Ridley Scott’s $643 Million Unfinished Alien Franchise Puts Even More Pressure Into Disney’s Reboot

Summary

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• Ridley Scott’s Alien movies never received a solid conclusion, leaving fans hungry for closure.
• Disney’s Alien reboot, Alien: Romulus, directed by Fede Álvarez, is confirmed and endorsed by Scott himself.
• Alien: Romulus is a standalone sequel that tells its own independent story, not pulling on threads from previous films.

It should not be a surprise that Disney is facing an immense amount of pressure when it comes to their reboot of the Alien franchise, however, something that makes this pressure even worse is that Ridley Scott’s Alien movies never got a solid conclusion. Alien first originated in 1979, and has since spawned eight adjacent films. While the franchise has changed directors over time and explored entirely new stories, Ridley Scott is the one who began the franchise, and yet, never got to truly finish it. His last films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant made plenty of money, but seem to be the unofficial end of the original Scott franchise.

Disney’s Alien reboot is not a far-off dream or rumor anymore either. Alien: Romulus is confirmed and on its way, with filming ending in July 2023. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez, who previously worked on Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, and furthermore, the movie has been endorsed by Ridley Scott himself, who said, “It’s f***ing great.” Apparently, Alien: Romulus is technically a sequel in the Alien franchise, but is really more of a standalone. It will not pull on the threads of the previous movies, main films or prequels, but instead, will tell its own independent story.

Related: What Disney’s New Alien Movie Must Do To Fix The Franchise

Ridley Scott’s Alien Prequel Movies Never Got A Proper Conclusion

Though another entry in the Alien franchise is an exciting thing, it makes it starkly clear that Ridley Scott’s prequel films do not have a conclusion. Ridley Scott was responsible for directing the original 1979 Alien, and later, was at the helm of two prequel films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. These films were particularly exciting for the franchise because they laid aside the all-too-familiar story of Ellen Ripley, and instead, expanded upon the world Scott had created. The prequels were great because they told unique stories that still held onto threads of the original Alien films. Unfortunately, these prequels never really ended.

It isn’t often that a set of movies ends completely after only two films, and when it comes to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, this is definitely true. Alien: Covenant ends on quite a cliffhanger, as it is revealed that Walter is actually David. He secures Daniels into her pod, then proceeds to regurgitate two facehugger embryos. The end of the movie implies that, against everyone’s will, the Covenant has been taken over, and something must be done. However, nothing ends up happening. Alien: Covenant came out in 2017, and now Alien: Romulus, which is totally unrelated, is next up on the docket.

Disney’s New Alien Movie Means A Covenant Sequel Is Not Happening

The unfortunate truth is that the making of Alien: Romulus likely means that a sequel to Alien: Covenant is not happening. There have been several years for a sequel to be announced or put into development, and yet it hasn’t. In its stead, Alien: Romulus has been made, and as previously mentioned, it is an entirely separate story from Ridley Scott’s original Alien, and his prequel movies. Overall, it seems as though Alien: Romulus is pulling attention back to the Alien franchise, but without having to continue the prequel films. It is rebooting but not continuing.

Ultimately, it makes sense that Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are not getting a third movie. Together, the films made $643 million at the box office, but the majority of that was for Prometheus. Alien: Covenant made enough to surpass its budget, but it didn’t truly excel. The film earned a solid 65% on Rotten Tomatoes and was praised by critics for its intensity, but was also called out for borrowing a bit too much from previous Alien films. All in all, Alien: Covenant did just fine, but not well enough to merit a sequel apparently, which means that this part of the franchise may never get an actual ending.

The New Alien Movie Has To Make The Franchise’s Reboot Worth It

At the end of the day, Alien: Romulus needs to be good enough that it makes the prequels’ lack of an ending worth it. Though Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are not considered the greatest Alien movies of all time, it is still unfortunate to enter a new story only for it to end on a cliffhanger. Ultimately, Alien: Romulus must distract fans from the prequels’ unfortunate fate. It needs to reignite the fire of the Alien franchise, and more importantly, jumpstart a story that could actually end. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant may be out of time, but Alien: Romulus still has the chance to prove itself to be integral.