‘Alien: Covenant’ producers hope to hear you scream with upcoming VR title

By Mark Coppock January 4, 2017

Alien: Covenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

One of the most powerful aspects of virtual reality (VR) is just how immersive it can be. Put on a VR headset and fire up some particularly strong content, and it’s easy to get completely lost in the virtual world that’s being created.

Some virtual worlds wouldn’t be quite as much fun to be immersed in, however. The Alien franchise, with its H. R. Giger-inspired monsters and generally dark and horrifying motif, is one of them, presenting as terrifying an environment as one can draw from anything in popular culture. And of course, that’s precisely why Fox Innovation Lab and filmmaker Ridley Scott are partnering to bring the upcoming Alien: Covenant film to VR, as Variety reports.

According to the upcoming title’s news release, the creative team behind it knows exactly how terrifying the experience could be, saying “Viewers will discover the true meaning of terror as they navigate through horrifying alien environments and a story where every decision could mean the difference between life and death.”

Scott will produce the new title with David Karlak acting as the director. The same team of Scott’s RSA Films, the Fox Innovation Lab, and Technicolor Company’s MPC VR that created the decidedly more uplifting The Martian VR Experience VR title at CES 2016, will be at the helm of the Alien: Covenant VR project.

The team doesn’t just see this as a promotional activity for the movie, which is set to release in May 2017. Rather, as 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Fox Innovation Lab President Mike Dunn puts it, “We see VR as a new media opportunity, not just a promotional vehicle. Our intention from the moment we developed our business plan was to be in the commercial VR business.”

That means that far from simply replaying the movie using a VR system, which would be scary enough, the Alien: Covenant VR title will allow players to become part of the action itself.

The tagline for the original Alien was “In space no one can hear you scream.” In the upcoming VR version of Alien: Covenant, it’s likely that everyone will hear you.

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