The fifth installment of the very successful “Alien” franchise, greenlit early this year, will not be released to worldwide theaters until producer Ridley Scott is through with “Prometheus 2,” which he is also directing and producing.
“Prometheus,” which was shown in 2012, is a prequel to the “Alien” franchise, which clearly indicates that “Prometheus 2” and “Alien 5” share the same XCU or Xenomorph cinematic universe, according to Blastr.
In a recent interview, the critically-acclaimed director, writer and producer Ridley Scott wants “Prometheus 2” to come out first before “Aliens 5.” As the producer and director of “Prometheus 2,” he said that shooting and production for the sequel of the $400 million surprise blockbuster will begin next year, and thus would likely come out in theaters in 2017.
Given such timeline, it is likely that “Aliens 5,” to be directed by Neill Blomkamp of the “District 9” and “Chappie” hit movies, will begin production in 2017 and will likely be released to cinemas in 2018.
Viewing it as a setback
20th Century Fox, which is producing both films, appears to be supporting the decision of Ridley Scott and it seems that the only people who think that it was a setback is Neill Blomkamp and the fans of the “Alien” franchise who found a new reason to be excited with the announcement of “Alien 5” early this year, notes the Geek.
Blomkamp has already teased on social media the new “Aliens” film on his social media account, even before he was officially confirmed as director of the movie in February. From that point on, Blomkamp has revealed that “Alien 5” will focus on the events of Ellen Ripley’s life after “Aliens,” the second movie of the franchise.
It was also the director who confirmed that Sigourney Weaver will reprise her role as Ellen Ripley in “Aliens 5.” Weaver and Blomkamp have recently worked together in “Chappie” and it will be a good springboard to their collaboration in the upcoming fifth “Aliens” film.
Accordingly, Blomkamp is now writing the script for “Aliens 5” but with the decision of Ridley Scott back to push back the release of the movie to give way to “Prometheus 2,” it looks like Blomkamp will have plenty of time in his hand to complete and finetune the script for the new “Aliens” film.
However, the deferment on the production of “Aliens 5” seems to have serve Sigourney Weaver well because the actress is said to be returning to reprise her role in the sequel of James Cameron’s “Avatar 2.”
It is likely that Weaver will start filming from late this year to next year on “Avatar 2” and thus avoid any possible conflict in filming “Aliens 5” because that will still happen in 2017.
Returnees to the franchise
Apart from Sigourney Weaver, actor Michael Biehn, who played Corporal Dwayne Hicks during the “Aliens” movie, has been confirmed to return to reprise his role to the franchise after 29 years.
The two actors’ return has prompted actor Bill Paxton to also express his interest in rejoining the successful franchise.
Paxton played the role of United States Colonial Marine (USCM) member in “Aliens.” He publicly came out in May to say that he wants to be part of the upcoming “Alien 5” movie.
During the interview, Paxton was initially surprised to learn that an “Alien 5” film is being considered for filming and that Neill Blomkamp shall be directing the upcoming movie.
He said that Corporal Hicks is a colleague of Hudson during the “Aliens” movie if the new film is going to bring Hicks back, it is imperative that they should also bring back Hudson.
It could be recalled that the actor played the infamous character of Hudson in James’ Cameron’s “Aliens” who had a horrific run-in with the acid-bleeding Xenomorphs. Technically, Hudson never died in “Aliens.” He was dragged under the floor by Xenomorphs, but he was never shown to have been killed by the alien.