Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Alien (prequel)

6/14/10 – SCI FI Wire reported that Ridley Scott may actually do two Alien movies both shot in 3-D.  Scott said his first prequel will be about the "space jockey," that huge statue Kane (John Hurt) stumbles upon in the first film. It looks like the carcass of an alien giant.  "I think beneath that carcass isn't a carcass," Scott said. "That's a suit, but inside the suit is a being."  He continued, “What we want to do is try and squeeze in two prequels, because if you explain who he was and where did he come from, then that will deal with the savagery of this version, which is pretty savage.  Then you may want to find out where they came from, so you may want to go to the place where his people come from."  He's spending time with real NASA scientists who do research at the bottom of the ocean, to simulate conditions in space. They've given Scott some ideas of real planets where he can set his prequel. That would show that the colonies Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) visited evolved from our own universe.  The first Alien prequel is due out in 2011.

4/26/10 – MTV reported that director Ridley Scott of the Alien prequel said that the movie will deal with the identity of the "space jockey" discovered by the crew of the Nostromo on LV-426 in the original movie.  It's one of the nagging mysteries from the original movie: Who were the race that crashed that giant ship on LV-426 in the first place, leaving a wreck—and a bunch of leathery alien eggs—for Ripley and her crew to discover?  It's set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney Weaver's character Ellen Ripley. It's fundamentally about going out to find out 'Who the hell was that Space Jockey?' The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle—there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer's chair.  Scott says the script is still being written.  “As we speak, I've got a pile of pages next to me; it's like the fourth draft. It's a work in progress, but we're not dreaming it up anymore. We know what the story is. We're now actually trying to improve the three acts and make the characters better, build it up to something [we can shoot]. It's a work in progress, but we're actually making the film. There's no question about it, we're going to make the film.”

7/31/09 - Variety confirms that Ridley Scott's company is developing a prequel to his classic sci-fi horror movie Alien, but with a few changes: Scott himself will direct, not Scott's protege, Carl Rinsch, and Jon Spaihts will write the script.  Spaihts got the job after pitching the studio and Scott Free, which will produce the film.  The film is set up to be a prequel to the groundbreaking 1979 film that Scott directed. It will precede that film, in which the crew of a commercial towing ship returning to Earth is awakened and sent to respond to a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The crew discovers too late that the signal generated by an empty ship was meant to warn them.  The deal gives Fox another chance to keep the Alien franchise alive. There were three sequels to Scott's original, but it is the first time the director has set his mind on directing one.

6/1/09 - Producer Tony Scott confirmed to Collider.com that he and brother Ridley Scott are developing a prequel film to Ridley's original Alien movie, with Carl Rinsch directing.  The news confirms the rumor first reported by Bloody-Disgusting that an Alien remake was in the works for 20th Century Fox.  "Carl Rinsch is going to do the prequel to Alien," Scott said. "He's one of our directors at our company."  Tony Scott added: "I'm excited because Ridley created the original, and Carl Rinsch is one of the family."  Scott said that he hopes to get the movie before cameras “hopefully the end of the year" for a summer 2011 release.

5/28/09 - Bloody-Disgusting reports the rumor that director Ridley Scott's classic 1979 sci-fi horror movie Alien is being remade at 20th Century Fox.  The source, the same one that told the site correctly that Robert Rodriguez would reboot the Predator series, adds that Scott, his brother Tony and Michael Costigan will produce through their Scott Free Productions company, and that commercial/video director Carl Rinsch will direct the remake.  The movie, like the original, will focus on the threat posed by a hostile alien on a ship in space, with a new Ripley.

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