Imagine you are a Marketing executive

Risking getting fired, I would remove Fassbender from the credits.

1- Movie poster should be very gigeresque. I imagine a puppeteer and its puppets with humans at the bottom; then the androids; then the Engineers, and finally, towering over them all, the xenomorph. That would give the audience something to think about.

2- Just a couple of trailers where you can clearly see practical effects and a non cgi xenomorph lurking in the shadows. No pop music in the trailers. No giving away too much. I would make sure to provide enough clues in the trailers that the protagonists are not morons.

3- Demographic should be the newer generations. Any reference to slasher movies from the 80's that don't mean
anything to them should be avoided. If you have to reference something newer, hints at James Wan type jump scares would suffice.

4- Try to distance as much as possible from Covenant. Make clear that David is not the focus of the story. Maybe play
with the idea that he might or might not be coming back, like Superman in The Justice League.

5- I would entice the casual movie goer by promising a return to body horror, suspense and characters you care for.
Another way to entice the audience would be including one or two A listers.

6- I would entice the fanbase by sticking to canon and by building on the Xenomorph mythos, including the engineers.

7- I would not be too concerned about that, but I would make sure to avoid ambiguity. AI (all of it) will have to be either good
or bad, nothing in between.

8- I don't have a synopsis yet. But I would use the slogan "Meet Your Masters"

Interesting, but I think it should get back to the idea of less is more. I will be that old grumpy guy. 

Go old school with minimal information and one trailer for people to talk about. 

Let the whiners whine. 

I really don't care about budgets and returns except that it breaks even and people get paid. Fox has other interests besides Alien and does quite well. I don't GAF about its bottom line. I just want a good movie. It can be in black and white for all I care. 

I would avoid A listers except for maybe Fassbender. 

Sticking to canon is a great idea. 

Find different ways to build scares somehow? Gore only goes so far and today's audiences are not easily shocked.

There is a balance I cannot account for- pleasing old farts like me and younger newer fans. 

Meet your Masters is a pretty good tag line. Off the cuff, I might throw in- Death is the answer to the Search for the Origins of Life. Yeah it is a bit wordy.

Gore can be effective if used right. Have you seen the movie "Raw"? That's what I call good use of gore.

I have not seen Raw. It is completely off my radar.

While talking about scares, how about scares that are more psychological? Try to imagine building something so scary that it leaves the audience exhausted yet wanting more at the end. Yes, I know- dumb down to maximize profits.

Yes, exactly. Create anticipation... also it is time to introduce some changes in the format, maybe follow a non linear storyline, something that would play with your mind a little bit. When Nolan does this he makes tons of money, and his movies don't even need to be commercial

Sometimes the biggest scare is the one that is anticipated but doesn't happen. But that can only work once as far as I can see. 

Yes Nolan is the master! Have you seen Dunkirk? I don't really read reviews for movies anymore, once in a great while,but I saw a quote from a critic saying Dunkirk is just as scary and horror filled than almost any horror movie, I agree with this cause it is the stakes that make it so. Yes Dunkirk is based on actual events and that is different from the Alien franchise but my heart was pounding during parts of Dunkirk, it's so intense and real. You can do that for these movies, it's hard for me to remember but I'm sure I felt similar to this the first time I saw Alien, Aliens and Alien 3. You gotta care about characters before you can worry about what is going to happen to them. I never felt that way during Prometheus or Covenant or any Alien movie since Alien 3.

@Vivisected Engineer  Thanks for the sympathy! At least one person likes me on here, haha.      @hewhoshallnotbenamed   Remember to not buy Alien Covenant on Blu Ray whatever day it comes out and don't watch it on digital HD either.

@Dr. Curt Connors

Of course everybody likes you!

Every story needs a good antagonist, and a person never loves a thing more than when they're defending it (That goes for both sides, Dr. Curt Connors. You are defending the franchise the way you see fit, and we defend Covenant the way we see fit.

We both do so out of love for the Fandom. That makes us respectable adversaries, no?)

Plus, you gave me birthday well-wishes and complimented my cake, so of course I can't feel any genuine antipathy towards you.

But...never the less, my frenemy,...please do picture my "you have my sympathies" line in Ash's voice. :)

@joylitt that last sequence would DEFINITELY be something I would be champing at the bit to see! Good job.

@Vivisected Engineer  Thanks and yes Ash's voice, I love it!

@joylitt

I really like your poster idea. I can totally picture that. That would be very good.

Would you keep David in the movie at all? Would you follow up on what happened to Walter?

Interesting idea about the A.I... Why do you think all A.I. need to be either good or bad? We have good and bad people, and A.I. are replicas of people so why couldn't we have good and bad A.I.?

 'hewhoshallnotbenamed - Remember to not buy Alien Covenant on Blu Ray whatever day it comes out and don't watch it on digital HD either.'

Dr. Curt Connors - First I thought you are talking to colonialphallicjoylittsoldierjaw... :)

Seriously, I think you do not realise that your negative comments and your fight against the success of the movie means way much bigger advertising power and financial income for Fox than my nice comments. :)

That is the sad (for you) truth. :)

Hahahooheha (Joker voice)  It won't be me who gets another thread locked. What you say goes through one ear and out the other. You don't faze me in the slightest, obviously that's not the case with you. Who's in every thread saying the same thing now, haha. Don't worry dk you won't have to lock this thread, I am out of here and done with Voldemort, shit I said his name. Get this thread back on track please. Where is my backup when I need it.

Way much bigger, haha. Negative feedback helps a movie, never heard that before. This is all too much, haha. Seriously I am done now, haha. I can't stop laughing, take a deep breath okay. Wow, alright I am really now, haha.

VivisectedEngineer Yes, I would bring David back in some form, but he wouldn't be at the top of the food chain. I find the good android/bad android dynamic to be a little bit cheap (that is only my personal taste), so I would avoid that. For the poster, I would give the designer something like this to start with:

'Negative feedback helps a movie, never heard that before. This is all too much, haha.'

Real intention revealed again. :)

And:

Marketing and Media Management Studies

Closing Examinations

Student: Curt Connors

Letter Grade: E minus minus minus

----

Connors, believe it or not, you are a great fun, I like you.

"Negative feedback"

I would call it something else similar to an after action review:

3 sustains and 3 improves

Just my opinion

joylitt That is an interesting picture and can make one think. It reminds me a little bit of this image from the early 80s:

That is cool. I had my Iron Maiden phase too. Actually that is more like my idea because the characters should be facing you.