Neill Blomkamp Offers Clues As To How His Alien Movie Will Fit Into The Series

"So it's Alien, Aliens and then this movie."

What makes Sky Movies' interview video with Sigourney Weaver and Neill Blomkamp particularly interesting is that they've now made it private. Is this just an embargo thing, or has somebody taken objection to what was said within? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th8os-IfZhg When that video was live - and maybe it will soon be live again, or perhaps it will vanish forever - it featured a very brief clip of Blomkamp saying that his new Alien movie is a "genetic sibling" to Alien and Aliens. He even went so far as to say "So it's Alien, Aliens and then this movie." Which would seem to imply that this would be the third film in the narrative order. It's not definite this is what he meant - that list isn't necessarily a chronology - but I can see why people would read it that way. But the readings are going further. The web is alive with commentary on this clip, and most folk are saying that Blomkamp is planning to overwrite Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Weaver's own comments that this would give "a proper finish" to Ripley's story seems to add credence to this. But would Fox really want to do that? Marginalising Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection is a brutal film, and essentially sends a message to generations of future audiences to not get involved with these films. That's cutting off an income stream rather drastically, don't you think? I'd be incredibly surprised if there isn't some conceit employed here to keep both the old films and the new all part of the same canon. Star Trek did it with time travel, X-Men is pulling a variation on the theme, and even Terminator is getting in on the act. The most obvious version, perhaps, is to make Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection part of Ripley's hibernation, a kind of nightmare. They'd have to be cleverer than "it was all a dream," however - maybe making them premonitions? I said most obvious, mind you. Not most likely, and definitely not the smartest. Whatever trick they do come up with, I'm sure it will have its detractors. But just as long as it keeps those lucrative third and fourth films marketable...
Movie News Editor
Movie News Editor

Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.