News

Over a decade on, Ridley Scott has some harsh criticism of his 2012 Alien prequel, Prometheus, and some of his collaborators.

On its release in 2012, Prometheus – director Ridley Scott’s prequel to his own Alien from 1979 – was somewhat divisive. Though most critics agreed that it looked and sounded spectacular, opinions were more split on its characters and the way it filled in previously obscure areas of the Alien universe.

Over a decade on, Scott himself has harshly criticised his own movie. The idea to make the prequel began, he said, when he noticed the ongoing popularity of the original Alien on TV.

“I saw this bloody film that they keep playing every night somewhere on the globe, on all platforms,” Scott told Deadline. “There’s life in the [beast], yet. That’s why I sat down with the great writer [Damon] Lindelof, and we reconstructed a resurrection of the era, with Prometheus, and how it evolved from Alien.

The legendary Alien franchise gives birth to an all-new terrifying sci-fi horror thriller when 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus makes its streaming debut on Hulu on November 21. The film will also be available to stream via Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.

Director Fede Alvarez takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its iconic roots in the next jaw-dropping installment heralded by critics. The film was rated R for bloody, violent content and language.

Alien: Romulus is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (read our review) and has already thrilled audiences at the global box office, becoming the second highest-grossing film in the Alien franchise.

The film grossed $350.8 million at the worldwide box office, with $105.3 million coming from North American theaters and $245.5 million from international markets.

Alien: Romulus is the start of a new chapter with a brand-new story unlike any other Alien movie that came before it, featuring all-new creatures and characters.

Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine in 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The legendary Alien franchise gives birth to an all-new terrifying sci-fi horror thriller when 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus makes its streaming debut on Hulu on November 21. The film will also be available to stream via Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.

Director Fede Alvarez takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its iconic roots in the next jaw-dropping installment heralded by critics as “sheer terror” and “utterly breathtaking”. Alien: Romulus is Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and has already thrilled audiences at the global box office, becoming the second highest grossing film in the Alien franchise.

Alien: Romulus is the start of a new chapter with a brand-new story unlike any other Alien movie that came before it, featuring all-new creatures and characters that are “tense...

One thing you can count on Ridley Scott for is an honest opinion. The director is famously candid in his interviews, previously blaming the box office for his film "The Last Duel" on the entire millennial generation and talking openly about how he thinks the long-gestating "Alien" TV series won't be as good as his movies.

On that last point, the director might well be onto something, especially if we're talking about his original 1979 masterpiece "Alien." The film that kick-started the franchise really stands on its own as a seminal slow burn space horror, showcasing a mastery of mood and atmosphere that, regardless of Scott's other work, will always serve as a testament to the man's greatness. No matter how good the TV show is, it will indeed never be able to supersede something so monumental.

Surprisingly, Scott is actually attached to that TV project as an executive producer, proving...

As Romulus shows, the series is best when it keeps to its slasher-in-space formula – anything more and the old beast starts creaking like a colony ship

Spoiler alert – discusses Alien: Romulus

Back in the 1990s, the Alien franchise’s biggest problem was its inability to dispose of its iconic characters once it became clear they no longer had a meaningful part to play. Remember Ellen Ripley’s unexpected return as a xenomorph-human hybrid clone of herself in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection, at least two movies after she should probably have been retired? Honestly we’d have preferred her to come back from the dead as a holographic robo-zen life coach, floating serenely around a doomed space colony to remind everyone to breathe through their terror as they’re facehugged by an extraterrestrial octopus. Anything would have been better than watching Sigourney Weaver morph into a hybrid space gymnast...

Let’s face it – Alien movies are not created equal. In my Alien: Romulus review, I noted that there have really only ever been two flawless films in the franchise, with the rest all having moments of genius (well – most of them) but none measuring up to the first two movies in the saga. All of this makes Alien movie rankings quite controversial, as it’s a divisive topic. So, how does our Alien movies ranked list shape up? Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Alien Vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

I honestly couldn’t believe Fox had the gall to release this as a legit entry into the franchise in 2007. At the time, the studio had a bad reputation for putting out half-baked and cheap genre fare (made even more frustrating by how many were based on top-notch properties). This was the nadir of both the Alien and Predator franchises.

Where does the latest installment rank on the list of best ‘Alien’ movies?

With “Alien: Romulus” now available to watch on streaming, there’s no better time to dive back into one of sci-fi horror’s most iconic franchises. Directed by Fede Álvarez, “Romulus” has already stirred up praise for returning to the series’ roots, offering the kind of terrifying, claustrophobic tension that made the original “Alien” such a classic. With a fresh cast thrown into the never-ending fight against the xenomorphs, “Romulus” continues the franchise’s legacy of blending heart-pounding horror with stunning visuals. But is it enough to make the top spot on the list? To celebrate its release, I’m ranking all the Alien movies—from Ridley Scott’s genre-defining 1979 original to the intense new entry. So without further ado, here are all the films in the “Alien” series, ranked!

All of the “Alien” movies ranked:

No.

Image Source: 20th Century Studios For decades, movie heroes were overwhelmingly male. But in 1979, Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of Ellen Ripley in Alien shattered that mold. Ripley proved that women could be just as heroic, resourceful, and compelling as their male counterparts. Her strength and resilience in the face of unimaginable terror inspired generations of young women. Weaver reprised the iconic role in three sequels, including Aliens (1986), widely considered one of the greatest sci-fi action films ever made. Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with Weaver, and she has often acknowledged the impact Ripley has had on audiences. She credits the writers and directors she collaborated with – including Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and David Fincher – for shaping the character’s enduring legacy.(Click on the media bar below to hear Sigourney Weaver) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sigournwy-Weaverripley.mp3 Weaver’s Alien films – Alien, Aliens,...

The inaugural Prop Masters Guild MacGuffin Awards celebrated the achievements of the artisans who make Hollywood sets come to life or feel lived in.

Prop work on both film and television projects were honored, including “The Bear,” “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things.”

Emily Ferry was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her over four decades of dedication to her craft. Her work has spanned over 50 productions, including “The Right Stuff,” “Alien: Resurrection,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

Keep reading for the full list of winners at the inaugural Pmg MacGuffin Awards:

Honorees:

Lifetime Achievement Award, Emily Ferry

Humanitarian Award, Russell Babbitt

Award Winners:

Period Feature Film

“Oppenheimer” Guillaume Delouche, Pmg

Contemporary Feature Film

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” David Cheesman

Fantasy & Science Fiction Feature Film

“Poor Things” Balázs M. Kovács

Half-Hour Single-Camera Series

“The Bear – Season 2” Laura Roeper, Pmg

Half-Hour Multi-Camera Series

“That ‘90s Show – Season 1” Julie Heuer,...

Three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver has proven herself a capable leading lady in a variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, comedy, horror and drama. Let’s take a look back at 16 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Weaver made her film debut with a walk-on role as Woody Allen‘s girlfriend in “Annie Hall” (1977). Her breakthrough came just two years later for Ridley Scott‘s landmark sci-fi thriller “Alien” (1979). As Ripley, the lone survivor aboard a spacecraft besieged by a snarling, ferocious extra-terrestrial, Weaver broke down barriers for female action stars and helped launch a franchise that led to three sequels: James Cameron‘s “Aliens” (1986), David Fincher‘s “Alien 3” (1992), and Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s “Alien: Resurrection” (1997).

“Aliens” brought Weaver her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress, a rarity for the genre. Not to be typecast, she found further success in a variety of roles that didn’t require donning a space helmet.

This article contains major spoilers for "Alien: Romulus."

"Alien: Romulus" takes the "Force Awakens" approach to the legacy sequel formula, serving up a collection of greatest hits moments from across the entire "Alien" franchise, resulting in Easter eggs and references aplenty. It's an approach that won't work for everyone, but there are still plenty of great moments that make this movie special.

That's especially the case when it comes to the final set piece in "Alien: Romulus," wherein the pregnant Kay (Isabela Merced) injects herself with a black goo in order to heal a serious injury. In a new spin on the original film's alien terror sneaking into a spaceship idea, Kay gives birth to a monstrosity that rapidly mutates and matures into a giant Xenomorph with the face of an Engineer — The Offspring. The horror of sex and childbirth has been a theme in the "Alien" property since the very beginning,...

Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus contains quite a few call-backs to Ridley Scott's original masterpiece and James Cameron's sequel, but - somewhat controversially - it also reintroduces a concept from one of the less popular movies in the franchise, Alien: Resurrection.

Towards the end of the film, a pregnant and dying Kay (Isabela Merced) injects herself with the Rook android's Prometheus 5 formula to keep herself alive. Though she does survive (for a while), this ultimately results in her giving birth to a monstrous human/alien hybrid that kills its own mother almost immediately.

Named "The Offspring" in the credits, this rather terrifying creature does look a lot better than the albino monstrosity from Resurrection, but introducing another hybrid did result in some backlash, and for a lot of fans, the decision tarnished the movie’s final act.

Now, concept artist Dane Hallett has unveiled another alternate design for the Offspring,...

Showrunner Noah Hawley is bringing his “own thoughts to the design” of the xenomorph in the upcoming TV series, Alien: Earth.

Over 30 years after Alien 3′s famously misleading teaser trailer told us that the deadly xenomorph would be terrorising our planet’s population, Noah Hawley’s upcoming TV series is finally delivering on that promise. It’s even called Alien: Earth, so it’s not like the Fargo showrunner can quietly drop the whole ‘xenomorphs on terra firma’ idea like Alien 3 did back in 1992.

While plodding up the Emmys red carpet during last night’s award ceremony (held on the 15th September if you’re reading this in the future), Hawley talked briefly about the series and its setting, and argued that seeing the iconic monster in familiar surroundings will be “chilling” for audiences.

“There’s something about seeing a Xenomorph in the wilds of Earth with your own eyes,...

The Property Masters Guild (Pmg) announced the winners of the inaugural Pmg MacGuffin Awards, which is the only awards show to date celebrating the significant artistic achievements of Property Masters. The Motion Picture MacGuffin Awards were presented to “Oppenheimer”, “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1” (David Cheesman) and “Poor Things” (Balázs M. Kovács).

Winners in the Television Series included “The Bear”, “Lessons in Chemistry”, “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”, “That ‘90s Show”, “Perry Mason”, “The Last of Us” (Justin Onofriechuk) and “A Black Lady Sketch Show”.

Russell Bobbitt, the Property Master behind Marvel Studios films such as the “Iron Man” franchise, “Captain America” franchise and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise, earned the Hill Valley Humanitarian Award. He was recognized for “his outstanding philanthropic efforts and dedication to using his talents and resources to make a difference in the lives of those in need, including providing unique hands-on Marvel prop experiences for youth encountering debilitating health challenges.

The Property Masters Guild handed out its inaugural MacGuffin Awards tonight in Los Angeles, celebrating significant artistic achievements of property masters in film and TV. Winners lauded at the Belasco Theater included Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer and nominee Poor Things, along with Emmy winners The Bear and The Last of Us. See the full list below.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One took the Contemporary Feature Film prize, with Oppenheimer and Poor Things winning for Period and Fantasy/Science Fiction, respectively. Other TV honored by Pmg include Lessons in Chemistry, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, That ‘90s Show and the now-wrapped Perry Mason and A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Pmg’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Emily Ferry. A legend in the craft, she was the first female property master in film and television — a pioneer in breaking institutional barriers and paving the way for future generations.

Every time a new licensed horror game gets announced, a sizable chunk of the horror community emits a collective groan when it’s revealed that upcoming the title will be an asymmetrical multiplayer experience. While I actually enjoy the virtual hide-and-seek thrills of titles like Dead by Daylight and Gun Interactive’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I can still understand the frustration. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that even our asymmetrical multiplayer frights came bundled with fully-fledged single player modes.

In fact, one can even argue that the licensed asymmetrical horror experience itself was invented by a franchise that was just as well known for its campaign as its legendary multiplayer mode. Naturally, I’m referring to the Aliens vs. Predator games, a series that has been mostly forgotten despite its tremendous influence on gaming as a whole. And with Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus showing plenty...

Alien: Romulus contains quite a few call-backs to Ridley Scott's original masterpiece and James Cameron's sequel, but it also reintroduces a concept from one of the less popular movies in the franchise, Alien: Resurrection.

Towards the end of the film, a pregnant and dying Kay injects herself with the Prometheus 5 formula to keep herself alive. Though she does survive (for a while), this ultimately results in her giving birth to a human/alien hybrid.

Named "The Offspring" in the credits, this rather terrifying creature does look a lot better than the albino monstrosity from Resurrection, but introducing another hybrid was a choice that not everyone was fully on board with... including the studio!

While speaking to THR, director Fede Alvarez revealed that the studio did initially have some reservations.

"They did [push back] at the beginning [with regard to the Offspring], but not because they didn’t like it. They just thought, 'Is it too much?...

This article contains major spoilers for "Alien: Romulus."

"Alien: Romulus" most came alive for me with its final set-piece. Rain (Cailee Spaeny), Andy (David Jonsson), and Kay (Isabela Merced) seemingly escape and are ready to make their cryo-sleep voyage. But earlier, the pregnant Kay injected herself with some black goo to heal an injury. In a revolting new spin on trademark "childbirth as horror" themes of "Alien," the fetus in Kay mutates and, once birthed, rapidly matures into an eight-foot-tall xenomorph with a human-ish face.

Yes, the surprise fourth act where an alien makes it on the getaway ship is part of the "Alien" formula. A human-alien hybrid is also drawing on an idea from "Alien: Resurrection." But the Offspring (played by basketball player Robert Bobroczkyi) is too creepy a creature to not make your skin tingle and your heart pound. Take its introduction, where lights blinker and you can...

In our current franchise-dominated landscape, it's hard to imagine an actor having the brass to insist their character be killed off. But that's what living legend Sigourney Weaver did when she made 1992's "Alien 3," reasoning that her "Alien" heroine — the plucky blue-collar space trucker turned badass Xenomorph slayer Ellen Ripley — had endured more than her fair share of bad luck by that point. She would backtrack on that five years later for "Alien: Resurrection," intrigued by the idea of reprising not the Ripley we knew and loved, but a hybrid alien/human clone with her own quirks and personality (not to mention a killer behind-the-back basketball shot). Weaver would then come precariously close to reprising Ripley proper for Neill Blomkamp's scrapped "Alien 5," a sequel that, in a stunt similar to the one David Gordon Green's "Halloween" pulled, planned to ignore the prior two sequels by taking the...

The "Alien" franchise is on everyone's mind again thanks to "Alien: Romulus," the latest entry in the on-going sci-fi horror series. A sequel and prequel, "Romulus" is set 20 years after "Alien" and 37 years before the sequel "Aliens." "Romulus" is a box office hit, and critics have mostly enjoyed the film, too. I seem to be the outlier there — while I don't think it's a bad movie, I did find it to be the least-interesting entry in a franchise that has always tried to change things up from film to film. As I wrote in my review, "This is by no means a bad film — it's a triumph of production design, handsomely mounted and loaded with plenty of icky thrills and chills. And yet, 'Romulus' has no aspirations. It's less of a new entry in a long-running series and more of a collection of greatest hits moments. It's like...

The recent release of Alien: Romulus has led to speculation of a potential bigger reboot, with more movies expected to come out in due time. The franchise has given fans some iconic characters during its run, with Romulus being the 9th film in the series.

That includes Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of protagonist Ellen Ripley, with the actress also expected to reprise her role eventually. While Weaver had initially refused the possibility of her return to the franchise, her recent comments have once again sparked hope. The actress suggested in a Deadline review that she is merely looking for a script that she wants to do. This, as one would expect, has brought a range of reactions from fans.

Fans respond to Sigourney Weaver’s latest comments about Alien return

Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver | Alien (1979)

A number of fans simply did not know how to respond to the actress’s latest comments.

Sigourney Weaver was initially upset when she read the script for ‘Aliens’ due to its focus on guns.The 74-year-old actress was happy to return as Ellen Ripley for its 1986 sequel after the success of the original 1979 movie 'Alien', though has now admitted she "wasn’t thrilled" to learn that James Cameron’s blockbuster would be more action-centric than the original.She told Variety: "[Cameron] was just so open to any thoughts that I might have, and I just felt his instincts were amazing. The one thing, of course, I wasn't thrilled about was all the guns. "I read very quickly because I’m trying to experience the story and I had left out reading a lot of the stage directions, which had a lot of guns in them."The ‘Ghostbusters’ star reflected on her displeasure when the 70-year-old filmmaker brought the firearms onto the ‘Aliens’ set. She explained: "I said,...

Sigourney Weaver was the star of the Alien franchise for four movies straight. She played heroine Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott’s Alien, James Cameron’s Aliens, and David Fincher’s Alien 3… and even though Ripley didn’t make it out of Alien 3 alive, Weaver still returned to play a clone of the character in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection. 27 years have gone by since the last time Weaver starred in an Alien movie, and the franchise has continued without her through the crossover movies Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, the prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, the “mid-quel” (it slots in between the events of Alien and Aliens) Alien: Romulus, and the upcoming TV series Alien: Earth. But during a recent interview with Deadline, Weaver confirmed that she would “consider” returning to the role of Ripley if the offer came up.

When asked if there’s...

One of this year's most highly anticipated horror movies hit theaters on Aug. 16, and tons of people headed to the theaters to see it. Of course, we're talking about Alien: Romulus, which ended up being a box office hit, grossing $229 million worldwide against a $80 million budget. In fact, it's currently one of the highest-grossing horror films of 2024.

Since its release, it's been the talk of the town, with many people wondering if an additional installment is in the works. Unfortunately, this isn't the case at the moment, but Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez already has some ideas for a potential sequel. So, I'd say things are moving in the right direction!

With all this talk of Alien: Romulus, of course the Alien franchise's star Sigourney Weaver would eventually be brought up in conversations. People want to know if she'd ever come back and reprise her role as Ellen Ripley in a future Alien movie.

Following Alien and Aliens was never going to be easy, but if anyone was capable of doing it, it would surely be filmmaker David Fincher. Unfortunately, the movie underperformed at the box office in 1992 and received mixed-to-negative reviews.

Despite struggling at the North American box office, Alien 3 did earn $100 million overseas. Fincher has since disowned the movie, arguing it was unfaithful to his original vision thanks to studio interference.

Deadline (via SFFGazette.com) recently spoke with Ripley actor Sigourney Weaver and asked for her thoughts on the threequel and the many challenges she and the cast and crew faced during production.

"Well, I could feel that David had to get on the phone and fight every day for us to shoot what he wanted to the next day. And I’m sorry that he didn’t get a chance to make the script his own before we started. That makes filmmaking very difficult.

With a career spanning over 50 years, Sigourney Weaver has showcased her versatility across Broadway, television, and film, creating iconic heroic characters in both dramatic and comedic roles. Her remarkable talent has earned her three Academy Award nominations.

Born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949, in New York City, she adopted the name Sigourney at age 14, inspired by a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby.

Weaver graduated from Stanford University and obtained a master’s degree from the Yale School of Drama. Even as she found fame and success on the screen, she would maintain her love for the stage throughout her career. Her many theater credits include four Broadway productions: Sir John Gielgud’s production of The Constant Wife in 1975, the groundbreaking 1984 production of David Rabe’s Hurlyburly opposite William Hurt, Harvey Keitel and a newcomer named Cynthia Nixon, and the 1996 production of Sex and Longing, written...

Sigourney Weaver hasn’t ruled out returning as Ellen Ripley in the ‘Alien’ franchise. The 74-year-old actress played the iconic heroine in the sci-fi series from the 1979 original to its fourth installment ‘Alien: Resurrection’ in 1997 and has now revealed she hasn’t completely closed the door on reprising her role in a future flick, even if she feels it is unlikely.Speaking to Deadline, Weaver said: "I feel like she’s never far away from me, but on the other hand I have yet to read a script that said ‘you have got to do this.’ "So for me, she is in this other dimension, safe from the Alien for the time being. I don’t really think about it, but you know, it’s not completely impossible, and certainly a lot of good filmmakers are inspired by the material."The actress admitted she doesn't often think about returning as...

Looking for something to scare your socks off? Here’s our picks of the best horror films on Disney Plus UK.

There’s something primal and exciting about experiencing real fear in a safe place, such as your sofa. That’s the beauty of horror films, but I think you’ll agree that it can be tricky finding a really good one. After all, fear is subjective and there’s a lot of less-than-great scary films out there, which is why we felt this list was a pretty important one.

If you feel like you’ve exhausted the libraries of other streaming services, Disney+ has a surprisingly wide range of horror films in its catalogue, and we’ve picked some excellent suggestions for you. We’ve got ghosts, cannibals, mutants, zombies and the occasional so-bad-it’s-actually-good film here. Enjoy!

28 Weeks Later

While it may not reach the highs of its predecessor,...

“Alien: Romulus,” out now in theaters, is a surprise late-summer hit and proof positive that the “Alien” franchise is far from over.

And the new movie, plus the upcoming FX series “Alien: Earth,” have us wanting to look back at the series – the highs, the lows and the what-were-they-thinkings. Below is the definitive ranking of every “Alien” movie.

Chest-bursters and face-huggers are, of course, welcome.

20th Century 9. “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” (2007)

The poster for “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” is stylized as “Avp R,” which emphasizes the fact that the movie was actually rated R, unlike the earlier PG-13-rated “Alien vs. Predator.” And, in that sense, the movie delivers the goods – there’s a ton of splatter in this installment.

A direct sequel to the earlier extraterrestrial team-up movie, “Avp R” is set in a small Colorado town, where a predator/alien hybrid from the end of the previous movie is on a bloodthirsty rampage.

There aren't many movie series more iconic or long-lived than Alien. It's been almost 50 years since director Ridley Scott changed sci-fi with his own distinct take on the genre, adding in horror elements to make something truly unique. Since then, the Xenomorph has hardly ever been off our screens, with seven main films in the franchise so far, becoming a huge part of popular culture along the way. With the newest Alien movie, Alien: Romulus, now in theaters, let's go through the whole series and rank the movies worst to best!

7. Alien 3 (1992)

Coming off the back of Aliens, one of the strongest movies in the franchise, Alien 3 looked like it could be a great film, but sadly it failed to live up to its potential. It started off on the wrong foot, killing popular characters Hicks and Newt offscreen before the movie even started, and wasting so much potential.

A new episode of the Revisited video series has arrived online this morning – and since the latest entry in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus, is currently in theatres, we decided this would be a good time to look back at one of the least popular Alien movies, the 1997 release Alien: Resurrection (watch it Here). In the video embedded above, you’ll hear how this film’s odd and wacky tone managed to kill the franchise. For a while, anyway.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Alien: Resurrection has the following synopsis: The saga continues 200 years after Ripley sacrificed herself for the sake of humanity. Her erstwhile employers long gone, this time it is the military that resurrects the one-woman killing machine through genetic cloning to extract the alien from within her, but during the process her DNA is fused with the queen and then the aliens escape.

Despite its ups and downs, I’ve always respected the Alien franchise for daring to try something new with every new entry. From Vietnam allegories to reimagining Chariots of the Gods as a Lovecraftian origin story for the Xenomorphs, the series challenges the very concept of genre as it explores what might go wrong when humanity comes into contact with a truly perfect organism.

And with Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus paying homage to the most underrated movie in the franchise during its horrific final act, today I’d like to look back on Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s unfairly maligned Alien: Resurrection and dive into why I think this oddball gem of a film deserves more love.

Like many sequels, the story of Resurrection begins soon after the release of its predecessor. Desperate for a course-correction after the grimdark prison story of Alien³ left audiences feeling frustrated, Fox attempted to recruit established filmmakers like Danny Boyle,...

This article contains Alien: Romulus and The Flash spoilers.

The reviews are in, and some fans are already holding Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus up as the best xenomorph feature since Ridley Scott’s 1979 original and James Cameron’s Aliens from 1986. It feels like a new era of the Alienverse is ready to burst forward from Hollywood’s chest. But while there’s plenty of praise for Alvarez’s back-to-basics approach, which tries to capture the pulse-pounding horror of Scott’s Alien, it’s not quite a perfect outing.

As well as some criticizing the suitably batshit ending that echoes Alien Resurrection’s bewildering finale, it’s the return of Ian Holm’s likeness that’s causing a stir for Romulus—namely because the actor tragically passed away in 2020. Despite a CGI approximation of “Holm” appearing in the role of a new android called Rook instead of Alien‘s Ash,...

Alien: Romulus contains quite a few call-backs and nods to Ridley Scott's original masterpiece and James Cameron's sequel, but it also reintroduces a much-maligned concept from Alien: Resurrection.

Towards the end of the movie, a pregnant and dying Kay injects herself with the Prometheus 5 formula to keep herself alive. This results in her giving birth to a human/alien hybrid.

Named "The Offspring" in the credits, this rather terrifying creature does look a lot better than the albino monstrosity from Resurrection, but taking inspiration from one of the least popular movies in the franchise by introducing another hybrid was a bold choice that not everyone has got on board with.

While speaking to THR, director Fede Alvarez revealed that the studio did initially have some reservations.

"They did [push back] at the beginning [with regard to the Offspring], but not because they didn’t like it. They just thought, 'Is it too much? Do we really have to go there?...

Director Fede Alvarez pays homage to the original Alien with one plot development in Alien: Romulus. With spoilers, he talks about the work that went into it.

Nb: This is your final warning for a major Alien: Romulus spoiler. If you haven’t seen the film yet, do read one of the many other wonderful things we have on this website.

That’s a long, rambling headline up there, isn’t it? Sorry about that. All we can say in our defence is that some of Alien: Romulus's secrets are worth preserving for the big screen.

If you have seen Alien: Romulus, though, then you will probably have noted that an unexpected face shows up at the end of the first act: it’s Ian Holm – or at any rate an artificial likeness of him – playing a damaged synthetic named Rook. If you haven’t seen 1979’s Alien, you...

The Mystery Monster in Alien: Romulus Is Played by This Internet Celebrity - Main Image

[Warning: This Article Contains Spoilers For Alien: Romulus]

Every entry in the Alien franchise features a special variation of the iconic Xenomorph, whether it be the warrior variant in James Cameron’s Aliens or the ‘protomorph’ created by David in Alien: Covenant.

Naturally, Alien: Romulus also shares its variant of a xenomorph dubbed the Alien Offspring, and to everyone’s surprise, he’s played by an internet celebrity.

Who Plays the Final Monster in Alien: Romulus?

For context, when Alien: Romulus hit theaters, the internet was immediately flooded with reactions and memes. One joke was that the final alien in the movie—which had some disturbing human features—looked a lot like Robert Bobroczky, an internet personality who had become a meme for being the tallest teenager in the world.

At 13 years old, Bobroczky had already grown to 7’4” in height, and...

Stars: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Rosie Ede, Robert Bobroczkyi, Trevor Newlin | Written by Fede Alverez, Rodo Sayagues | Directed by Fede Alverez

The 7th instalment of the Alien franchise brings some new faces, some new ideas, and some old ones too.

Cailee Spaeny has had a breakout 12 months, from her brilliant performance in Priscilla last year, to one of the year’s best films in Civil War. Now Spaeny stars in Alien: Romulus as Rain, a young girl trapped on a run-down planet, trying to find a way off for her and her adopted synthetic brother. After her efforts of working her way off the planet are halted, her chance of escape comes when a group of seemingly old friends find an abandoned Weyland ship floating just out of the planet’s atmosphere. The group realises the ship has enough supplies to take...

With Run The Series, The A.V. Club examines film franchises, studying how they change and evolve with each new installment.

Alien: Romulus marks a turning point in the Alien series. It’s not where the series begins to tumble irrevocably downhill, because it’s already settled into a rollercoaster with plenty of peaks,...

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (August 16-18) Total gross to date Week 1. Alien: Romulus (Disney) £3.7m £3.7m 1 2. It Ends With Us (Sony) £2.8m £11.4m 2 3. Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney) £2.4m £48.4m 4 4. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) £1.2m £38.8m 6 5. Coraline (Trafalgar Releasing) £558,581 £2.5m 2

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.29

Alien: Romulus clawed its way to the top of the UK-Ireland box office with a £3.7m opening weekend – the second-highest start for the monster franchise.

Romulus topped the £2.7m opening of 1997’s Alien: Resurrection and £1.6m of 1992’s Alien 3, and was only down on the £4.8m opening of 2017’s Alien: Covenant.

The new film...

Space horror Alien: Romulus left us with lots to talk about. Here’s our analysis of its twists, turns and a wild third act. Spoilers ahead:

Nb: This is your final warning for Alien: Romulus spoilers. If you want a spoiler-free exploration, do check out our review instead.

Having seen Alien: Romulus, certain things director Fede Alvarez has said in past interviews suddenly make perfect sense. When he mentioned in a June Q&a that he regards everything from the Alien sequels and prequels as canon, he meant it. His film may be set between Alien and Aliens, but it also heavily references Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, and owes a sizable debt to Alien: Resurrection, particularly in its third act.

When Alvarez said he was unafraid to make a divisive movie that tries to recapture some of the shock value of the original Alien, it’s now easy to see...

David Jonsson is having his glow-up moment. After turning on the charm in last year’s rom-com “Rye Lane” and scaling the walls of the London financial world in the first two seasons of HBO’s “Industry,” Jonsson is exploding into the public conscious with his first studio film role in Fede Alvarez‘s “Alien: Romulus.” As an early synthetic named Andy, Jonsson enters a long line of android characters throughout the “Alien” franchise, but in a recent interview with GQ UK, said his stands out from the rest.

“I wanted to make Andy, Andy,” Jonsson said. “I actually think it’s a disservice when I say I wanted to make him my own, which I have said before, and it’s not true. On the page, he’s this brilliant character. He’s got almost two sides to him, and he’s going through a bit of a coming-of-age.

The "Alien" movie franchise might have had its up and downs in terms of quality, but one area where it's been remarkably consistent is at the box office. Even underperforming entries like "Alien: Covenant" and "Alien: Resurrection" more or less broke even in theaters. Following the franchise high of 2012's "Prometheus" and the subsequent financial downturn of "Covenant," it looks like horror director Fede Álvarez has steered the series back to safety with "Alien: Romulus."

Per the Hollywood Reporter, "Romulus" has pulled out ahead of earlier tracking with a $45.1 million domestic opening weekend. Add a similarly better-than-expected $66.7 million from overseas ticket sales, and the sci-fi horror sequel has scored a $108.2 million debut worldwide. That's an especially good start given that "Alien: Romulus" had a more conservative budget than "Alien: Covenant" -- around $80 million before marketing, according to Variety. Like Álvarez's earlier horror movie "Don't Breathe," "Romulus" was shot in Hungary...

There’s something about the Alien series that has always had such legs. Created 45 years ago, Ridley Scott brought us a creature straight from our space nightmares. The lifecycle of the creature so well throughout, and the consequences so dire, it’s easy to just put them in any environment, and just let them run wild. Yet filmmakers seem intent on constantly trying to “evolve” the Alien franchise past this point of perfection. So we’re going to get into some of the issues present in the recently released Alien Romulus. And yes, we’re getting fully into the spoilers so watch out.

Spoilers for Alien: Romulus. Read at your own risk.

Alien Romulus released this weekend (Check out Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review) and I agree with most of his points. And if there’s any prominent feeling I have, it’s one of disappointment. Because there are elements of...

Sir Ridley Scott's long-awaited return to the Alien franchise was cause for celebration among sci-fi fans but 2012's Prometheus wasn't exactly what the majority had expected.

Rather than being a full-blown horror movie, the prequel explored the confusing origin of the Xenomorphs, introducing the Engineers, an alien race responsible for creating humankind. Five years later, Alien: Covenant continued the story, only for its poor box office performance to derail Scott's plans to deliver a trilogy which would lead directly into the events of Alien.

It's because of that we've been left with a long list of unanswered questions. However, Alien: Covenant - set between Alien and Aliens - features a surprising link to Scott's prequels with the introduction of a black substance (which originated in Prometheus) meant to enhance humanity and make them better suited for space colonisation.

However, when the pregnant Kay (played by Superman star Isabela Merced...

Spoiler Alert: This article discusses plot points, including the ending of “Alien: Romulus,” now playing in theaters.

When Fede Álvarez decided to make “Alien: Romulus,” he knew from the outset that he wanted to honor not just “Alien” and Aliens,” the most acclaimed and popular films in the series, but its entire mythology. “I was like, ‘we have to embrace them all’,” he tells Variety.

Even so, he built a pivotal part of the “Romulus” story around a character who died in the original movie: Ash, the synthetic human played by the late Ian Holm with chilling obedience to the franchise’s capitalistic overlords, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. After “Alien 3” and “Alien vs. Predator” expanded the life cycle of “Aliens” android Bishop (Lance Henriksen), and Michael Fassbender’s David led both of the prequels, Álvarez says that Holm’s role (or at least his visage) was due for resurrection.

“It...

This post contains massive spoilers for "Alien: Romulus."

After seven years away from the silver screen, the "Alien" franchise has returned with a brand new installment. Director Fede Alvarez has moved away from Ridley Scott's prequels and returned to a more back-to-basics approach to the series with "Alien: Romulus," which takes place between the first two installments in the series. Centered on a new cast of characters, the film plays largely like a greatest-hits collection of sorts for most of its runtime. That is until the third act when Alvarez drops a very weird, very gross twist on the audience. While there is much to be said about that twist, one thing is inarguable; the "Alien" canon backs up the twist. More specifically, by Scott's prequels.

The ending of "Alien: Romulus" introduces us to a horrifying hybrid creature known as the Offspring. The creature is part human, part Xenomorph,...

Alien: Romulus has slashed its way into theaters this weekend and, unsurprisingly, it's opened at #1 in North America. According to Deadline, current projections point to Fede Alvarez's reboot debuting with north of $40 million following a combined $18.5 million from Thursday previews/Friday.

The movie is already "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with 81% and has been awarded a B+ CinemaScore. Alien was released before CinemaScore's introduction but James Cameron's sequel, Aliens, has the franchise's best score with an A.

After that, there's Alien vs. Predator (B), Prometheus (B), Alien: Covenant (B), Alien Resurrection (B-), Alien3 (C), and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (C).

A B+ puts Alien: Covenant right behind Aliens as the second-best-reviewed instalment, so that's a solid result.

Back to those box office takings, and Deadpool & Wolverine will slip to #2 with a projected $27 million - $29 million after a $8.5 million Friday. It Ends With Us is looking at third place with a $23 million haul.

This post contains massive Alien: Romulus spoilers.

“I’m not going to go after the women in the audience. I’m going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs.”

So declared Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannon in the 2002 documentary The Alien Saga, and no one can say he failed. The most famous moment in Alien involved Kane (John Hurt) giving violent birth after a facehugger forced itself inside him. Although later contributors would leave aside the male focus, pregnancy metaphors continued to drive Alien‘s sequels and prequels. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) finds a surrogate daughter in Aliens, gives birth to a xenomorph in Alien 3, and destroys her offspring in Alien Resurrection. When Alien director Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with Prometheus, he included an abortion scene in which Elizabeth Shaw...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"I got pretty upset. I said, 'You do that you're going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind,'" James Cameron told Ain't It Cool News in 2006, explaining his feelings regarding "Alien vs. Predator." The crossover project had been languishing in development hell for literally decades and Cameron, the director of 1986's "Aliens," clearly didn't believe that bringing these two beloved franchises together was the right move. Whether or not he was correct remains a source of debate. Either way, Fox eventually got things together, releasing "Alien vs. Predator" in theaters in 2004. In doing so, the studio set both properties on a rocky path that has arguably only recently stabilized in recent years.

At the time that he made those comments,...

Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus is now in theaters, and we're breaking down some of the movie's biggest moments and surprises - including what might be one of the most gruesome, intense, and flat out insane endings of the entire franchise.

Major spoilers follow.

After losing half of the Corbelan's crew to the Xenomorphs, Rain and Andy - who has been given a new prime directive by the Romulus' android science office, Rook - decide to get the severely injured and pregnant Kay back to the cryotubes and attempt to escape the rapidly crashing space station.

Andy is incapacitated and left behind, and when Rain returns to help her "brother," a fading Kay injects herself with the Prometheus 5 formula in an effort to keep herself alive.

Rain and Andy manage to kill or evade the remaining Xenos and make it back to the drop-ship, but what was shaping up to...