Skip to main content

The new Aliens movie won’t affect the Prometheus sequel, says director

aliens sequel will coexist with prometheus neill blomkamp 1986
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Ever since Chappie and District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp announced that he was making a sequel to Aliens, a litany of questions have arisen as to how Blomkamp’s new film would fit into the veritable cornucopia of sequels and prequels attached to the franchise. Blomkamp cleared up some of those questions during a recent interview, while simultaneously adding to the mystery surrounding the future of the sci-fi/horror franchise.

For those unaware, Blomkamp’s new film is designed to pick up after the events of Aliens, the 1986 sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic Alien that started it all. Blomkamp’s story will move forward from the Aliens timeline, while departing from the continuity of Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. 

The issue is all the more complicated due to Ridley Scott’s own continuation of the Alien timeline with his prequel franchise that began with Prometheus. According to Blomkamp, his sequel won’t “tread on the toes” of Ridley Scott’s prequel series, which unfolds years before the events of the original 1979 film.

“I changed the one thing [Scott] felt was bumping Prometheus a little bit,” Blomkamp told Empire Magazine of the story he planned for the film. “One thing that makes me feel good about it is that Ridley is producing it. He likes the idea of what I want to make.”

However, Blomkamp reiterated that it was Scott’s Alien and the sequel directed by James Cameron, Aliens, that he was most concerned with following — and even joked that his film could be called “Alien 3 (No, Really!).” The real title he’s gunning for, though, remained a secret.

“I sent what I wanted as the title to Ridley,” he said. “It’s quite bold, and he was like, ‘I really like that.’ So I’m gonna test it, I don’t think it’s gonna work, though. I have my own idea but it gives away too much if I say the title. But in the event that it doesn’t work, I’m dead in the water…”

As for Prometheus and its forthcoming sequel, Scott is still expected to direct the follow-up to the 2012 film that cast Noomi Rapace as a scientist who comes in contact with the extraterrestrial race that may have created the deadly species of Xenomorphs that have slashed, bit, and belly-bursted a bloody trail through the franchise. The finale of that film left sequel possibilities wide open, and the script for the next film is rumored to reunite Rapace’s character with Michael Fassbender’s character David on a mission to the homeworld of the “Engineers” who brought the original aliens of the franchise into existence.

Blomkamp’s sequel to Aliens is tentatively scheduled to hit theaters in 2017, and the sequel to Prometheus is currently targeting a premiere date of March 4, 2016.

//

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Why The Last Ronin could be the best TMNT movie ever made
The Last Ronin wields the weapons of his fallen brothers.

Four decades ago, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird unleashed their independent comic book series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and took the industry by storm. Eastman and Laird’s Mirage Studios pulled off a feat that few other comic book companies in the 1980s were able to match. The success of the comic allowed the TMNT to cross over into an animated series in 1987, which only made the Turtles more popular. Toy lines, action figures, video games, and all manner of merchandise followed before Turtlemania reached its high point in 1990 with the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

In a way, it’s been all downhill from there. The Turtles’ popularity has waxed and waned over the last 40 years, but they’ve never quite recaptured the frenzy of Turtlemania. Even the most recent animated movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, managed to earn only $180.5 million worldwide. Mutant Mayhem received good reviews, but those aren’t the kind of numbers that scream box office hit.

Read more
If you have to watch one Disney+ movie this April, stream this one
An imagined underwater alien civilization in Aliens of the Deep.

It would be understandable if Disney+ subscribers feel a little jealous of Hulu in April. That's because the new additions to Hulu include The Big Lebowski, The Fifth Element, Hellboy, Ocean's 11, Jumanji: The Next Level, and even Wonder Woman. The only major Disney+ movie to debut in April was Wish. For families with kids or animation lovers, Wish might be enough. But when picking the one movie to watch on Disney+ in April, we decided to dive a little deeper into the streaming catalog. That's how we settled on our choice for the one Disney+ movie that you have to watch this month: Aliens of the Deep.

Between the premiere of Titanic in 1997 and Avatar in 2009, director James Cameron threw himself into the realm of underwater exploration and directed or co-directed two documentary films. Cameron's first documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss, is not on Disney+. But Aliens of the Deep has a permanent home here. This movie was originally an IMAX release and it was filmed in IMAX 3D. The streaming experience may not be able to replicate that, but Aliens of the Deep is still visually dazzling even in 2D. And now, we'll share the three reasons why you should watch Aliens of the Deep this month.
It's one of James Cameron's passion projects

Read more
Everything you need to know about Umbrella Academy season 4
The cast of The Umbrella Academy stands together in the main room of the family mansion.

More than a year ago, Netflix announced that its superhero series The Umbrella Academy would be returning for a fourth and final season. It's one of the best shows on Netflix, and has been consistently inventive throughout its run on the streaming service. The show first premiered in 2019, and is adapted from a comic book series of the same name. Season 3 ended on a pretty suspenseful cliffhanger, so fans of the show were undoubtedly pleased with the news that the show would be back for one more rodeo.

If you're looking forward to the show's fourth and final season, you're not alone. Here's everything we know about the upcoming season, including who will be returning, how many episodes i will have and when it's coming out.
Who is in the cast of Umbrella Academy season 4?

Read more