10 Most Divisive Movies Of 2017

5. Alien: Covenant

alien covenant
Fox

Alien: Covenant looked like the movie that would pull the franchise back on course, after Prometheus disappointed many by deviating from what fans expected just a bit too much.

And while Covenant did delivery the gory Xenomorph action most people wanted, it was bogged down by the same existential soul-searching that hampered its predecessor, with a lot of viewers feeling that these parts simply don't belong in the Alien movies.

On one side you had the Prometheus enthusiasts, who claimed that director Ridley Scott had created a perfect concoction by mixing bloody Alien action with a fascinating examination of humanity's place in the world, and opposing that, you had the people who just wanted a simple, balls-to-the-wall Alien horror-thriller.

The movie was certainly better received than the equally-divisive Prometheus, but because the two movies are intrinsically linked, Covenant was always doomed to suffer a mixed reaction.

In the end the movie enjoyed a favourable critical reception, but a mixed fan response and underwhelming box-office run.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!