Alien
The current logo of the franchise.
Created by	Dan O'Bannon Ronald Shusett
Original work	Alien (1979)
Owner	20th Century Fox
Print publications
Book(s)	List of books
Novel(s)	List of Alien (franchise) novels
Comics	List of Alien (franchise) comics
Magazine(s)	Empire Classics - Alien: The Complete History of All 8 Films (2018)
Films and television
Film(s)	Original series Alien (1979) Aliens (1986) Alien³ (1992) Alien Resurrection (1997) Crossover series Alien vs. Predator (2004) Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) Prequel series Prometheus (2012) Alien: Covenant (2017)
Animated series	Operation: Aliens (1992; cancelled) Aliens: War Games (2007; cancelled)
Games
Traditional	Aliens Adventure Game (1991) Operation: Aliens - Combat Game (1992) Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game (2015) Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game Expansion (2015)
Role-playing	Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013) Alien: Isolation (2014)
Video game(s)	List of Alien, Predator and Alien vs. Predator games

Alien is a science-fiction horror action media franchise centered on the film series depicting Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien". Produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and was followed by three sequels, Aliens (1986), Alien³ (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997), directed by James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, respectively. Scott also directed a prequel series, composed of Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). The series has led to numerous novels, comics, and video game spin-offs such as Alien: Isolation released in 2014 to generally positive reviews. The Alien vs. Predator franchise combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise, and consists of two films as well as varying series of comics, books and video games.

Background

After completion of the film Dark Star (1974), writer Dan O'Bannon wanted to develop some of the ideas (especially "alien hunts crew through a spaceship") and create a science-fiction action film. Provisionally called Memory, screenwriter Ronald Shusett collaborated with O'Bannon on the project, adding elements from a previous O'Bannon script, Gremlins, which featured gremlins causing mayhem aboard a World War II bomber. The duo finished the script, initially titled Star Beast — it was changed to Alien after O'Bannon noticed the number of times the word "alien" occurred in the script.^[1][2] Their script was sold to Brandywine Productions, a company formed by producers Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill which had a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. The writers expected it to be a low-budget film, but the success of Star Wars inclined 20th Century Fox to invest millions.^[3]

In the original script, the ship had an all-male crew (though the script's "Cast of Characters" section explicitly states that "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women"), including the Ripley character, who was to be played by Tom Skerritt. Later, when Fox president Alan Ladd Jr. and the producers at Brandywine heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads, it was decided to cast a female as Ripley and Skerritt became Captain Dallas. Shortly before filming began, Veronica Cartwright was set for the Ripley role, but director Scott opted for Sigourney Weaver following screen tests.^[1][4] Cartwright played Navigator Lambert in the movie, the final crew member to be killed.

Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger designed the alien creature's adult form and the derelict ship, while French artist Mœbius created the look of the spacesuits and Ron Cobb provided most of the on-set design.^[5][1][6]

While the first film of the series, directed by Ridley Scott, was successful, Fox did not consider a sequel until 1983, when James Cameron expressed his interest to producer David Giler in continuing the Alien story. After Cameron's The Terminator became a box office hit, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release.^[7] Cameron wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with Giler and Walter Hill.

Following the second film, Weaver was not interested in returning to the series and so producers David Giler and Walter Hill commissioned a third Alien film without the Ripley character. The premise was to return Ripley in a fourth installment, but Fox's president Joe Roth did not agree with Ripley's removal and Weaver was offered a $5 million salary and a producer credit to make Alien³. Released in 1992, the film was troubled from the start, with production beginning without even a finished script. With $1 million already spent on production, music video director David Fincher, the third director considered for the film, was hired to helm the project.^[8] Giler, Hill and Larry Ferguson wrote the screenplay, based on a story from an earlier script by Vincent Ward. After production was completed in late 1991, the studio reworked the film without Fincher's involvement or consent.^[9] The death of Ripley was designed to bring closure to the Alien franchise by killing off the principal character.

While fans and critics initially did not receive Alien³ well, the film still did well at the box office worldwide and piqued Fox's interest in continuing the franchise. In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien Resurrection, began. Ripley was not in the script's first draft, and Weaver was not interested in reprising the role. She joined the project after being offered an $11 million salary and more creative control, including director approval. The script, set 200 years after Alien³, resurrected the Ripley character via human cloning.^[10] The film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and released in 1997, experienced an extended production and was described by screenwriter Joss Whedon as having done "everything wrong" with his script.^[11]

Films

Alien (1979)

On its way back to Earth, the U.S. commercial spaceship USCSS Nostromo is diverted to a desolate planetoid by a cryptic signal from a derelict alien spacecraft. While exploring the alien ship, one of the Nostromo's crewmen discovers the remains of the ship's pilot and also a large chamber that contains thousands of egg-like objects. One of the eggs releases a creature that attaches itself to his face and renders him unconscious. The others break quarantine to bring him back aboard the ship. The parasite dies and the crewman wakes up, seemingly fine. Soon afterwards, an alien organism bursts from his chest and grows extremely rapidly into a terrifying eight-foot (about 2.5 meters) tall creature that starts killing off the crew.

Aliens (1986)

After 57 years in hypersleep, the sole survivor of the USCSS Nostromo, WO Ellen Ripley, awakens aboard a medical space station orbiting Earth. Her story of the Alien terror she encountered is disbelieved and she learns that the planetoid from the first film (now designated as LV-426 or Acheron) is now home to a terraforming colony. When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley, against her better judgment and to regain her pilot's license, hesitantly accompanies a squad of high-tech Elite Colonial Marines aboard the spaceship Sulaco to investigate. Once there, they discover the colonists have been wiped out after finding the derelict alien ship (and its deadly cargo) from the first film.^[12]

Alien³ (1992)

Due to a fire aboard the USS Sulaco, an escape pod carrying the survivors of the second film is automatically jettisoned. It crash-lands on the refinery/prison planet Fiorina "Fury" 161, but Ripley is the only one to survive the crash. Unbeknownst to her, an Alien Facehugger was also aboard the ship. Before long, a full-sized Alien is then loose in the prison, killing the inmates and staff. Ripley also discovers there is an Alien queen growing inside her, and must not only kill the rampaging Alien but also herself in order to save humanity.

Alien Resurrection (1997)

Two hundred years after the events of the previous film, several clones of Ellen Ripley (including the alien queen she was carrying) are produced. The Alien queen is surgically removed from her body as the United Systems Military hopes to breed Aliens to study on the spaceship USM Auriga, using human hosts kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries onboard a transport starship called the Betty. The Aliens escape their enclosures, while Ripley 8 (a clone mixed with Alien DNA) and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches Earth.

Prequel series

In 2002, Ridley Scott stated that a new Alien project "would be a lot of fun", but "the most important thing was to get the story right". Scott's concept for the plot was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created.", which became the basis for the prequel series.^[13]

Prometheus (2012)

Some thirty years before the events of Alien, scientists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map among the remnants of several ancient Earth cultures. Seeking the origins of humanity, they journey aboard the spaceship Prometheus and arrive on the distant planet LV-223 in the Zeta² Reticuli system, the same region of space in which the planetoid LV-426 from Alien is found. There they discover the remains of an advanced civilization (the same race as the dead pilot from the derelict ship in Alien), who were developing biological weapons which could have driven the human race extinct.

Development of a fifth film in the series began in the early 2000s when both Ridley Scott and James Cameron started to develop ideas for a story that would explore the origins of the Alien. In 2002, the development of Alien vs. Predator had taken precedence, and the fifth Alien film project remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. Jon Spaihts wrote a script for an Alien prequel, but Scott then opted for a slightly different direction. In late 2010, Damon Lindelof joined the project to rewrite Spaihts's script, and he and Scott developed a story that precedes the events of Alien but is less of a direct prequel to it, concentrating more on discovering the advanced race that created the titular Aliens rather than the Aliens themselves (though variants of the Alien in its facehugger and full-sized form are seen in the film). According to Scott, although the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak," and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas. Prometheus was released in 2012 and stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce. The film grossed over $400 million worldwide and garnered mostly positive reviews, with a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Eleven years after the events of Prometheus, the colony ship USCSS Covenant, carrying thousands of colonists and hundreds of human embryos in cryo-stasis, makes its way towards the planet Origae-6. The crew intercepts a transmission sent from Shaw, which they decide to trace to an apparently habitable Engineer home world (referred to as Planet 4), devoid of all non-floral life. When several crew members are infected by the mutagen and give birth to a new breed of Alien, the Neomorphs, the android David 8 rescues them. His motivations to produce Aliens and destroy human life are made apparent, however, and with the birth of yet another new breed of Alien the survivors, now led by Daniels, are forced to flee from the world. After disposing of the Alien chasing them, the crew members return to the Covenant and are put back into cryosleep by someone they believe to be their shipboard synthetic, Walter. Only when Daniels is put in her cryopod does she realize that Walter has been replaced by the identical David. With the crew, colonists and embryos at his mercy, David contacts Weyland-Yutani back on Earth, stating that while the majority of the crew was killed in the neutrino blast, they would be continuing on towards Origae-6.^[14]

By March 2014, a Prometheus sequel was in development, with Scott set to return as the director.^[15][16] Michael Green wrote a script based on a first draft from Jake Paglan, which reportedly was more like a horror film than the original.^[17] Shooting was scheduled to begin in February 2016, with a planned release date of October 6, 2017, which was eventually brought up to May 19, 2017.^[18][19] Rumored to be titled Paradise, but originally revealed as Alien: Paradise Lost, the film was later retitled Alien: Covenant.^[20] Actors Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston were expected to appear, with Waterston in the lead role of Daniels.^[21][22] Though Scott claimed that Noomi Rapace's character would be returning for Alien: Covenant in November 2015, he confirmed in an interview in January 2016 that Rapace would not be reprising her role and that the casting process for the lead roles were ongoing.^[21][23] However, it was later confirmed that Rapace was, in fact, reprising her role and that the cast would also include Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demian Bichir.^[24]

Future

Untitled film (TBA)

In September 2015, Ridley Scott revealed he was planning two sequels to Prometheus which would lead into the first Alien film, also stating that there might be "even a fourth film before we get back into the Alien franchise."^[25][26] In November 2015, Scott confirmed that Alien: Covenant would be the first of three more films before linking up with original Alien, thus starting a new trilogy of sci-fi films, and stated that the Prometheus sequels would reveal who created the Aliens.^[27][28] According to an interview with Scott that took place on the set of Alien: Covenant in 2016, Scott had the screenplay for the third prequel film written while working on Alien: Covenant, so that he could "be ready to go again next year." Scott also mentioned the revived franchise might go on for even longer than previously mentioned; "I can keep cranking it for another six. I'm not going to close it down again. No way."^[29] In March 2017, Scott stated that if Alien: Covenant and the film that would follow it were successful, he had plans for another three Alien films. Scott explained: "It will go Prometheus, Awakening, Covenant."^[30] In May 2017, Scott revealed that Alien: Awakening was originally the name of Neill Blomkamp's since-cancelled Aliens sequel.^[31] 20th Century Fox is currently reassessing the sequels pitched by Scott, due to Covenant under-performing at the box office.^[32] In the audio commentary for Alien: Covenant, Scott confirmed that a sequel to Alien: Covenant, tentatively referred to as Alien: Covenant 2, is being written by John Logan, with Fassbender, Waterston and McBride reprising their roles. Scott also confirmed that the film will cap his prequel series, leading directly into the events of Alien.^[33][34] In an interview with Variety on September 20, 2017, Stacey Snider, the current chief-executive-officer of 20th Century Fox, stated that while Alien: Covenant was a financial disappointment they still trust Ridley Scott to know the right story and to proceed with the sequel.^[35] In an interview Ridley discussed how the film will center on the A.I. character David.^[36] In December 2017, the project seemed to have been cancelled as screen-graphics designer Carl Braga, who previously worked on Alien: Covenant, reported that "The sequel to Covenant was originally due to start preproduction this month [September] in Sydney. After the box office results filming was canceled, and a warehouse storage unit full of stuff was auctioned off a few months ago. So the original plan of pumping out another quickly has definitely changed with no immediate plans for anything."^[37][38][39] In a collector's issue by the magazine Empire Classics titled Alien: The Complete History of All 8 Films from November 2018, a scoop suggests that the Engineers would return and going after David knowing what he had done to Planet 4 and the film would possibly be set on LV-426.^[40] Other sources imply that the film has yet to complete the scripting process.^[41]

Cancelled projects

In the mid-1990s, screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine wrote a treatment titled Alien: Earthbound. Fox executives were impressed by the script, having read it after Alien Resurrection had entered post-production.^[42]

Joss Whedon had written an Earth-set script for Alien 5, but Sigourney Weaver was not interested and wanted it to be set on the original planetoid. She has remained open to a role on the condition that she likes the story.^[43] Before 20th Century Fox greenlit Alien vs. Predator, James Cameron had been collaborating on the plot for a fifth Alien film with another writer, but ceased work on learning of the crossover. Cameron stated that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise," and that "it was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf" – like "Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other." Although he liked the final product, he ruled out any future involvement with the series.^[44]

In late 2008, Weaver hinted in an interview with MTV that she and Scott were working on an Alien spin-off film, which would focus on the chronicles of Ellen Ripley rather than on the Aliens, but the continuation of Ripley's story has not materialized.^[45] Instead, Scott worked on a prequel that explained the "Space Jockey" found on the derelict spacecraft from Alien, titled Prometheus, which was released in 2012.^[46]

Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5

In 2014, Sigourney Weaver expressed interest in returning to the role of Ripley, stating that Resurrection's ending "feels incomplete to me. I wish it didn't, but it does. We left it hanging. And there's a way to finish this story that I think would be satisfying to me and the many fans."^[47] She also stated regarding the hybrid character that "had we done a fifth one, I don't doubt that her humanity would have prevailed."^[48] In February 2015, director Neill Blomkamp posted concept art on his Instagram feed stating that for years he has been "wanting to make an Alien film". The filmmaker developed the story and artwork after previously working on Chappie with Weaver.^[49] Weaver stated that she would reprise her role as Ripley so long as Blomkamp was directing. The two had wanted to finish the character's story through the events of the film.^[50][51] Later that month, it was confirmed by the studio that Blomkamp would direct a new Alien film, starring Weaver.^[52] Blomkamp's film would tie directly into the story of Aliens, without retconning the other two films in the series.^[53][54] By March 2015, Blomkamp reported that there were plans for more than one Alien project in development.^[55][56] Later that month Michael Biehn, confirmed at Pensacon that he would be reprising his role as Corporal Dwayne Hicks from Aliens.^[57] Frequent Blomkamp collaborator Sharlto Copley, expressed interest in portraying a xenomorph, while Bill Paxton also expressed interest in returning to the franchise.^[58][59]

Blomkamp announced that filming would take place sometime during 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; while producer, Ridley Scott confirmed that production would begin following the completion of Alien: Covenant.^{[60][61][62][63]} Blomkamp released concept art, including a piece featuring an adult-age Newt.^[64] The following January, Blomkamp stated that he believed chances for production being greenlit were getting "slim".^[65] Scott commented that he didn't think the film will ever be made, as his understand was that there never was a complete script, just a 10-page pitch.^[66]

By May of 2017, Scott confirmed that Blomkamp's film had been officially cancelled, and stated that its title had been Alien: Awakening. The title for the project will be re-purposed for the third film in the prequel trilogy.^[67] Fans of the franchise have since started an online petition to produce Blomkamp's cancelled film.^[68] In October 2018, Weaver stated that many of the creative team involved, including James Cameron, still wanted to see Blomkamp's film be produced, stating that the studio may move forward with the sequel once the latter's schedule is open.^[69]

Television

Cancelled Alien TV-series (1979)

In 1979, 20th Century Fox considered producing a television series based upon the 1979 film Alien and hoped that ABC would pick it up but its only media coverage was found in the June 1980 Fangoria issue #6 and it ended up abandoned as the 1986 sequel Aliens arrived on the scene.^[70]

Operation: Aliens (1992)

In 1992, a now cancelled animated series inspired by the 1986 film Aliens titled Operation: Aliens was being produced along with an LCD game, board game, and action figures.^[71][72][73] However the brand lived on Kenner toylines as simply Aliens and in the comics series included with the action figures as well as in the Aliens/Predator Universe trading cards set.^[74]

Aliens: War Games (2007)

In 2007, Ain't It Cool News reported that a now cancelled animated series inspired by the 1986 film Aliens titled Aliens: War Games was being produced.^[75][76]

Untitled live-action series

In 2018, rumors regarding 20th Century Fox considering a live-action TV-show based upon the Alien franchise had been floating around.^{[77][78][79][80][81]}

Crossover series

Inspired by the Dark Horse Comics series, the filmmakers of Predator 2 (1990) incorporated an easter egg in which an Alien skull was seen in a Predator trophy case. Expansions upon this shared universe between the Alien and Predator franchises followed, through comics and video games, until a film franchise was launched with the release of Alien vs. Predator in 2004, followed by the sequel Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007, which spawned various new comics, novels, video games, and other merchandise based upon or inspired by the films.

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

In 2004, a Predator mothership arrives in Earth orbit to draw humans to an ancient Predator training ground on Bouvetøya, an island about one thousand miles north of Antarctica. A buried pyramid giving off a "heat bloom" attracts a group of explorers led by billionaire and self-taught engineer Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen), the original founder and CEO of Weyland Industries, who unknowingly activates an Alien egg production line as a hibernating Alien Queen is awakened within the pyramid. Three Predators descend unto the planet and enters the structure, killing all humans in their way with the intention of hunting the newly formed Aliens, while the scattered explorers are captured alive by Aliens and implanted with embryos. Two Predators die in the ensuing battle with an Alien, while the third allies itself with the lone surviving human, Alexa "Lex" Woods (Sanaa Lathan), while making their way out of the pyramid as it is destroyed by the Predator's wrist bomb and eventually does battle with the escaped Alien Queen on the surface. The Queen is defeated by being dragged down by a water tower into the dark depths of the frozen sea, but not before she fatally wounds the last Predator. The orbiting Predator mothership uncloaks and the crew retrieves the fallen Predator. A Predator elder gives Lex a spear as a sign of respect, and then departs. Once in orbit it is revealed that an Alien Chestburster was present within the corpse, thus a Predalien hybrid is born.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Set immediately after the events of the previous film, the Predalien hybrid aboard the Predator scout ship, having just separated from the mothership shown in the previous film, has grown to full adult size and sets about killing the Predators aboard the ship, causing it to crash in the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. The last surviving Predator activates a distress beacon containing a video recording of the Predalien, which is received by a veteran Predator on the Predator homeworld, who sets off towards Earth to "clean up" the infestation. When it arrives, the Predator tracks the Aliens into a section of the sewer below the town. He removes evidence of their presence as he moves along using a corrosive blue liquid and uses a laser net to try to contain the creatures, but the Aliens still manage to escape into the town above. The Predator fashions a plasma pistol from its remaining plasma caster and hunts Aliens all across town, accidentally cutting the power to the town in the process. During a confrontation with human survivors, the Predator loses its plasma pistol. The Predator then fights the Predalien singlehandedly, and the two mortally wound one another just as the US air force drops a tactical nuclear bomb on the town, incinerating both combatants along with the Predalien's warriors and hive, as well as the few remaining humans in the town. The salvaged plasma pistol is then taken to a Ms. Yutani of the Yutani Corporation, foreshadowing an advancement in technology leading to the future events of the Alien films.

Future

Colin and Greg Strause were adamant that they wanted to develop Alien vs. Predator 3 during the production of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. They essentially sought to make an AVP-film in space and set in the future, but by the time they were hired, 20th Century Fox had already decided to go with Salerno’s script set on Earth. They incorporated elements of their ideas into the second film, such as the Predator home planet. ADI duo Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis were also contenders for the director’s chair. Having worked on the special effects in each movie since Aliens, Tom Woodruff revealed in April 2008 that he and Alec Gillis had aspirations to direct Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem themselves.^[82][83]

In 2008, according to the horror news-website ShockTillYouDrop, “An anonymous source over at 20th Century Fox got in touch with us over the weekend to relay the news another Aliens vs. Predator sequel is a ‘certainty’ at this point. If you recall, the brothers Strause – who helmed the Christmas release Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem – stated Fox was going to take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to a third chapter, furthermore, that the story would have to continue in space.”^[84][85][86]

On September 21, 2008, Collider published an exclusive interview with John Davis (the producer of both AVP films) and he stated, "I think we’ve logically done what we could’ve done with the two AVP movies. But I think there’s something to go back to with Predator."^[87]

On October 28, 2010, io9 published an exclusive interview with the Brothers Strause in which they revealed that Alien vs. Predator 3 would have led directly into Alien. Greg Strause stated that, "The original ending for AVPR, that we pitched them, ended up on the Alien homeward [sic], and actually going from the Predator gun, that you see at the end, it was going to transition from that gun to a logo of a Weyland-Yutani spaceship that was heading to an alien planet. And then we were actually going to cut down to the surface [of the alien planet] and you were going to see a hunt going on. It was going to be a whole tribe of predators going against this creature that we called "King Alien." It's this huge giant winged alien thing. And that was going to be the lead-in, to show that the fact that the Predator gun [at the end of AVPR] is the impetus of all the technological advancements that allowed humans to travel in space. Which leads up to the Alien timeline."

When asked about the ending sequence of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, that the Predator-weapon handed to Ms. Yutani would lead to us humans developing advanced space travel technology, Greg stated, "That was the idea. They never got any of the equipment from the first Predators. It's the first time they ever received any intact working technology left over. So they could take that and reverse engineer, figure out what the power source was – all of those things. And in theory, that would enable that company [Weyland-Yutani] to make massive advancements in technology and dominate the space industry. That was the whole idea, was to literally continue from Ms. Yutani getting the gun – and then cut to 50 years in the future, and there's spaceships now. We've made a quantum leap in space travel. That was going to set up the ending, which would then set up what AVP was going to be, which would take place 100 years in the future. That was kind of the plan."^[88]

In 2012, What Culture stated that "surely sometime in the near future we will see a third attempt at an AVP movie" and listed five major reasons that would make a third sequel work – namely the inclusion of Colonial Marines, a strong lead character, no Predators teaming-up with humans, memorable action sequences, as well as a great director.^[89]

In 2015, having worked on the special effects of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, VFX make-up artist David Woodruff (the son of Tom Woodruff who worked on both the Alien- and Terminator-franchises) participated in an interview with TheTerminatorFans, and when asked about the situation of a third chapter in the AVP-trilogy, he stated, "I haven’t heard anything about a 3rd installment, not even rumors. This Neill Blomkamp project is the first possibility I’ve seen or heard of another Alien film and I’m all about it. I know the guys at Amalgamated Dynamics are pushing for something like this too. It’s time."^[90]

In 2015, during the London Film and Comic Con, Sigourney Weaver stated that she asked to have Ripley killed in Alien 3 because she knew that Fox were moving forward with Alien vs. Predator.^[91] Peter Briggs (writer of Alien vs. Predator) responded by praising all films in the franchise and pointing out that the AVP-films were more successful than Weaver's last two Alien-films, and noting that "There’s a terrific Alien vs. Predator movie still to be made by someone. It just hasn’t happened yet."^[92]

In mid-2018, Shane Black, director of The Predator, tweeted his belief that a third Alien vs. Predator can still happen.^[93] A ComicBookRumours.com article from July suggested Fox may attempt an "AVP Cinematic Universe" after Ridley Scott finishes making the Alien prequels, after which Fox considered a "soft reboot" to the Alien series with new/original characters, a new setting, and new timeline,^[94][95] which the same article also suggested, if it were to happen, could potentially take place within the same continuity as the Predator films and AVP films, noting Predators featured an Alien skull cameo (along with other references to Aliens)^[96][97], Prometheus featured Weyland Industries from AVP in the script and various promotional material, Alien: Covenant featured references and classified information on the Predators/Yautja (among other keywords) on the MU/TH/UR 6000 online interface, and The Predator underwent reshoots to have Lex's Alien spear (along with other references) from the first AVP appear in the film at some point.^[98][99] An alternate ending for The Predator displaying a Weyland-Yutani Corp pod containing Ripley and Newt (both played by Breanna Watkins) wearing a Weyland-Yutani breathing apparatus shaped like an Alien Facehugger was also intended to further connect to the Alien films.^{[100][101][102][103][104][105][106]}

Cast and crew

Recurring characters

List indicator(s)

• This table shows the recurring characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has not yet been announced.
• A ^Y indicates an appearance as a younger version of a pre-existing character.
• A ^C indicates a cameo appearance.
• A ^P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs only.
• A ^D indicates an appearance in deleted scenes only.
• A ^V indicates a voice-only role.
• A ^M indicates a motion-capture only role.

Crew

Reception

Box office

Critical response

IGN listed Alien as the thirteenth best film franchise of all time.^[123] Alien was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning for Best Visual Effects. Aliens received seven nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver, and won for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. Alien³ was nominated for Best Visual Effects. Alien was also inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."^[124][125] The American Film Institute ranked Alien as the sixth most thrilling American movie and seventh-best film in the science fiction genre, and in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list, Ripley was ranked eighth among the heroes, and the Alien was fourteenth among the villains.

Accolades

Academy Awards

Alien Day

"Alien Day", April 26, has become the fan celebration day for the Aliens franchise. The date derives from LV-426, the "426" converting to "4/26" or 'April 26'.^[126] On Alien Day 2016, Neill Blomkamp released new art for his concept of Alien 5,^[127] and the Audible Original audio play adaptation of Alien: Out of the Shadows was released. On Alien Day 2017, 20th Century Fox released "The Crossing" prologue short film for Alien: Covenant,^[128] and the Audible Original audio play adaptation of Alien: River of Pain was released.

In academia

The Bishop character has been the subject of literary and philosophical analysis as a high-profile android character conforming to science fiction author Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and as a model of a compliant, potentially self-aware machine.^[129] The portrayal of androids in the Alien series—Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens and Alien³, and Call (Winona Ryder) in Alien Resurrection (1997)—has been studied for its implications relating to how humans deal with the presence of an "Other", as Ripley treats them with fear and suspicion, and a form of "hi-tech racism and android apartheid" is present throughout the series.^[130][131] This is seen as part of a larger trend of technophobia in films prior to the 1990s, with Bishop's role being particularly significant as he redeems himself at the end of Aliens, thus confounding Ripley's expectations.^[132]

Home video releases

There have been dozens of stand-alone releases of the individual films on various formats, including Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray. The multiple single releases on VHS were generally the original theatrical cuts of each film.

Laserdisc saw single releases of all theatrical versions, as well as two so-called "box sets" which only contained one film (there were two single releases, one each for Alien and Aliens) but had multiple discs and a large amount of supplemental material with a high retail price tag (around US$100). The Aliens set included a new "Special Edition" cut of the film completed by James Cameron just for this release, which was a significantly extended version of the film.

The films made their DVD debut in 1999, both as part of a boxed set (see Alien Legacy below) and as separate single-disc releases of each film (Aliens was only available in its "Special Edition" cut, not its original theatrical cut, which did not make it to DVD until the next boxed set). Following the Alien Quadrilogy set (see below), each film received individual two-disc releases containing the content of each film from that set. Since then, there have been multiple issues and reissues of the films, in both their theatrical or extended version, though some single releases include both.

In addition to the single releases, there have been seven complete box sets of the series at various points in its history. With the exception of the DVD version of the Aliens Triple Pack, each release contained all films that had come out at the time the sets were released. The seven box sets each had unique characteristics and features which were then sometimes reused in later sets or single releases in one form or another, most notably the Blu-ray Anthology, which includes a detailed archive of many previous releases, including the rare Laserdisc box sets.

• Alien Triple Pack (VHS, 1992), containing the first two films in the series and a third cassette with a 23-minute preview of the then upcoming theatrical release of Alien³.^[133] (Not to be confused with the 2008 DVD set of the same name below.)
• Alien Trilogy (VHS, 1993), a three-cassette packaging of Alien, Aliens (in its LaserDisc Special Edition cut, for the first time on another format) and Alien³.^[134]
• Alien Saga (VHS, 1997), UK boxed set with the first three films plus a "Making of Alien Resurrection" cassette. It was released again in 1998 with the Alien Resurrection film included. A Japan-exclusive Laserdisc pack containing the first three films released in 1999 also had the same name.^[135] (A planned U.S. version was canceled as DVDs were quickly taking over the much smaller domestic Laserdisc market in that country.)^[136]
• Alien Legacy (VHS/DVD, 1999), a four-volume set containing the 1991 Laserdisc "Special Edition" cut of Aliens, the theatrical versions of the other three films, and on DVD various supplemental materials that were either re-used from Laserdisc or newly created.^[137]
• Alien Quadrilogy (DVD, 2003), considered one of the most exhaustive box sets of the DVD era in terms of content and special features, was spread over nine discs: four discs (one disc each) for the theatrical and extended cuts of each film (new "2003" cuts of Alien, Alien³, and Alien Resurrection and the previously released 1991 "Special Edition" cut of Aliens), four discs containing special features specific to each film, and an extra disc of documentaries and other supplemental content.^[138][139]
  • The films were later re-released as two-disc individual titles as part of 20th Century Fox's Collector's Series.
• Alien Triple Pack (DVD, 2008), a three-disc package including the theatrical cuts of Alien and Alien³, as well as the "Special Edition" of Aliens. This set reused the name of the 1992 VHS set (this was an unusual release in that Alien Resurrection was not included, making this the first franchise box set it had not appeared in since its release).^[140]
• Alien Anthology (Blu-ray, 2010), an exclusive six-disc release featuring two versions of each film (theatrical, and the 2003 cuts from the Alien Quadrilogy set—except for changes to the 2003 Alien³ "Workprint" version which included having some original voice actors come back to re-record poorly captured dialogue in newly inserted extended scenes, and fixed production errors on the "special edition" of Aliens^[141]) and almost all special features and supplements from the previous releases (including an archive of the special edition Laserdisc box sets with all their image galleries and other unique content). As with the Quadrilogy DVD, the two versions of each film were housed on a single disc, while the storage capacity of Blu-ray means the previous five discs of special features were included on the remaining two discs in the set, which held approximately 60 hours of bonus video content and over 12,000 still images.^[142] Most subsequent releases of the films on the Blu-ray medium are repackaged versions of the Blu-ray disks contained in this box set. A discount box set without the two additional discs of bonus features was also released.
• Alien/Aliens Dual Pack (DVD), including the theatrical cuts of both Alien and Aliens. A separate dual pack was released containing the theatrical and extended versions of Alien vs. Predator and the unrated Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.
• Prometheus to Alien: The Evolution (Blu-ray, 2012), containing all of the Alien films, Prometheus, and a bonus material disk for Prometheus.
• All of the Alien films, including Prometheus, have been released in special Steelbook Blu-ray editions, although these do not come in a boxed set. While the Alien Steelbooks themselves contain the Blu-ray disks on their own, the Prometheus Steelbook contains both Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D versions of the film, as well as a bonus feature Blu-ray disk with seven hours of content. With the exception of Prometheus, the films had been previously released as DVD Definitive editions, which featured Steelbook casing and contained both DVD versions of the films and a bonus feature disk.^{[clarification needed]}
• Alien: The 35th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray, 2014), released to mark the 35th anniversary of the release of the film, containing both a Blu-ray and a Digital HD copy, a reprint of Alien: The Illustrated Story and a series of collectible art cards containing artwork by H. R. Giger related to the film. The disk itself is the same as the respective disk on the 2010 Anthology Blu-ray release, and contains MOTHER mode, despite the lack of the required bonus disk. A reprint of the novel by Alan Dean Foster was also released, along with reprints of all other novels, with the Alien Resurrection novel available as of May 2015.
• The Alien Universe box set was released exclusively through Wal-Mart on April 18, 2017, and included four limited edition poster cards designed by the Mondo art company.^[143]

Other media

There have been a number of spin-offs in other media including a large number of crossovers within the Aliens/Predator fictional universe.

Novels

Several novelizations of each of the six films and some comic books as well as original canonical novels based on the franchise have been released.
The original novels include Alien: Out of the Shadows, Alien: Sea of Sorrows, Alien: River of Pain, marketed as the "Canonical Alien Trilogy" and the short story collection Aliens: Bug Hunt.
Out of the Shadows and River of Pain were adapted into audio dramas in 2016 & 2017 respectively released on the Alien Day of the respective year.
Alan Dean Foster published Alien: Covenant – Origins, a novel set between the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

Comics

Dark Horse Comics published a line based on the franchise.

Books

Other books expanding this fictional universe has been released through the years, and also such that depict the background to the films, including works by special effects company Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated (ADI) which has worked with both the Alien, Predator, and Alien vs. Predator films.

• Giger's Alien (1979)
• The Book of Alien (1979)
• Aliens Adventure Game (1991)
• Cyberantics: A Little Adventure (1992)
• Aliens: The Official Strategy Guide (unreleased; original release date 1995)
• Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual (1995/1996/2012)
• Alien: The Special Effects (1997)
• The Making of Alien Resurrection (1997)
• Aliens/Predator: Panel to Panel (2006)
• Alien Vault: The Definitive Story of the Making of the Film (2011)
• Prometheus: The Art of the Film (2012)
• Alien Saga: The Poster Collection (2013)
• The Art of Alien: Isolation (2014)
• Alien: The Archive (2014)
• Alien Next Door (2015)
• Aliens: 30 Years of Terror (2016)
• Aliens: The Set Photography (2016)
• Alien Visions (upcoming; original release date 2016)
• Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report (2016)
• The Book of Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual (2017)
• Alien: Covenant: The Official Collector's Edition (2017)
• The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant (2017)
• Alien: Covenant - David's Drawings (2018)
• Alien: The Blueprints (2019)

Video games

The first game based on the franchise was Alien (1982) for the Atari 2600, heavily based on Pac-Man. Another Alien game based on the first film was released in 1984.

Aliens was adapted into four different video games: two different 1986 games titled Aliens: The Computer Game, a collection of minigames by Activision and a first-person shooter by Software Studios; as well as two different games titled Aliens, a 1987 MSX platformer by Square and a 1990 arcade shoot 'em up by Konami.

Acclaim Entertainment released three different games based on Alien³, two different run and gun platformers (one for various platforms in 1992, another for the SNES a year later) and a Game Boy adventure game in 1993; Sega also released a light gun arcade game Alien³: The Gun in 1993.

Acclaim's first-person shooter Alien Trilogy was released in 1996, and their adaptation of Alien Resurrection was released in 2000 as a PlayStation first-person shooter.

Other Alien games include Mindscape's adventure game Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995), the first-person shooter Aliens Online (1998), the Game Boy Color action game Aliens: Thanatos Encounter (2001), the mobile phone game Aliens: Unleashed (2003), and the arcade game Aliens: Extermination (2006).

In (2014), Play Mechanix and Raw Thrills released Aliens: Armageddon, a rail gun first person shooter that hit arcades soon after.^[144] It has received praise, though it has also been criticized for only being four chapters long. These rail gun shooters came in two different cabinets: one featuring a large screen and assault rifles in place of laser rifles (although you use an assault rifle throughout the game regardless), the other featuring a slightly smaller screen and laser rifles.

In 2006, Sega struck a deal with Fox Licensing to release two new Alien video games on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.^[145] One of them, a first-person shooter by Gearbox Software, Aliens: Colonial Marines, was released on February 12, 2013, in the United States of America on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows.^[146][147] The game is set between Aliens and Alien³, following a group of marines sent to investigate the Sulaco who wound up crash-landing on LV-426.^[148][149] Sega also released a Nintendo DS game Aliens Infestation in 2011.^[150]

In 2014, Sega published Alien: Isolation. Developed by The Creative Assembly the game launched on Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms on October 7, 2014. It was directed by Alistair Hope and produced by Jonathan Court and Oli Smith. Part of the Alien series, the game is set in 2137, 15 years after the events of Alien and 42 years prior to Aliens. The game follows Amanda Ripley, who is investigating the disappearance of her mother, Ellen Ripley. Amanda is transferred to the space station Sevastopol to find the flight recorder of the Nostromo only to discover an Alien has terrorized the station, killing the vast majority of the crew.^[151]

The Alien also was a downloadable character in Mortal Kombat X (2015).^[152]

Boardgames

• Alien Game (1979) by Kenner^[153]
• Operation: Aliens - Combat Game (1992) by Peter Pan Playthings^[154]
• Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game (2015)^[155]
• Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game Expansion (2015)^[156]

Role-playing game

Leading Edge Games released the Aliens Adventure Game in 1991.

See also

• Predator franchise
• Alien vs. Predator franchise
• List of space science fiction franchises

References

Further reading

• Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley (by Ximena Gallardo C. and C. Jason Smith, Continuum, 272 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-8264-1910-0)
• The Book of Alien (by Paul Scanlon and Michael Gross, Star Books, 112 pages, 1979, ISBN 0-352-30422-7, Titan Books, 2003, ISBN 1-85286-483-4)
• Making of Alien Resurrection (by Andrew Murdock and Rachel Aberly, Harper Prism, 1997 ISBN 0-06-105378-3)
• The Complete Aliens Companion (by Paul Sammon, Harper Prism, 1998, ISBN 0-06-105385-6)
• The Alien Quartet: A Bloomsbury Movie Guide (by David Earl Thomson, Bloomsbury Publishing, 208 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-58234-030-7, as The Alien Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide), 2000 ISBN 0-7475-5181-2)
• Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McIntee, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)
• Alien Vault: The Definitive Story of the Making of The Film (By Ian Nathan) 2011, 176 pages. Includes inserts with sticker,mini posters, art and storyboards, Blueprints an other material. ISBN 9780760341124

External links

• Official website
• Meet Walter website
• Weyland Industries website