Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Movies | Tagged: alien, alien 5, aliens, neill blomkamp, ripley, sigourney weaver

Neill Blomkamp Reflects On Potential For His Ripley Story In Alien 5

Published Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:47:10 -0500

We've extensively talked about the scrapped plans for Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 film, but the sting of its dissolution only intensifies over time. In the Alien franchise, there have been a lot of stories – four back-to-back films, two prequels, and an upcoming television series set within the Alien universe. In that time, the franchise has had its ups and downs, most noticeably with its box office decline in the two (more recent) films, halting the potential return to the original storyline with Blomkamp attached.

The writer and director has spoken candidly about his disregarded chapter before, and now he's expanding on why he's disappointed it couldn't be made. Speaking to The Guardian about the initial choice to can the project, Blomkamp explains:

"It's possible that Ridley [Scott] watched Chappie and he was like, this guy can't do Alien so let's just go ahead and move on." In reference to why he was ultimately the most frustrated, he tells the publication, "I also felt bad for Sigourney [Weaver] because she was really into what I had brought forward. I felt like [for] audiences who loved Aliens, there was an opportunity to do one more film with Sigourney in a way that may have satiated what people were looking for and what I think I was looking for."

Even in the recent discussion surrounding his concept for Alien 5 (which was really more of a new Alien 3), the story has so much respect for the core three surviving the ending of Aliens, that it seems impossible to not pique fans' interests. Between the art we've seen, the admiration for the first two Alien films, and Weaver's willingness to return as Ripley once more, it seems like a no-brainer, but that's not always how things play out in Hollywood.

What's your take on the idea of Weaver and Blomkamp's stance on Alien 5?

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