Despite the critical and commercial success of Aliens. Alien was released by 20th Century Fox in 1979 and starred Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holmes, and Yaphet Kotto. The sci-fi horror movie followed the commercial spaceship Nostromo's crew as they battled a deadly Xenomorph that quickly decimated the crew, leaving one survivor, Ellen Ripley (Weaver). Scott's formative influence on this now iconic plot was notably lacking in Aliens.
Alien's original script was co-created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shushett (who penned the screenplay for Total Recall). According to an article in the terrifying Xenomorphs.
Ridley Scott Wasn't Asked Back To Direct Aliens
James Cameron Directed Aliens
Instead of Ridley Scott, it was James Cameron who ended up directing Aliens. After Alien was snatched up by Brandywine Productions - founded by filmmakers Walter Hill, David Giler, and Gordon Carroll - the original Alien script underwent massive revisions. Although the final product was largely the work of Giler and Hill (who worked on a script for the canceled movie Alien 5), O'Bannon received a sole writing credit. This complexity speaks to the fluid variability and unpredictability of the franchise's crew.
Alien: Romulus was directed by Fede Álvarez and was released in August 2024.
The exit of 20th Century Fox studio head Alan Ladd Jr., and a lengthy legal battle over profits from Alien stalled plans for the sequel. Following the success of James Cameron's The Terminator (1984), Brandywine greenlit Aliens (1986) and tapped Cameron to write the screenplay and direct the sequel to Scott's hit. Sigourney Weaver reprised her role as Ellen Ripley, who returned to LV-426 to rescue colonists who ran afoul of an army of xenomorphs. Scott was never attached to the project.
20 Most Memorable Quotes From The Alien Franchise
As with any long-running series, Alien made its share of missteps. Regardless, though, all the movies gave us their share of memorable lines.
In a 2019 interview, Scott told Scott's Alien prequels. However, in 2012, when Scott was still working on Prometheus, he wasn't so cavalier about being ed over in another interview with THR, stating "I was really p***ed off, frankly."
Aliens Was A Huge Success With James Cameron
Aliens Did Even Better Than Alien
Aliens sured its predecessor at the box office, grossing $131 million worldwide, and the movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Two more movies followed - Alien 3 (1992), directed by David Fincher, and Alien: Resurrection (1997), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Both movies followed Ellen Ripley's ongoing battle against the creatures. Cameron went on to make two of the highest-grossing movies of all-time: Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009). Ultimately, Cameron's stint as Aliens' director was a jewel in his crown as one of filmmaking's titans.
Meanwhile, Ridley Scott wasn't stopped by his rejection from Aliens. Scott enjoyed an illustrious career as a producer, as well as helming the movies Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2001). However, Scott was far from done with Alien. The director proved his love of the story and his undying devotion to flying its flag in the years following the release of Aliens. Scott went on to release Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, then spoke to Forbes when he was in the process of developing other Alien movies:
We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant. Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because Prometheus woke it up very well. But you know, you’re asking fundamental questions like, ‘Has the Alien himself, the facehugger, the chestburster, have they all run out of steam? Do you have to rethink the whole bloody thing and simply use the word to franchise?’ That’s always the fundamental question.
Why Ridley Scott Returned To The Alien Franchise With Prometheus & Covenant
Alien Wasn't Scott's Final Alien Movie
Ridley Scott returned to Alien with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant due to the power and mystery of the original story, which Scott realized hadn't been explored to the maximum. The original Alien movie grossed $101.7 million worldwide upon its initial release, was nominated for two Academy Awards, and spawned three sequels. The original movie jump-started a massively successful franchise that included not only movies, but novels, comics, and video games. Scott was wise to cash in on the franchise's enduring success with the fun, scary, and thrilling movies he created in the franchise in the 2010s.
Ridley Scott returned to Alien with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant due to the power and mystery of the original story, which Scott realized hadn't been explored to the maximum.
In 2015, Scott told Alien: Covenant was released in 2017. In a May 2020 interview with the LA Times, Scott said that when he was making Alien, he pondered the origin of the xenomorph and the purpose of the ship and the eggs. Those ideas gave Scott reason to believe that the story was far from depleted and inspired him to keep creating for Alien.
Sources: Variety, THR, Forbes, LA Times
Aliens
- Release Date
- July 18, 1986
- Runtime
- 137 minutes
- Director
- James Cameron
Cast
Carrie HennNewt
Ripley
WHERE TO WATCH
Aliens, released in 1986, follows Ripley as she s a group of Colonial Marines returning to LV-426, site of her previous encounter with the extraterrestrial species. Having been in hypersleep for 57 years, her story of survival is met with doubt, yet she assists in confronting the new threat.
- Writers
- James Cameron
- Sequel(s)
- Alien 3
- Franchise(s)
- Alien
- Studio(s)
- 20th Century
- Distributor(s)
- 20th Century
- Budget
- $18.5 million
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
Your comment has not been saved