Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Alien’ Will Disregard Half The Franchise To Finish Ripley’s Story
By Russ Fischer/Feb. 25, 2015 3:30 pm EST
Check out a video interview with Blomkamp and Weaver discussing the next Alien film, below.
Sky Movies talked to the pair while they were promoting Chappie.
There’s reason to be interested here. Blomkamp is clearly a guy with a vision (see: District 9) even if that vision doesn’t always work out (see: Elysium). And Weaver isn’t quick to sign on to sequels like this, so clearly she sees some reason to give the go-ahead nod.
But I’m also slightly irritated with this development, specifically the idea of disregarding the third and fourth films. Alien 3 and Resurrection don’t need me to defend them, as they can stand or fall on their own. But the implication here is that those two films blew it with respect to Ripley’s story, and now this is a chance to pretend they didn’t happen so as to give her, as Weaver says, “a proper finish.”
But Weaver is a big part of the reason Ripley didn’t get a proper finish in the past. Her ideas, and the “no guns” mandate, were very influential in the development of Alien 3. (Which is, I would argue, a pretty great end for Ripley’s story.) Weaver’s ideas and restrictions were also part of the DNA of Alien: Resurrection. This isn’t the time where she’s going to get candid about the past films and say “hey, I shoulder some of that responsibility.” But it would be nice to hear eventually, and also respectful to the people who worked hard on those movies.
(Update: A day later, Blomkamp says his intention is not to “undo” the third and fourth films. Parse that as you will.)
Meanwhile, speaking to EW, Blomkamp says,
There’s no release date for Blomkamp’s Alien film at this point.
