Ragesh Dipu
Director Ridley Scott has confirmed that the third prequel of his iconic ‘Alien‘ franchise is in the making. In an interview with Variety in the 40th anniversary of ‘Alien,’ the filmmaker revealed that he is planning to make a third ‘Alien’ movie. The maverick creator also added that the untitled project is still in the development phase.
‘Alien’ celebrated its 40th anniversary on May 25. “There was nobody involved at the time apparently,” Tom Skerritt, who played the doomed Captain Dallas in the 1979 movie, told Variety. “I read it and thought, ‘it’s solid. It’s not a great script but it’s solid enough I can see it. But it was a $2 million budget! I thought, okay at 2 million bucks this might be an Ed Wood movie,” he added.
Scott underlined the fact that he was not the first choice to direct the path-breaking movie in 1979. “I was the fourth choice,” Scott told Variety. He also added that Robert Altman had been considered to helm the project before him. His 1977 flick ‘The Duellists’ paved the way to ‘Alien.’ Some industry insiders notified the producers about the debutante director with a unique vision and Scott landed the project as director.
“They sent me a script and I read it. I loved it. I was in Hollywood within 32 hours. Once I was there, they said ‘Look, the budget is hovering just under USD 4 million.’ I did ‘The Duellists’ for USD 850,000, so the figures sounded right to me,” Scott said.
‘Alien’ went on to become a surprise hit with a $105M worldwide gross, which means an adjusted gross of $283.5M! The tagline for the movie was, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” The words became literally true inside the cinema halls. The viewers couldn’t stop screaming throughout the movie. Scenes like the baby alien coming out of Kane’s stomach in a bloody shower played a crucial role in the gripping narrative.
The movie spawned three sequels and two prequels including the 2012 movie ‘Prometheus‘ and 2017 flick ‘Alien: Covenant.’ ‘Alien’ also has two crossovers with the ‘Predator‘ franchise. The 81-year-old veteran is all set to return with his iconic movie franchise for a third prequel. Though Disney hasn’t yet made an official announcement, the upcoming prequel is rumored to be ‘Alien: Awakening.’ But Scott hasn’t revealed anything about the plot and title of the movie.
The ‘Alien’ franchise has already become a pop culture icon with a long-lasting legacy. According to Scott, the franchise captured the most primordial fears of mankind. Naturally, the viewers got what they saw in the movie and its unimaginable fear!
Cover Image Courtesy: Fox (Alien: Covenant)
