Veteran director Walter Hill has had a long and successful career in Hollywood. He’s written and directed classics like The Driver, The Warriors, 48 Hours, Red Heat, and Last Man Standing. Beyond that, he’s notable for producing the Alien franchise, beginning with Ridley Scott’s unforgettable 1979 Alien and ending with 2017’s disappointing Alien: Covenant.
Along the way, there’s been a couple of wobbles like the dreadful Alien vs. Predator movies, but the Xenomorph has cemented itself as one of cinema’s most notorious monsters. Now, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hill has confirmed that Disney squashed a potential Alien 5:
“We took a shot at [Alien 5] a couple of years back with Sigourney. But that was back when Aliens was still at Fox. The people at Disney, who now control Aliens, have expressed no interest in going down that road. I had an idea for a good story with the Ripley character and Sigourney.”
Hill is likely referring to District 9 director Neill Blomkamp’s take on the franchise, which was rumored to ignore Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection and function as a direct sequel to James Cameron’s Aliens. This would have seen Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and Michael Biehn’s Corporal Hicks once again facing down the extraterrestrial menace.
A screenplay was completed and pre-production got far enough for Blomkamp to post a picture of a modified Pulse Rifle prop that would be used in the movie, though the movie was put on hold in favor of Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. And, when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, they brought the hammer down on Ripley’s return and canceled the movie for good.
You can next see Sigourney Weaver playing an 11-year-old Na’vi in Avatar: The Way of Water in December, and the Alien franchise looks set to continue in a new movie from Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez on Hulu.
More on that as we hear it.