10 Horror Movies Probably Made Out Of Spite

2. Alien: Covenant

Alien Covenant Shaw
20th Century Fox

For fans of the Alien franchise, one thing that has forever irked is how Newt and Hicks were quietly killed off-screen during the opening minutes of the much-maligned Alien 3. So, when District 9 director Neill Blomkamp started loose work on a new Alien film that would bring these characters back and ignore Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, that was something that immediately caught the attention.

Blomkamp spent two years structuring what his 'Alien 5' would look like, and some stunning pieces of concept art even made their way online. Unfortunately, this took place in the aftermath of Ridley Scott's Prometheus being released.

Scott had already talked up a sequel to Prometheus, with the plan being to further explore the Engineers by following the journey of Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw. Once news of Blomkamp's Alien picture became public, Scott and 20th Century Fox had a major change of plan for their Prometheus follow-up.

Rather than what we were promised, Prometheus: Paradise Lost became Alien: Covenant. Way more in tune with the style and palette of the first two Alien movies, this became an entirely different film, to the point that poor Noomi Rapace is reduced to a blink-and-you'll-miss-her role in the theatrical cut of Covenant.

As for Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5, that has since been shelved, with Fox seemingly choosing to keep Ridley Scott sweet rather than bring back Ripley, Newt and Hicks.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.