Alien cinematic universe?

I must admit that there is a little devil on one shoulder telling me “Yes! yes! lets have more!”. But the angel of cold hard reality on the other, throws out the word “overkill”.

Certain major factors I think that have to be thought about, is how the nature of cinema goers has changed since Alien first screened, and how film franchises have become woven into today’s entertainment technology. If a franchise is good enough then the spin offs, theme parks, and merchandise will generate revenue like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Success. Should you ever go to visit Harry Potter world at Universal, kids can buy interactive wands that trigger certain features in the theme park. This is jus one way of how technology is being used to create a different entertainment experience.

The moment trilogies and continuing storylines are mentioned, you know that someone is looking at a long term investment plans.

The Alien franchise has certainly gained ground in the gaming sector, and has certainly developed new interest from this market. This leads me into an argument I’ve been having for at least the last six years. I would say that we are at a point with technology that we are facing, if not already adapting to a new ongoing technological revolution.  The definition of screens is changing along with the sensitivity of cameras, and there is increased movement into a more virtual world of entertainment.

If you take a look at some of the concept pictures from Neill Blomkamp, we can see Xeno’s with VR headsets. What if in a couple of years time, you can plug into your games console and experience the virtual world of the Xenomorph. For something like that to become reality does require investment. A long term investment in such ideas and projects only comes about from the success of a good franchise.

Alien has stood the test of time, and I think with how technology is moving and the creation of new audiences, I would say the whole franchise has grown into such a beast that a quick cash grab does not really cut it, and anything less would be like shooting the queen that lays the eggs.

Generally, if it will be profitable, it will happen. Personally, I am not interested in a VR experience or theme park but many probably would be. I just hope that all things Alien don't get so saturated that it gets diluted. I suppose that is up to the individual to decide.

Im not sure how profitable it would be.It works for all the super heroes because they have mass appeal even if they do stumble sometimes(looking at you DC and Xmen).Alien doesnt have the same broad appeal and id hate to see the franchise abused that way.

If you include the crossover into Predator - they already have a cinematic universe.

@ninXeno426

Cute plush face huggers have been available for a while :(

@nin

It has already started(

I think we have nothing to lose by giving Blompkamp a try-out. Ok, he seems to be on the decline but not quite Shyamalan yet. Alien 5 though will be part of the main sequence: the Ripley storyline.

As I've said elsewhere, I would tolerate new stories that are what Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is to Episode I: A New Hope. That is to say, stories that feed into the main sequence.

E.g. how Ash got the Nostromo gig; explore how the company already knew; did he kill the original science officer; what does Thedus look like? Etc. Etc.

E.g. the events between Newt's father getting facehugged and Sulaco arriving (mostly covered in Newt's Tale, but let's squeeze out a film!).

The latter was expanded upon in the River Of Pain novel.

As for the OP, I remember what was said on 3/4 of the first 4 movies- "KILL ME". As much as I love it, I think the franchise as a whole will get worse if it goes on too long.

I'm torn between Stan Winston and dk. Really not sure what the right move is here.

Im not personally against the whole cinematic universe(who can argue with more Alien)but i do agree with dk that things may start to decline at some point thats sort of why i brought it up.Plus i think the past few years have had some pretty shaky attempts.I personally think it was paramounts intentions with Terminator Genisys(they had a planned trilogy plus a tv series and video games that seems like a cinematic universe attempt to me)and that didn't turn out so well.I would rather them focus on Alien Covenant being a good and successful movie before they make too many plans or it could end up like terminator a series with know where to go.

By the way QueenElizibethShaw what the fuck is that because its awesome 

@ninXeno426

The image for QES  can be seen as sexy, arousing, disgusting, dangerous and depressing all in one image imo. Giger would likely approve.

ninXeno426

This is a piece called "Sin" from artist Dane Hallett who crafted some early concept art for Alien Covenant. "Sin" was meant to be a demon in the canceled 2011 film "Paradise Lost". It's image feeds my fantasy of having Shaw show up in Alien Covenant  mutated into a half human half queen xeno hybrid (though I know it'll never happen.)

Thank you I know that was really of topic but i couldn't help but ask.

 Yeah it sort of is arousing in a really fucking sick kind of way.

Another concern have with a cinematic universe is all these bizarre attempts coming out.Universal is doing there monsters and Warner Brothers with King Kong and Godzilla.Both of those are ridiculous ideas.It just seems to me that any film series that ever ment anything is going to do it.

its true that from the studios perspective is has to be profitable but I think when the original discussions took place they only ever had ridley in mind and from what iv heard he has agreed but only if he has full control over where it goes, he is after all involved with blompkamps alien5 and I don't think hel do anything ridley isn't happy with. ridley said he left this story behind which on his part was a mistake which says to me hes not happy with how alien 3 and AR went along with the avp crossover. I think we are safe in the fact it wont go daft under his watchfull eye and the studio has probably enough faith in him to let him have control over how these films pan out and trust that hel make them a bucket load of cash. this is after all his (and o'bannons) baby after all so I don't think hel go the cheap road on anything. bare in mind this is the guy who got the studio to double its original budget for the original film because he convinced them he couldn't make the movie as good as it should be on the budget theyd set aside. so I think we r safe with ridley

I actually hadn't considered the Ridley angle that is a good point.But still i dont think a good idea for Alien to become an anuallized franchise.I do wish Dan o'Bannon was still around,I wonder what he'd make of all of this. 

I believe ridley is going down the way he wants to go rather than focusing on the cash that's gna be made. he has created the alien franchise though unintentionally with his amazing camera direction and imagination, again it was ridley who booted out the first chief cameraman due to the way the guy wanted the sets to be light up like a Christmas tree, ridley had a different view and didn't care if the guy had been hired by the studio or not. he convinced them he was gna make it a success by doing it his way and I think hes earned enough trust now that the studio will loosen the reigns and give him virtually complete control over where these films go. they know theyr gna make money anyway so it makes sense to let ridley finish what he started his way

@ninXeno426 It's funny to hear stories about O'Bannon. He had a huge influence on sci-fi, but nobody seemed to like working with him. It's just a bit odd

I haven't heard that before.I know they didn't take his script to seriously at first and when they did they were dead set on changing a lot of it(they thought it was terrible)and that did often leave him frustrated,enough to the point he didn't want to attend the premiere for fears that it fucked up his original vision.

That and sort of being bullied by the studio to change things like character names(although that was for the bettet)among other things.

A lot of the dialogue in the original drafts was extremely wooden.

o'bannons script starbeast states that although he had made the cast all male this could be changed. O'Bannon originally assumed he would be directing and felt he was being pushed aside by fox but in the end he was pleased with what ridley had done. the only reason alien got made was the facehugger and chest burster scenes, they didn't get changed at all but the studio hated most of the rest of it. yes he was bullied a bit but having read starbeast and seen the film id say hed accept the changes improved things. plus his original concept for the monsters appearance was weak

I was aware of a lot that.Ive read his original script.I know it went through alot of rewrites to make it better although he felt they making it worse.He thought the one good idea they brought to it was the that Ash was robot,and on that we can agree.