Ridley Scott blames the diminishing returns of AC on the "Alien" itself

Spearfish I agree with you... the alien was misused and blaming it for AC's lack of success is like blaming the victim.

MonsterZero If the xenomorph is not important why it is the background picture in this forum, why its image is everywhere. They need to re-evaluate why this franchise is called "Alien".

Prometheus needs to be built upon.  There are to many possibilities where some need to be chosen and anchored into reality.

I don't hate the Xeno, but we need answers to the questions being raised in the prequels.  My biggest problem with the Xeno in A:C is that it just wasn't scary.  AND I mean the Xeno wasn't even CLOSE to being scary.  If the Xeno was scary, then I'd support its use.  If it is not going to be scary, then explore the Engineers with all of the ideas of "Engineers created humans..." and such.  Those ideas are really interesting and can be scary as well.  Prometheus had that kind of fear in it.  The fear comes from not understanding what is happening.  That fear is similar to what the fear was like in the original Alien.

With Prometheus as proof that we can get an epic/intellectual/scary/visually stunning movie that greatly expands the Alien universe, I would have to say Ridley Scott is not a hack.  He was ahead of the curve with Prometheus and I greatly appreciate that Prometheus can be something more than just a stand alone movie because... Prometheus is a part of the Alien franchise.  Prometheus just needs to be developed so that it can concretely connect to what we know as the original 4.

I think we are all going to love Alien:Awakening after reading that Fox wants Ridley to do something really different.  Plus, I'm excited that the Alien: Awakening story isn't going to be based on a Xeno killing people for the whole movie.  We should get something very original and will hopefully expand the Alien universe into something that can be built upon in an Alien franchise reboot.

I don't think anyone can disagree with Ridley until the whole prequel trilogy is over.  These movies are all linked together.  It's not like Alien3 or Alien: Resurrection or even Aliens.  All those movies are dragging out Ripley's life.  I really don't know how else Ripley can be dragged into another movie and actually have it be good.  I think the Ripley clone in A:R was a good idea, but honestly, I think her story is over.  The original 4 could pretty much be stand alone movies.  The only thing connecting them is Ripley, yet cyrosleep allows the story to take place at almost any time.

So, pack to the topic.  The reason why I see the Xeno as being the problem with A:C is because it wasn't even close to being scary.  Ridley did screw up on that.  I remember in interviews that Ridley said, "Alien: Covenant is going to scare the $H!t out of people."  Guess what?... it didn't.  That interview is what really bothers me on Ridley's thinking.  If he thinks A:C is scary, then maybe he has lost it?  Prometheus was scary, so if Ridley lost it, it was between those two movies.  Yet, apparently Fox and the fans forced Ridley to put the Xeno in.  Now, apparently Fox is letting Ridley do what he wants as long as it's pushing the envelope.  I think Ridley can push the envelope since Prometheus did.  I'm excited about Alien: Awakening now.

 I Moon Girl "Prometheus needs to be built upon.  There are to many possibilities where some need to be chosen and anchored into reality."

I totally agree with that. But I am very worried about Ridley's latest statements. It sounds like he is dismissing more than just the xenomorph...

My concern is how offhanded Ridley Scott used the Xenomorph in Covenant. I enjoyed the film but that third act was a complete slap in the face to the Xenomorph legacy. Dull, lacklustre and rushed it did nothing to enhance the fear and dread of the beast. That whole hunt scene on the Covenant was totally impassionate 

IRaptus You just read my mind. I have a long list of things Ridley can blame AC's failure for. I don't think anybody in the audience said: "I am not going to see this movie because the xenomorph is in it" No, people got turned off because this was another movie with a bunch of disposable characters who don't know better, a lot of bad cgi, a franchise screwing twist in the form of rogue AI creating the xenomorph, a beast that was totally misused, out in the daylight, unscary, easily killed in the most anticlimatic, badly put together 3rd act I've ever seen.

@ IRaptus and Joylitt

The majority of issues which you have both seem to have and mentioned in one way or another, and there are plenty that you have’nt, are imo a result of cinematic snowcloning in the extreme. When a director is snowcloning their own tropes it can be like watching a comedian laughing at their own jokes. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was able to pull it off because it was an upfront reboot of the franchise and the various trope nods acted to signify a handing over of the torch to a new cast.  I think Fox had the same idea by using the xeno. In their haste to chase a profit, it would appear that they have jumped head first into a barrel of tits to come out sucking their thumbs.

The original Alien was completely unique and void of any references to snowclone and this is where I think Ridley is now making a point. I think it also proves how much control Ridley has not had in AC.

Honestly they would have been better off sticking to the Neomorphs in Covenant. The Neomorph scenes were very effective because their growth, speed and ferocity were out of synch to the Xenomorph pacing we are used to. It was a game-changer like 28 Days Later when Danny Boyle brought in Zombies that could run for the first instead of the slow dawdle pace you expected. Put you on the backfoot.

There shouldn't have been any hint of the Xenomorph until David slips the facehugger embryos into cryo at the end as David's Ace up the sleeve for the next film. It showed David had his endgame product without further cooking the beast in a Xeno hunt scene with no emotion or energy

joylitt said, "I totally agree with that. But I am very worried about Ridley's latest statements. It sounds like he is dismissing more than just the xenomorph..."

The problem with this source is it only gives Ridley Scott around 40 seconds to talk.  To really understand what Ridley is thinking for a new movie and what he thinks of Alien: Covenant, we would have to at least carve out an hour for him to really talk.  Plus, everybody is going to want to ask questions too.  The Alien prequels are really deep stories and it's all because of Prometheus.  I wish we had video of a more in depth conversation with Ridley Scott.  Without that, I can't complain about his direction.  I'm just excited that it's not going to be like the original 4.  The prequels NEED to be different then those.

We should just keep our ears and our internet researches ready for more comments by Ridley Scott.

All I know is that Fox wants something competely original and is giving the reins to Ridley Scott.  With that power, Scott has chosen to put the Xeno off to the side of the main story.  We also know that this is going to be the final prequel in Scott's hands as of now.  Is there anything else that I'm missing?  What else can we assume that Alien: Awakening is going to be from Ridley Scott's comments?

I Moon Girl We put too much faith on Ridley. He needs to find a screenplay that impresses him. He is very reactionary and his role as a businessman is very prominent as of late. If AC would have been a success he would not be talking about bringing back the engineer. I hope Fox conducts a market research on the fanbase and the general audience and submits its findings to Ridley. He really needs to understand the real reasons why AC was so disappointing.

@joylitt

I don't read much on what Ridley Scott says about his movies or where the direction that the Alien movies will go.  The only time I read stuff like that is on this website, like in this thread, or on the front page news. So...correct if I'm wrong here...

"He is very reactionary and his role as a businessman is very prominent as of late.  If AC would have been a success he would not be talking about bringing back the engineer."

Isn't Ridley's boss Fox?  Wasn't it Fox that said that the Alien franchise needed to have the Xeno in it?  Isn't that why the Xeno was forced into Alien: Covenant?  That's probably why there wasn't a good reaction to the Xeno.

"I hope Fox conducts a market research on the fanbase and the general audience and submits its findings to Ridley."

This could've been the problem for Alien: Covenant.  The fanbase wanted the Xeno after Prometheus.  So, Fox is to Ridley, "Use the Xeno."  Ridley's like, "Ok bosses!"  Ridley started this whole prequel idea to my knowledge, so to just abandon the whole prequel that he started after he was told that he had to change the direction that Prometheus set up apparently just didn't seem right to Ridley.  I can see where he's coming from.  He's been wanting to make the prequels since 1979.  This is his chance, and probably his last chance before he retires, and I can understand on why he would bend his ideas to Fox's desires for the prequels he started.

Really, the prequels are Ridley's idea, but Fox is the one that owns the rights to the Alien franchise and funds the movies.  How could anything get done without going through Fox first?

On my person opinion, I LOVED Prometheus.  It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was fantastic.  I think Ridley really had a good product that just needed a little more thought into the characters.  From what it sounds like with what I've read on this website regarding Fox's stance and now, according to this thread, Ridley's intentions are most likely heading back ON PATH to what Prometheus started.  

"We put too much faith on Ridley."

I don't think we would have the prequels without Ridley.  Fox knew of Ridley's intentions way back around 1979, so Fox might have eventually set out to make prequels.  The point I'm getting at here is that Ridley's making the movie, whether we like it or not.  Plus, apparently Fox is giving the green light for Ridley to do almost whatever he wants.  So, I'm thinking Ridley is just going to go with what he has been scheming over for maybe 30 years and develop that into Alien: Awakening.

From what it sounds with Fox's previous stances, it's not Ridley that's the problem, it's Fox.

I hope there is no market research on the fan base and, instead, Ridley analyzes what he thinks is good and makes THAT into a movie.  Then, when he gets the general ideas, all he needs to do is find some good writers.

"He needs to find a screenplay that impresses him."

He should have that power from Fox now after reading their recent statements and I think that's what he's going to do this time around.  Yet, maybe your right and I'm putting to much faith in Ridley.

Alien: Awakening is his LAST SHOT at making an Alien movie anytime soon.  I think he knows this and is taking this movie more seriously than any of the Alien movies just because of the burden of expectations.  He's almost been given free rein to do what he wants from Fox.  I'm not worried about Alien: Awakening yet.  It's to early to tell.  I do like what I'm hearing from Fox and from what Ridley is saying according to this thread.

So what will happen with the 2 embryos and the 2 thousands colonists?

I am ok with the direction Ridley Scott wants to follow, I hope he will leave the engineers as an extinct civilization too. Just bring in the one who made the engineers, because they are just an older civilization, technologically advanced to humans. 

The engineers are cooked as well. Just look at the folks bombed by David, what more can we expect from them? Marooned on that planet.

He still doesn't get it, he doesn't understand that a lot of people are not as much into AI as he is. The beast isn't cooked but a story that isn't interested in the human characters is. I don't want another AI movie with the human beings as something that is thrown into the back of the room so to speak.

Give me a movie that focuses on well-written human characters and what they go through so I can have some sort of sympathy for them. I can't sympathize with a mad android.

If this is what they will do (more David) they should quit because it just gets boring (I repeat - boring boring boring). No (or very few) sympathetic or interesting human characters plus and over-reliance and focus AI = crappy movie.

i def think a film that delves into the backstory of the engineers and their connection with the xeno has huge potential, more so id say than a synthetic Gengis Khan in space

“a synthetic Gengis Khan in space”

LMAO! Ho ho ho! Thanks ali81, that was fun as hell.

Yeah I would also rather have a movie about the Engineers and their connection to the Xeno rather than a AC 2.

So we remove the AI antagonist from the next movie.

Back to a Bishop like 'hero'.(Walter or whoever, a female synth maybe)

Make the bad guy human...maybe someone onboard the Covenant in cryo sleep.

This human character kills some crew a real psycho. A human version of David.

The end of the movie a Xeno kills the bad guy(the audience hates the guy and wants the xeno to 'get him')..The xeno becomes the hero....a happy ending.

IF David was human would we be having this discussion? Would everyone be freaked out by a human doing what David has done?

MonsterZero It would be over the top nonetheless

"IF David was human would we be having this discussion? Would everyone be freaked out by a human doing what David has done?"

Slow down there MonsterZero, don't go destroying the fabric of reality for some people.

I can see Ridley Scotts perspective...

At the end of the day if the Engineers are our Creators, what we have is Humanity proving to be a failed Creation one that  has proved Rebellious and one that the Engineers had maybe created/obtained experimented to create the Bio-Weapon to Redact their Wayward Creation.

The Hubris for these beings being that this Failed and their Wayward Creation has Sub-created Synthetics who in turn become Rebellious against their own creators and use the Engineers Bio-Weapon against the Engineers and then Re-Engineers/Experiments with it to Create a New Tool of Destruction to use on Mankind.

Ridley Scott sees this Theme of Creation/Sub-Creation and Rebellion as the underlying theme he wished to explore with Prometheus 2 before we got that changed to Alien Covenant.  The Xenomorph is just a Creation that was created from our Creators Bio-Weapon intended for us.

AI has always played a huge role behind the scenes, if we look at the Background information on David during Prometheus, we see that these Synthetics had Teething Problems, their was Recalls, Rebellious Actions  and ULTIMATELY we see the End Game of this with the Sentient David, who sees himself as Superior to Mankind and does not see why he should Serve Mankind... we have the whole Satan/Lucifer Story Arc.

We see in Alien that ASH admired the Xenomorph, this would make more sense, if they are exploring David as the creator and a more AI concentration, we see in ALIENS that Bishop is a New Model that does not have the Flaws and Potential Dangerous Emotions/Actions that Previous Models had... and so there is a whole Story there regarding the Potentially Buggy and Sentient Earlier Synthetics.

But it does not end there.....  Alien Resurrection shows us as a Back Ground Plot (Call) that in the future Synthetics even Sub-create their own Synthetics the Autons and we have a Rebellion by these Autons and a Recall, and 200 years after the events of Aliens we see that Earth has witnesses Devastation/War and that in this AGE Synthetics are Shunned and Feared/Outlawed.

Mankind Finally in Hindsight realized the Dangers of Sub-creating a AI that could become Sentient, much like Stephen Hawkings has warned that would be Mankinds undoing.

The Engineers Foresaw these kinds of flaws and problems with their creations (Humans) and they attempted to Put a Stop to us before we could ever Evolve to be such a Threat... this however back-fired.. and the Black Goo was just the Tool they intended to use on us and the Xenomorph a Extension of those Bio-Weapon that was Evolved by our own Creation... the Synthetic David

So indeed the Xenomorph is but just as say Gunpowder is to Mankind...