10 Films That Don't Live Up To Great Premises
8. Alien 3
It's not fun picking on a series that opened with one of the best sci/fi-horror films of all time, followed by one of the most revered actioners, but it appears studios largely ran out of ideas come the third entry in the Alien franchise.
They didn't even have a complete idea before rolling the camera, rewriting and changing scenes while filming. For a director with the kind of OCD as David Fincher - known for getting 70 takes of the same scene - Alien 3 must have been an unbelievably difficult debut. There's a reason he rarely speaks about it.
But after several drafts including a planet full of monks, a prison planet and one that followed Michael Beihn's Hicks and Newt instead of Ripley, they settled for the easiest and cheapest: a planet full of prisoners mixed in with a cult-like religion.
Perhaps the reason Alien 3 makes the cut is that the trailer promised that which the film did not: the aliens on planet earth. A teaser announced such a promise, but no such script was out there.
There's a reason Signourney Weaver insisted on her character being killed off at the end of the trilogy. Alas, they found a way to bring her back anyway.