queen.
Will Weaver divulge any new details concerning the state of Alien 5? Only time will tell. It's possible they may simply reiterate everything they've already said before - but regardless it will be great to see the cast together again at Comic-Con! As we approach SDCC, be sure to watch Scified for new updates on both Alien 5 and Alien: Covenant!
Big thanks to Matt for the heads up!
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.
