For fans of Ridley Scott's Alien universe this is either an exciting time or a frustrating one. There was a great deal of energy behind a spinoff/sequel directed by Neill Blomkamp, one that would be a sequel to Aliens but ignore the movies that followed. However, Scott put that on the backburner so he could make Alien: Covenant, a follow-up to the divisive Prometheus, on screens first. Today brings some interesting updates on both films, perfectly timed to an upcoming 30th anniversary celebration of Aliens to take place at Comic-Con.
EW has the details on the event, which will round up Sigourney Weaver, director James Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Michael Biehn, and Carrie Henn. So if you're at Comic-Con in a couple of weeks (I'm taking a break this year) be sure to hit Hall H and check that out. Weaver did have something of note to say about Blomkamp's film, and the way she describes it sounds a lot like what was attempted with Terminator Genisys...
“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."
Er, so diverging storylines? Yeah, that's a dicey situation there. As we saw with Terminator Genisys that can go horribly awry if the new path doesn't live up to the original. Then what you've got is no better than if you just made another bad sequel.
Meanwhile, Danny McBride opened up to Rolling Stone about his role in Alien: Covenant, and unfortunately he plays a character that almost always is among the first to get killed...
"I’m the pilot of the spaceship Covenant, which is a colonization ship, searching for a planet where we might start life anew. I run the ship....I didn't know if it would be all green screen, but most of the stuff is practical effects: when you're running from an alien it's really a dude in an alien suit coming after you! The sets are incredible and you're in them: We go through some inclement weather at one point on the spaceship and this whole gigantic set is on a gimbal, shaking up and down. You don't have to use your imagination."
Oh yeah, he's a goner. Alien: Covenant opens next year on August 4th. A 30th anniversary Blu-Ray of Aliens also drops later this year on September 13th.
