Aliensis currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, and that being the case, a lot of the cast and filmmakers who worked on the movie have been reflecting on it recently and looking ahead to the future of the franchise.Sigourney Weaveris pretty much the most consistent player in theAlienfranchise, and she isn’t quite done with Ripley yet. She has plans to play the character one more time inNeill Blomkamp’s proposedAlien 5, and she recently shared some details on what to expect from the movie.
Speaking withEWabout the recently announcedAliensreunion that will be taking place at San Diego Comic Con this month, the subject ofBlomkamp’s sequel inevitably came out. The movie appears to be on hold for now, butWeaveris talking about it as though it is still very much alive, and she clarified some things about the timeline of the movie, saying that it will more or less ignore what happened in bothAlien 3andAlien: Resurrection. Here is what she had to say.
“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.”
The comment thatWeaveris making very much echoes what we have heard about the movie in the past.Director Neill Blomkamp, who essentially willed theAlienssequel into existence by posting some concept art online while promotingChappie, also said that he wants the movie to be a continuation ofAlienandAliens, because those were the movies in the franchise that spoke to him. As of right now, the project is in something of a holding pattern. Fox gave it a greenlight pretty quickly, but thenRidley Scottstepped in and decided that he wanted to turn thePrometheussequel into a properAlienprequel, now calledAlien: Covenant.Scottreportedly has a couple of these movies planned, so it is hard to know whenBlomkampwill get to make the movie, but it appears to still be alive in some fashion.
The movie will surely be talked about a great deal at theAliensreunion panel, which is scheduled for July 23, the Saturday of San Diego Comic Con.Weaverwill be in attendance and will be joined by herAliensco-starsBill Paxton,Lance Henriksen,Paul Reiser,Michael Bienand evenCarrie Henn, who playedNewt. As exciting as all of that is, perhaps the biggest news is that directorJames Cameronis taking some time away from his fourAvatarsequels to participate in the panel. Here is whatCameronhad to say about it.
“You know, it’s interesting. I don’t normally pursue these kind of nostalgia moments like we’re going to do down at Comic-Con, and I didn’t do it much at all for Terminator on its 30th, but there’s something about Aliens. It was a milestone for myself and Gale because the film got seven Academy Award nominations.”
Alienswent on to win two Academy Awards and is considered to be one of the greatest sequels of all-time, right alongside anotherJames Cameronmovie,T2. The movie is a massive departure from whatRidley Scottdid with the firstAlien, but they are both among the most well regarded sci-fi movies ever made.Aliens, for what it’s worth, has a 98 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. We will be sure to keep you updated onNeill Blomkamp’sAlienssequel, especially following theAliensreunion at San Diego Comic Con.
