Alien: Covenant sequel

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

I just posted this as well.  I took it to mean that Neill Blomkamp's Alien movie would have been 'Alien - Awakening', but then again, Ridley Scott let that title slip back in March, well after I thought it was official that Blomkamp's Alien was scrapped. Who knows, he is getting up there in age. :-)

From the article...

Scott - “I was obviously, being, you know, encouraging and saying, 'by all means', and Fox was saying do you want to produce it, 'yeah of course', but you don’t’ know what happens when it evolves.  I think it was Neill with Sigourney cause he’d just done something with her [Chappie]. They want to do Alien, uhhh, Awakening. Neill Blomkamp. I said fine. I was going to be the producer. If I could have, I would have. Except I do question - why have both out there? It seems like shooting your big toe off - it doesn't make sense. But they didn't go forward with it, Fox, so I just kind of kept out of it. I mean, I'd literally ignited this thing to bring it off the ground again, because it was lying there dormant on a shelf. I had this thing to bring it back up - but here we are."

Interviewer - "But there’s still unconnected dots. Do you want to connect them?"

Scott - "Yeah. That’s why I’m doing it so you’re asking these questions.  We’re writing it now.  I’ll be filming that within 14 months.  It's good when it's good. If the sequel's good, then it's worthwhile.  It’s being written right now.”

 "Yeah. That’s why I’m doing it so you’re asking these questions. "

That makes me wonder- asking questions in interviews or the audience to keep speculating like we do on this forum.

Truth be told, once I started seeing the reviews for AC a few days ago, I got this terrible feeling that if Scott went forward with a prequel between Prometheus and Covenant, it would cost him the interest of the general public.

While I'm slightly disappointed we won't be seeing the story of David and Shaw unfold in longform, I'm fairly excited to know that Scott intends to maintain the course into Alien. If they really are doing 2 or 3 more films before connecting to Alien, there will be plenty of opportunities to flesh out (in some way or another) what happened between Covenant and Prometheus.

@Membrane it sucks cuz I wanted a prequel

@ dk Lol probably both!!

I am wondering if the writing is at a point of "wait and see" depending on audience response to AC?

Ridley is all over the place. Stick to one idea and polish it. 

A lot of Aliens

evil robots

bald humanoids

cliche humans

Awakening prequel is rip?

I always thought that there would be no way Fox would give the go ahead for a non linear story. I felt it was taken as fact and people just went with it without looking at the bigger picture.

He was probably on set working when he had to do interviews and it was maybe a long day and he got the order of the films wrong.  That seemed more likely to me rather than accepting  the quote that the next film was between Prometheus and Covenant 

Hmm.  I think Scott is trying to save face here.  I bet 'Awakening' with Shaw (and between Covenant & Prometheus) was in development.  Maybe in the past week or so they realized that a linear sequel would be best.  Since they put the kibosh on Blomkamp's Alien 5 & still had that Alien Awakening slip out in the public, Scott's just saying now that they were one in the same.  

The man changes his mind a lot.  Anyone who's followed Covenant's development can see how things are always shifting.

What's interesting to me is a recent comment suggested by an interviewer and confirmed by Ridley Scott that he might - further down the line - pursue a storyline parallel to the Alien & Aliens timeline.  I don't know about you guys, I would love to see maybe one more prequel and then one or 2 films parallel to the Alien/Aliens timeline.  There's so much that could be done there

@ Ash81 - Yes, yes, yes!!!

A big take away for me was that he basically said that the Alien franchise could be as big as the SW franchise has been in its own way.

dk, yes, I got that too.  Ridley Scott said you could continue to be successful with the franchise as long as you keep one thread, keep "him" (as he affectionately calls the Xenomorph) in there, at the center of it and the main threat.

@Dk, it is exciting, the hype for this film and franchise is genuine.

Eg. here in Australia for a sci-fi film (and an R rated one to boot) to be getting prime-time tv advertising slots is a pretty big deal!!! They wouldn't bother forking out the big bucks for the advertising slots if there wasn't significant interest.

Membrane The only issue with that is the Alien audience doesn't seem as large (or profitable) as the SW franchise since it is darker subject matter that might not sell a lot of pop corn and Gum Drops in theaters.

BTW- I am like RS in not knowing what SW is about anymore or even if Gum Drops are still sold in theaters ;)

IRaptus That sounds encouraging- I only stream TV shows- no cable/satelite and don't even watch much of that.

Does anyone else feel/hope that - like Star Wars - Scott should pass the baton to other filmmakers after the next prequel?  I love Ridley Scott.  He is a master in his own right.  But it's almost like he's having a late-life crisis with these prequels.  He has all these projects going on and it seems like Covenant might have benefited from him stewing on the project more - taking more time to really compose/focus on the one mammoth project & draft the scripts over his series of prequels.  I think Avatar is cheesy, but sort of like what Cameron is doing with shooting the four sequels at once.  I just get the sense he's kind of making it up as he goes along in some way.  I guess I don't see any problem in having another director like Blomkamp tackle the Alien franchise right now - he didn't have a problem with that in 2015 when he agreed to produce.  I also don't believe Blomkamp had no script like he's saying.  Scott himself said in an interview in late 2015/early 2016 that he read the script & said it was good!  But then again maybe Scott saw the hype with Alien 5 & basically gridlocked it and got the gears going on Covenant straight away....

Ash81 I cannot keep up with it all. I am only guessing but due to age and other projects (and the Rule Book), perhaps his son whom I heard directed a teaser or two, might take the reins?

@dk I hope not! But that would probably happen, sure.  Thing is the Alien franchise does have a precedent of introducing young promising directors to give a fresh spin on the material.  Personally I'd much prefer Blomkamp than Luke Scott for any Alien stories. 

who else could take over? I would like to see what Bloomkamp could do, but I didn't like the sound of his Alien 5 script.

Just going to put it out there but perhaps....Danny Boyle (please have mercy)?

Between his gritty, dark 28 Days later, and equally foreboding Sunshine film he could do it justice. He knows how to tell a story full of hopelessness, godlessness and can handle the atmospheric space theatre. I loved Sunshine, it is one of my favourite films!!!

Ash81 I really don't care as long as it is good. I would be ok with Luke and Bloomkamp teaming up.

Good news! definitely next Alien Sequel won't be Alien: Awakening, Ridley has taken in other direction I m wondering where, but it's clear there is a plan in place to start shooting next summer. 

@dk - That's not a bad idea - if it meant Alien 5 getting made vs not getting made, I'd be down for that.  

Interestingly enough around the mid-late 2000s both Cameron & Scott were planning an Alien 5 with Ripley.  It may have actually been a retcon and followed an alt timeline after Aliens (the blomkamp scenario).  It was supposed to have Cameron direct, Scott produce.  AvP happened & ruined that idea however.  I also remember in an interview with Scott around 2008 Scott mentioned that he & Sigourney were talking about a lower budget more character-driven piece featuring Ripley that happens in the Alien universe.  I know the consensus here is that most people don't want a Ripley story - However I would love to see Weaver & Scott team up again....maybe use Blomkamp's idea, but Scott develops the script & directs.  I wish.

lRaptus - I always thought a Chris Cunningham Alien film would be amazing.  However there's no way in hell the studio would give an artist like that a big budget franchise.  

@Ash81 No. A resounding no. Ridley needs needs to helm this thing to his end, then find a worthy successor. Too many cooks and all that...

@Starlogger. Agreed, RS should be the sole helmsman while ever he is keen and active.

@Ash81 - who knows, down the track they might. Chris Cunningham seem to have a similar background repertoire to David Fincher by the look of it? I am not familiar with his work though.

Fincher turned out to be a real visionary.... 

@Starlogger I don't see why.  Scott has had two shots post-Alien and both to lukewarm critical response.  The idea that this is somehow Ridley Scott's franchise I feel is overblown.  Cameron & Weaver and Giger contributed just as much to the vision of the Alien franchise.  The first 3 in the franchise - and arguably the best - all thrived on young directorial vision & talent.  I think a lower budget that forces one to be creative with what they show & how they show it (below 50 million) and a talented young director who is a fan of the franchise would produce something great.

@lRaptus Fincher's Alien 3 is a gorgeous film.  I just think they showed too much of the Alien in that movie.  A Chris Cunningham Alien film would be amazing visually.

@Ash81 Im glad there are other Alien 3 fans out there!!! 

You're right, they did show the Runner a little bit too much, and its dated CGI doesn't help either. But if you want a film that sums up the Alienverse atmosphere, it is Alien 3 assembly cut.....not the theatrical version.

Also agreed on low budget / big creativity films can be fantastic!!. Have you seen The Cube trilogy (ignoring the second film)? I refer you to my profile pic ;-)

I thought the runner was great and was fine with its screen time. The only thing that puzzled me was its first person fish eye lens perspective. 

hahaha no, the fish eye vision didn't make any sense. But it did look really impressive!!