Neill Blomkamp's 'ALIEN' Film Inspired By ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES Expansion Mission?

A couple of months ago Neill Blomkamp starting posting concept artwork for an Alien movie project on his Instagram and Twitter accounts. The project using the working title of Alien: Xenomorph and was completely under the radar of the people at 20th Century Fox, who would end-up greenlighting such a film.

The premise being this film would take place sometime after Aliens, I assume with the aged-up cast returning to their roles and ignoring that the two previous films ever happened.

Something that is already going on at Paramount with their Terminator franchise as Terminator Genisys coming this summer is a reboot of sorts. That film is systematically pretending that the last two films aren't canon and is seeming going back to 1984 (other time periods as well). If Arnold's coming back they might as well do the same for Ripley.

Alien Resurrection didn't really leave much room for this to be an option for Alien 5 unless Hicks is still alive somehow. They'd have to do a lot of explaining to bring Hick back in that timeline.

Rebooting the franchise entirely has always been a taboo subject at the studio, even though fans assumed that Prometheus was going to be exactly that. Of course, if they had followed the production process they would know the film was always going to focus on the origins of the Space Jockey aka the Engineers.

Now let's consider where Blomkamp got this idea to bring back Dwayne Hicks and the derelict ship.

It actually might have been inspired by the video game Aliens: Colonial Marines which for most was a massive disappointment. The game was terrible in almost every aspect and had huge potential because it's developer Gearbox had access to all the materials from the Aliens production. Colonial Marines was expected to actually become a semi-sequel to Aliens and would even attempt to bring back characters including Hicks reprised by Michael Biehn.

In the game's downloadable expansion single-player mission titled Stasis Interrupted, it's revealed that Hicks wasn't in the cryo-tube when the escape pod crashed in Alien 3. This allowing Hicks to have had an unseen storyline explored in the game. Some fans have actually embraced this expansion but it's unlikely any have really heard of it.

Michael Bishop Weyland

The mission also had Lance Henriksen in the role of Michael Bishop Weyland which he played in Alien3, further connecting the game to existing canon. The character confirms to Hicks that he and the company have indeed retrieved the alien ship and were using/testing it's contents on the planet.

Weyland gets ahold of the derelict ship and starts experiments on both LV-426 at the Origin Facility and his own ship using unsuspecting colonists as hosts for the xenomorphs. This base of operations was also teased in the production artwork posted by Blomkamp.

Check out the comparisons between the Weyland facility from the game and the one posted by Neill Blomkamp.

Origin Facility on LV-426 from Stasis Interrupted

Derelict Ship at Weyland Facility posted by Blomkamp

The expanded mission's story was seemingly being pulled from old Fox scripts that had Dwayne Hicks as the lead of the third film, a precaution at the time as the studio and producers kept finding ways to exclude Weaver from returning. There were indeed versions that did have Hicks taking-over as protagonist of the series but that never did end-up happening.

This of course wasn't James Cameron's idea for the third film as he had envisioned that family dynamic created at the end of Aliens being further explored. He was gutted when Fox killed both Newt and Hicks in the third film, and would eventually turn his back to the franchise once they passed on his Alien 5 pitch to make AVP instead.



Having a video game inspire his direction for an Alien movie pitch wouldn't be crazy for Blomkamp, remember was once set to direct the live-action Halo movie and previously made live-action ads for the game as well.

Let's not also ignore that Sledgehammer Games took direct designs from his film Elysium for a lot of the design work on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. To the point I'm shocked there wasn't a lawsuit.

Honestly, it couldn't be any less ridiculous than producers pulling story elements from The Hobbit for most of the Alien 3 script. Trying watching the film now after seeing Desolation of Smaug, the producers obviously scrambling for material were writing scenes just before they were shot.

Fox getting on board might be a tough sell since they did take a huge hit from Aliens: Colonial Marines turning out to be a huge clusterfuck, having a film slightly connected to the game might be a reason why they could turn it down.

Then again, with Blomkamp involved it could see more interested parties include Sigourney Weaver who just worked with the director on Chappie. Weaver has been vocal since the 90s and even up until recently to finally give Ripley another shot in fifth Alien film. I'm also sure that Michael and Lance would jump at the chance to reprise their roles as well.

Neill Blomkamp hasn't announced his next film but it's expected his next film could be based on his short film Yellow which focuses on cyborgs. However, he did sound like he was interested in returning the Alien project at some point in the future with studio backing it could be enough to push him into serious development.

Neill Blomkamp Secretly Working On An ALIENS Sequel, Fox Make This Movie Now!

Writer-director Neill Blomkamp is arguably one of the few original voices in the world of science fiction filmmaking. Having left a troubled Halo film franchise, after the project fell apart at the studio. Only to make three original films within the science fiction genre via District 9, Elysium and the upcoming Chappie. Neill, along with Duncan Jones have been making waves within the genre and I've kind of seen them act as this era's version of Ridley Scott and James Cameron, but at a much smaller scale.

We really haven't heard too much chatter from Blomkamp about playing around in other franchises, the expectation he would never want to. However, this is seemingly not the case as the Neill posted a bunch of concept art for an Aliens sequel (titled Alien: Xeno?) on Instagram. He points-out on Twitter that 20th Century Fox had no idea this was going on. I'm sure they'll be eagerly contacting him as this has been gathering a lot of buzz online. Blomkamp is also hinting he might be going with something else instead, which is a shame. Although, if Fox is smart they'll consider making a development deal with Blomkamp.

Was working on this. Don't think I am anymore. Love it though. #alien #xenomorph http://t.co/3T4iINZG18
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) January 2, 2015

Ps this has nothing to do with the studio. I just feel like I might do something else instead. In which case why not show some work-
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) January 2, 2015

They didn't really even know I was working on it ha
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) January 2, 2015

I assume this film would take the place of the events from both Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Since the artwork includes Hicks and Ripley getting back together to kick-ass. Hicks and Newt were controversially killed-off in the opening scene of Alien3, a move that had James Cameron scratching his head. Having just spent an entire film setting-up Ripley's connection and relationships with both three-dimensional characters. We know that at one time James and Ridley Scott came together to pitch Alien 5, which was rejected in-favor for Alien Vs Predator. Leading to Cameron washing his hands of the franchise.

You can kind of get what the plot of the film was likely going to be in the images. As it looks like the Weyland Corporation has recovered the derelict ship, finally got their hands on the xenomorph and the space jockey technology. Ripley and Hicks going on a suicide mission to destroy the ship and the research facility. I assume by the time they get there the xenos are already running-a-muck, since an alien queen is lumbering around the facility in one concept shot.

The interesting part in all this is that Sigourney Weaver has mentioned in the press about being-up for another installment if the studio was game. Michael Biehn I'm sure would be game as well if this is the sort of direction they're going for. Since he just reprised the role of Hicks in the Aliens: Colonial Marines video game.

Another awesome aspect, this movie wouldn't interfere with either Prometheus 2 or an Alien: Isolation adaptation. Since both projects take place way before the events of Aliens and this possible concept. It should be noted that one of the pieces of artwork is dated March 2014, so this is stuff was recently put together by Blomkamp.

I really do think Fox should contract Blomkamp about this project, even if it isn't his next film after Chappie. This honestly feels like where Cameron would have gone if Fox had waited for him to make Alien3, so it's an exciting prospect with lots of potential.

Over the summer it was revealed that Fox was developing a direct sequel to Predator with Shane Black. If they're retreading with that franchise, they might as do the same for the much more popular Alien saga. Giving fans that film we always wanted to see.

SOURCE: INSTAGRAM

Sigourney Weaver Still Open To Making ALIEN 5 And Finishing The Ripley Saga

A fifth Alien movie has been in development and limbo for almost two decades, but a new glimmer of hope has arrived. Sigourney Weaver recently commented on her desire to reprise the role of Ripley and finally end her story for good in Alien 5. For years she's been hinting that she wants it to happen, I'm sure Fox wants that as well, but wants to round-out their Prometheus sequel first. Here's what Weaver had to say at the Hero Complex Film Festival.

“Had we done a fifth one, I don’t doubt that her humanity would have prevailed. …I do feel like there is more story to tell.”

“I feel a longing from fans for the story to be finished,” she said, adding, “I could imagine a situation where we finish telling the story.”

Ideas and scripts for fifth film has been been kicking around for almost 20 years. You might remember that in Alien Resurrection, Joss Whedon and Fox left a large potential for more films. Leaving the xenomorph-hybrid Ripley clone alive on Earth (Paris, France to be exact) with her new pirate comrades. There had been versions of the script that included xenomorphs being set loose on Earth, which Weaver was very much against. Here's a little quote from Signourney about making a fifth movie.

"We were thinking about doing this fifth one, and I didn't really want to go ahead and do it on Earth," Weaver revealed. "So we kind of left the sentence unfinished. There's something slightly unfinished to me about it. I wasn't too keen to come to Earth. I always feel that science fiction, when it comes to Earth, it's a little [Weaver mimics yawning]. I wanted to go back to the original planet that the space jockey brought the eggs from and go back into the alien world rather than have the alien arrive in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower."

Joss Whedon admittedly started work on writing the next film, it's unknown how much of his work was going to be used in fifth installment. At one point Ridley Scott and James Cameron were willing to partner for Alien 5, Weaver agreed to return as well. Cameron would write-produce (I assume with some help from Whedon?) the film with Ridley set to direct. The studio decided on making Alien Vs Predator instead, and James Cameron walked away completely disgusted by the move. The idea was to have Ripley seek-out the origin planet of the xenomorphs and destroy them completely. You can understand how that idea of the xenomorph planet, may have influenced the concepts for Pandora.

This led to Fox developing the two-part prequel Alien: Origins, which would explore the origins of space jockey alien and where the xenomorphs came from. This was later turned into what we now know as Prometheus, and Fox was able to wrangle Ridley Scott back into the director's chair. I know a lot of people where expecting the first film to answer all their questions, but it was always envisioned as two-parter. Prometheus 2 (Paradise) will likely hold the answers most were assuming would be revealed in the first film.

The ball is in the court of 20th Century Fox, who is seemingly putting all their effort into their X-Men and Avatar franchises. Here is hoping they do the right thing and get this project moving again, as Prometheus has become it's own animal and only slightly connected to the Alien franchise. Fans have been waiting since 1997 for this to happen, let's not let that opportunity just disappear.

SOURCE: LATIMES

James Cameron Wanted To Direct 'ALIEN 5' Starring Weaver And Schwarzenegger

Prometheus has divided fans and new audiences alike but is an interesting addition to the longstanding Alien saga. Before it's development as an Alien prequel Prometheus had originally been discussed as Alien 5 seeing the return of Ripley. There had been talks between Ridley Scott and James Cameron on how to continue the Ripley story in another movie. Scott and Cameron had planned on becoming producing partners with Jim handling the direction. They presented this pitch to the studio only to have Fox move forward with the infamously terrible AVP. Cameron spoke to AICN stating the studio made him upset choosing AVP over a Scott/Cameron Alien 5.

Fox would later greenlight Avatar and Cameron has been obsessed with his $2.8 billion franchise's future ever since.  He has since announced that Alita and the Avatar sequels will be his only focus from now on. This dashes any chances of Jim returning to director future Alien or Terminator films. It's sill fun to imagine what could have been if Jim and Ridley ended up working together on the fifth installment.

"Yeah. Ridley and I talked about doing another ALIEN film and I said to 20th Century Fox that I would develop a 5th ALIEN film. I started working on a story, I was working with another writer and Fox came back to me and said, "We've got this really good script for ALIEN VS PREDATOR and I got pretty upset. I said, "You do that you're going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind." Because to me, that was FRANKENSTEIN MEETS WEREWOLF. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other."

A quote from Dark Horizons in 2003 gives the impression the film would have brought the series back to the original roots of Aliens. A hard-nosed action film with plenty of character development and a familiar face added to the cast. Cameron and Ridley were going to develop a new story with Sigourney back as Ripley and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a new supporting role along with a new lineup of interesting characters. How these new characters would have factored into this project isn't fully known. There had been talk of going to the xenomorph's harsh home planet (Pandora?) which could have come from Jim's then unproduced script for Avatar.

"To an extent. yes. We’re looking at doing another one. Something similar to what we did with Aliens. A bunch of great characters, and of course Sigourney. I’ve even discussed the possibility of putting him [Arnold Schwarzenegger] into the Alien movie."

RUNDOWN OF ALIEN 4 AND WHEDON'S ALIEN 5 SCRIPT

Alien Resurrection like every other Alien film had script issues and an interesting group of prospective directors. Some future big names were involved in early talks which included Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Trainspotting), Peter Jackson (pre-Lord of The Rings) and Bryan Singer (pre-X-Men). The studio ended up going with French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet who was known for his unique visual style at the time. Toy Story screenwriter Joss Whedon was hired to develop a script which for the most part kept getting rejected by the studio. An early draft focused on a clone of Newt from Aliens but would later be asked to change it to Ripley, a third-act set on Earth was also axed. Joss wrote five versions of the final act none of which ended up in final film. Whedon is best known for writing excellent characters and the pirates of the Betty had the Whedon stamp all over them.

 In the director's cut, the Betty lands on Earth leaving the door open for the return of Ripley, Call, Johner and Vriess for Alien 5. Whedon wrote a script for Alien 5 which would take place on Earth ending with a battle for the planet but Weaver couldn't buy into it's setting. It would eventually develop into what we know now as Prometheus and the Ripley saga has pretty much ended. A very interesting juxtapose as years later Joss would see his name alongside Cameron with Avengers becoming the 3rd highest grossing movie of all-time just under Titanic. Do you think 20th Century Fox should maybe consider hiring Whedon to write the Prometheus sequel's script?



ALIEN 3 COULD HAVE ALSO BEEN DIRECTED BY CAMERON

Cameron had a similar issue trying to put Alien 3 together as he was committed to make a Terminator sequel first.  Jim had planned to keep Ripley, Newt, Hicks and Bishop alive for the next installment as an unconventional family unit placed in a new story. The studio got impatient with Cameron and started work on hiring a new director and developing stories/scripts. The director didn't mix words about the botched sequel and gave a true reaction to his much-loved characters being killed off. I couldn't agree with Jim more here as the franchise never really was able to recreate the identifying characters that were showcased in Aliens.

"This isn’t a man whose going to whitewash his opinion either, take for example his reaction to “Alien 3″ – “Hated it. Simple as that. I hated what they did…. I couldn’t stand Alien 3 – how they could just go in there and kill off all these great characters we introduced in aliens, and the correlation between mother and daughter. It stunk, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to rectify all that."

Fox hoped they could convince Ridley Scott to come back for the third installment which didn't work out. Weaver had made it known she felt slighted by the studio when they cut her emotional scenes in Aliens and really wanted to be done with Ripley. So producers would start develop early concepts focusing around Hicks being the new hero in "a complex two-part story that offered the underhanded Weyland-Yutani Corporation facing off with a militarily aggressive culture of humans whose rigid socialist ideology has caused them to separate from Earth's society" development during the early stages. Weaver's role in Alien 3 would have been just a cameo which she seemed happy with. Then Alien 4 would bring her back "in an epic battle with alien warriors mass produced by the expatriated Earthlings." Having Michael Biehn become the new face of the franchise seemed like a natural progression and logical way to keep the films going. He did prove in both Terminator and Aliens he was capable as an action star similar to Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

One of the scripts had the inclusion of a prison planet where the population was being experimented by the company which was written by David Twohy (influencing his Riddick franchise?). That aspect of David's script was used along with some bits from others. By the end of it the producers ended up rewriting the shooting script with Weaver back in the lead earning for the time a big paycheck of $5 million. Fox hired newcomer David Fincher and had one of the most worked on scripts in the franchise history. There had been six different writers (William Gibson, Eric Red, David Twohy, Walter Hill, Vincent Ward, David Giler) not including the uncredited work from Fincher and Rex Pickett. The producers felt it necessary to kill off both Hicks and Newt within the opening of the film. Whatever the reason this choice pretty much destroyed any hope of Cameron's ideas to be put on screen.

Cameron's additions to the franchise are legendary having some of the biggest impacts on the mythology besides the original film. He helped usher in the Alien Queen along with expanding the long arm of Weyland-Yutani's greed and expendable employees (colonists/marines). We get too see off-world colonies done seriously and some of the best practical effects in movie history. The horror of Hadley's Hope has to be the greatest moment in sci-fi horror history because the siege on the colonists was never shot, you're imagination fills in the gory details. Not to mention creating some of the most memorable quotes and characters of the entire saga. It's a shame that Cameron will never direct another Alien film but there is always hope he can be involved in other ways, maybe as story consultant?

Ridley Scott's The Passage

Ridley Scott is a very very busy producer and director these days. He's just finished principle photography on Robin Hood and has multiple future projects in development. The projects include Alien 5, The Forever War, Monopoly and Brave New World. Now it's being reported that the director is in talks to helm The Passage. The film centers on a group of terminally ill patients who are cured after being bitten by South American bats. John Logan (Avaitor, Sweeny Todd) will develop a screenplay based on the novel by Justin Cronin. Logan previously worked with Ridley on Gladiator, so the re-teaming could make for an epic vampire film. While I understand this seems to be a recation to the feverish fandom of the Twilight series. Although vampire franchises such as Underworld and Blade have also done quite well, without pandering to tweens. My hope is that films such as Daybreakers will bring back the quality and lore back to the genre.