A month ago, Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) surprised everyone when he posted concept art for an Alien movie that he wanted to make. The art seemed to indicate that the director was not only interested in making an Alien sequel, but a film that took place after the events of Aliens starring Sigourney Weaver as an older Ellen Ripley and Michael Biehn as Dwayne Hicks. In an interview with Uproxx, Blomkamp revealed that he was excited about possibly directing the film, and that 20th Century Fox wants him to make the movie using his ideas.
According to Blomkamp, the Alien concept art was created during the post-production period for Chappie, his latest science-fiction film about a naïve robot gaining self-awareness. After working with Sigourney Weaver, who co-stars in Chappie, Blomkamp was inspired to create an Alien sequel that featured an older and battle hardened Ripley.
“Basically, what happened was, when Chappie got heavily into post-production, I could take my foot off the gas a bit. I was thinking about what I wanted to do next and I’ve been wanting to make an Alien film for like years and years.”
Though Blomkamp states that Fox is interested in a possible Alien sequel, the reason the projects has yet to movie forward is mostly because of him and his inability to “mentally” agree to make it.
“Me. I’m the problem. Fox, they would make it. Like, tomorrow. They would make it.”
So, once Blomkamp finally agrees with himself to make it, his next picture might finally redeem the Alien franchise after decades of terrible movies. As his impressive concept art indicates, his Alien film hints at a movie that seems to ignore all of the events that took place after James Cameron’s Aliens. Corporal Hicks is still alive, though acid scarred and blind in one eye after his confrontation with one of the many deadly creatures on LV-426. Ripley herself is noticeably older; though this could possibly be explained away by saying her hyper-sleep pod was damaged. It’s possible that the machine was probably unable to appropriately keep her in stasis, thus she aged naturally during the Sulaco’s return to Earth.
While the images hint at possible storylines, returning characters and plot explanations, nothing is currently set in stone. Will these events actually take place after Aliens or is this just Blomkamp’s ultimate dream to fix the Alien franchise? Nothing is known at this point, even with Blomkamp saying Fox is interested in his ideas. At the end of the day, it’s Fox who will be making the final decisions with their beloved property.
In any case, Fox is still continuing the Alien franchise with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus 2, which is set to hit theatres March 4, 2016.
Source: Uproxx
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