Alien: Romulus - Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) to write/direct

[SixTwoSix]

Mentioned this in the Prey thread the other day but thought it deserved it's own thread.

If you didn't know, Fede Alvarez is onboard to write and direct a new Alien movie. I thought his take on Evil Dead was excellent and Don't Breathe was a tense, engaging thriller.

After the mess Ridley Scott has made across Prometheus and Covenant, i'm excited to see what Alvarez can do. I hope he can bring back a much needed deep unsettling horror to the series.

Oh - it's a direct to Hulu streaming affair - shame as i've seen all but Alien 3 at the cinema and would like to continue that trend.

Personally i'm hoping for a standalone story set in the Alien universe without direct ties to previous movies.

 

[Shamikebab]

It's one series I'd like to see just get a complete reboot. Just forget the mess that has come before and try again.

 

[cu3ed]

Neil Blomkamp had some great ideas and artwork done for a sequel that I think ignored Alien 3 and just took over from after Alien 2. Was to have Weaver and Biehn back in role and an older Newt. Looks pretty damn good till Scott when and took that away and did the absolute disaster couple of films instead.
Still think Prometheus is one of the worst films ever made.

 

[SixTwoSix]

@cu3ed after District 9 i'd have thrown money at a Blomkamp made Alien movie blindly but was really let down with both Elysium and Chappie, less said about his Demonic movie the better.

I'd want blomkamp on board in a visual capacity, he has clear grand visions in his projects but I don't really think much of his writing skills.

Did you see the follow through he released last year that told his idea for the entire Alien movie has was going to make? It really wasn't very good but it would have been better than Scott's movies.

 

[ianh]

I was one of of those sad "uber-fans" with every film, book, comic etc and someone who queued up at midnight to see Prometheus wearing my Narcissus crested t-shirt (the name of the escape pod in Alien) and 2hrs later I left utterly dejected by what Ridley Scott had done, so I'm done with the Franchise.

There are so many Really good Alien stories already out there in comics/novels/fan-fiction and yet Hollywood point blank refuses to use any of those and, as always, brings in some of the worst writers imaginable to yet again crap all over the Franchise.

However I like the stuff this writer/director has done, but I'm still not hopeful.

 

[cu3ed]

@cu3ed after District 9 i'd have thrown money at a Blomkamp made Alien movie blindly but was really let down with both Elysium and Chappie, less said about his Demonic movie the better.

I'd want blomkamp on board in a visual capacity, he has clear grand visions in his projects but I don't really think much of his writing skills.

Did you see the follow through he released last year that told his idea for the entire Alien movie has was going to make? It really wasn't very good but it would have been better than Scott's movies.

If you look at the history of production issues he has had realty some bad luck with things like Chappie and esp Elysium. That was basically a failed Halo film that was scrapped together to get that.
Peter Jackson is the one who stepped in to get District 9 made as an apology for being messed about for Halo once before.
If he is left totally alone he can do good I think before its been studios etc.I do agree I dont think screenplay writing is his strength, but I think he can do better when left alone to work.

 

[PlacidCasual]

@ianh The original Dark Horse Alien comic with Newt and Hicks was brilliant and later on the original Aliens vs Predator comic was one of the best self contained Aliens concepts ever. You're right there are good stories to be told. Ridley Scott is a great director but like many he should leave the writing to others and instead craft and adapt work because Prometheus and Covenant were dreadful.

 

[SixTwoSix]

If you look at the history of production issues he has had realty some bad luck with things like Chappie and esp Elysium. That was basically a failed Halo film that was scrapped together to get that.

Definitely, he was hot property after D9 but ended up with a studio that interfered quite a bit. As a new director he clearly felt the need to capitulate to requests.

I do like his Oats studio stuff and shorts, that's where he shines, outside of District 9 I don't rate him highly as a feature length director - but as you say, that could be the studios fault.

 

[cu3ed]

Definitely, he was hot property after D9 but ended up with a studio that interfered quite a bit. As a new director he clearly felt the need to capitulate to requests.

I do like his Oats studio stuff and shorts, that's where he shines, outside of District 9 I don't rate him highly as a feature length director - but as you say, that could be the studios fault.

Yea that is good, but again...limited by what he has to write lol. Short stories. I agree he should be in charge of effects and tone, just not the script writer. Hes like Zack Snyder, brilliant visionary for what works on screen with effects etc, just pretty bad at writing good dialogue.

 

[ZXSpectrum]

@ianh The original Dark Horse Alien comic with Newt and Hicks was brilliant and later on the original Aliens vs Predator comic was one of the best self contained Aliens concepts ever. You're right there are good stories to be told. Ridley Scott is a great director but like many he should leave the writing to others and instead craft and adapt work because Prometheus and Covenant were dreadful.

Was that the one where they went to the alien homeworld to get the royal jelly? I seem to recall they had some fantastic exoskeletons and other weapons to take out the aliens along with the royal jelly that acted like a steroid for the marines?

 

[SixTwoSix]

Was that the one where they went to the alien homeworld to get the royal jelly? I seem to recall they had some fantastic exoskeletons and other weapons to take out the aliens along with the royal jelly that acted like a steroid for the marines?

That sounds like Genocide, Alien Royal Jelly is a commodity, they go to harvest, rival alien sub-species are warring and the steroid you mention I think was called Xeno-zip.

The story Ian mentioned is either Earth War or Female War.

 

[ZXSpectrum]

Yeah thats the one.. Might have to grab it on digital.

 

[PlacidCasual]

That sounds like Genocide, Alien Royal Jelly is a commodity, they go to harvest, rival alien sub-species are warring and the steroid you mention I think was called Xeno-zip.

The story Ian mentioned is either Earth War or Female War.

Genocide is a good story but Aliens Book 1 which is before Earth War (that is book 3 I think) is really good it's a black and white comic first one they did.
The first Aliens vs Predator, the one set on the farming planet is also amazing, very few of the sequels in that series matched the quality of that first.

Not all the Aliens comics have aged but here are a few stand out ones.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Genocide is a good story but Aliens Book 1 which is before Earth War (that is book 3 I think) is really good it's a black and white comic first one they did.

I'm mis-remembering the names, yeah, Earth War is part 3 after series 1/2. I have a hardback edition of book 1 still shrink wrapped from a limited edition release a few years back.

I got the omnibuses for the entire Alien series from comixology before Amazon ruined it, think they were about 3 quid each on black friday years ago. I'd say I re-read all the dark horse Aliens content at least once a year start to finish.

 

[alchal]

The audio books on audible are brilliant, love that version of alien 3

 

[ianh]

@ianh The original Dark Horse Alien comic with Newt and Hicks was brilliant and later on the original Aliens vs Predator comic was one of the best self contained Aliens concepts ever. You're right there are good stories to be told. Ridley Scott is a great director but like many he should leave the writing to others and instead craft and adapt work because Prometheus and Covenant were dreadful.

Hell yeah! I'd bought and then subsequently lost my original "Earth War/Female War" (as it's known now IIRC) series comics in 1990-ish and was very confused after re-buying it as a novel years later ('93 IIRC) and trying to figure out who the hell Billie and Wilkes were in those pre-internet "no instant answer via google" days

Considering how dire the films were I always found that the AvP book series were pretty good, with the original AvP-Prey set on Ryushi with Machiko Noguchi being by far the best, and it easily would have made a "good" film if made back in the early/mid-90's rather than the very poor mis-mash of the basic Prey story with some god-awful "screen-written by numbers" pre-owned garbage story which the studio, who also hired a director who openly despised the Predator films/lore (he only wanted to make an Alien film), decided to smash together, showing a complete lack of understanding of the Franchise, fans and the general public, who all said it was crap.

 

[Loosecannon]

The audio books on audible are brilliant, love that version of alien 3

The Cold Forge and Into Charybdis would make an excellent 2 parter film... Some of that would look incredible on the big screen, and different enough from what has been seen before.

 

[Destination]

Neil Blomkamp had some great ideas and artwork done for a sequel that I think ignored Alien 3 and just took over from after Alien 2. Was to have Weaver and Biehn back in role and an older Newt. Looks pretty damn good till Scott when and took that away and did the absolute disaster couple of films instead.
Still think Prometheus is one of the worst films ever made.

You are quite accurate.

 

[GlitterBalls]

Prometheus was not a mess imo. I enjoyed it for what it was. And I really enjoyed Covenant.

Love Alvarez's work so I'm hoping this will be great.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Due to start filming in February, currently has the working title Alien: Romulus