Ridley Scott's 'Alien' Prequel Dead

Remember how Alien director Ridley Scott was poised to resurrect the ailing sci-fi/horror franchise for Fox with a prequel film? Well, as Private Hudson might say, “Game over, man! Game over!”

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog, the canceled Alien project—which would have taken place long before the 1979 original film—has been reconfigured into an original film called Prometheus. The new film is slated for a March 9, 2012 release date.

“While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place,” Scott said in a statement. “The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart.”

Sounds intriguing, but it’s odd move for Fox to cast aside such a lucrative property in favor of a wholly new one. Then again, perhaps Fox is looking for its next Avatar, which was helmed by Scott’s fellow Alien franchise veteran James Cameron. There’s no word whether this film will also be in 3D.

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‘Predators’ Nabs $25 Million Debut Weekend

Well played, ugly motherf*ckers.

According to estimates, Predators—a modestly budgeted reboot of the 1980s sci-fi franchise—earned just over $25 million during its debut weekend, proving that there is a place for hard-R action films in a summer dominated by family-friendly fare and sparkly vampires.

Produced by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and directed by relative newcomer Nimród Antal, Predators cost just $38 million, and it looks like it will have no problem making a profit in the coming weeks based on relatively positive word of mouth. Perhaps the reason Predators didn’t perform better against weekend box-office frontrunners Despicable Me and Twilight: Eclipse is the simple fact that it didn’t have an expensive marketing campaign behind it. Again, there’s that frugality.

I went into Predators with tempered expectations. Although I grew up loving John McTiernan’s original Predator, I would never call it “smart” cinema. But it’s a well-crafted 1980s action film that has stood the test of time, which can’t be said of scores of other genre films released during that time period. With some great creature effects work by the late Stan Winston and some surprisingly strong performances by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura and Bill Duke, Predator remains thoroughly enjoyable even today. Unfortunately, after a weak 1990 sequel and two horrendous Alien vs. Predator spinoffs, it looked like this franchise was beyond salvaging. When I bought a ticket for Predators, touted as a much-needed overhaul of this aging property, I did so with trepidations. Given the series’ track record for the last two decades, it was bound to suck, right?

Wrong. I’m happy to report that Predators is actually a whole lot of fun and is this series’ first worthy sequel. It’s a nice bookend to the original film (this time around, the Predators hunt hand-picked human warriors on an extraterrestrial game preserve) and it successfully makes a believable action hero out of its star, Adrien Brody. I’m not going to spoil anything, but Brody reaches an almost Schwarzeneggerian level of badass when he faces off against one of the larger Predators during the film’s climax. All in all, it’s a great time at the movies and it’s a lot better than you probably think it is.

Is Predators perfect? Heck no, but neither was the original. I’m not crazy about Laurence Fishburne or Topher Grace’s performances, and some of the references to the original film come off as a bit forced. It would have also been great if Rodriguez mainstay Danny Trejo was given more to do.

Speaking of Trejo, attached to Predators was a trailer to Rodriquez’s Machete, which expands the fake Machete preview featured in the underrated Grindhouse into a full-length movie. With Trejo as the titular renegade “Mexican Federale” and a cast including the likes of Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Robert De Niro and the recently-imprisoned Lindsay Lohan, this looks like the proper trash cinema sequel to Grindhouse I’ve wanted for the past three years. I can’t wait.

Click here to watch the Machete trailer.

Confirmed: Ridley Scott Returns to Direct Alien Prequel

After months of speculation, Variety confirmed on July 30 that Ridley Scott—who directed the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien—will return to the series to helm a prequel film. Twentieth Century Fox has hired Jon Spaihts (Passengers, St. George and the Dragon) to write it.

The film will apparently take place before the original, in which the crew of a commercial space ship is terrorized by a toothy, acid-blooded monster.

Do we necessarily need another Alien movie? Not at all. The series peaked in 1986 with James Cameron’s breathtaking sequel, Aliens, and unless this “reboot” aspires to that level of filmmaking there’s no real point in going through with it (save for the obvious exploitative monetary benefits). It’s also yet another prequel from the studio that brought us the half-assed X-Men Origins: Wolverine earlier this summer, which proved that adhering to established continuity is not only completely optional in doing these backstory films, Fox seemingly discourages it. That’s the only plausible explanation for how that film turned out.

However, with Scott now officially attached, consider my skepticism subdued.

Sigourney Weaver Has No Plans to Appear in Upcoming Ghostbusters, Alien Films

There is no Dana. Only…who? Actress Sigourney Weaver, who played the paranormally troubled Dana Barrett in the first two Ghostbusters films, told TVSquad.com that she will not be joining co-stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson in the upcoming third film. Weaver was also noticeably absent in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which hit store shelves June 16, and was replaced by Alyssa Milano as Peter Venkman’s new love interest, Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn.

“I think they're trying to create something new completely with the Ghostbusters, although I know Bill is in it,” she said. “I hope my little son Oscar [from Ghostbusters II] is a Ghostbuster! ... I don't expect to have anything to do with it, although I wish them well.”

That’s a shame. The actress added that she also has no intention of returning to the Alien franchise, after 20th Century Fox revealed that it would be rebooting the series. Not only would her appearance in the film not make sense—it is rumored to be a prequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 original—but she’s really had enough of the series and her toothy, acid-bleeding co-stars. She also said she wasn’t very happy with the two Alien Vs. Predator films, but, then again, who was?

“I never saw them, but one of the reasons I died in [Alien] 3 was to not have anything to do with those,” she said of the 1992 film directed by David Fincher. She returned to the franchise five years later as a cloned Ripley in Alien: Resurrection.

Fox Wants Ridley Scott for Alien Prequel

Awesomely, it seems as though 20th Century Fox is not going to be moving forward with a prequel to its 1979 sci-fi classic Alien without the original director, Ridley Scott, at the helm. Entertainment Weekly has the full story.

While it was previously reported that relatively unknown director Carl Rinsch was in line to reboot the franchise, Fox sources told EW that this is simply not the case. However, Scott himself has yet to comment.

I don’t necessarily think that a prequel to Alien is necessary. I’m aware that, from a business perspective, brand recognition is extremely important in idea-starved Hollywood. However, do we really need an expository film to shatter the mystery that made the original film so fascinating in the first place? Just introduce new characters in the same film universe, write a good script and pretend that those terrible Alien vs. Predator movies never happened. By starting fresh with a completely new sequel story, the film won’t be as tethered to decades-old continuity and will have far more room to grow.

Regardless, it’s cool that Fox isn’t rushing things, and it would be even cooler if Scott finally returned to science fiction.