Sci-Fi Storm

So, that apparently confirmed Neill Blomkamp Alien sequel? It may not be so advanced in production as we thought – and it may never happen.

In an interview for French site Allocine (Google Translate in English), original Alien director and more recent franchise prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant director Ridley Scott said that “There was never a a scenario,” apparently referring to reports of a completed script, but “only an idea that evolved into a pitch of ten pages.” Scott was involved as a producer, but Fox decided not to proceed with it, since Scott was already involved in the prequels.

Blomkamp wanted to insert his movie as a specific sequel to Aliens, the second film of the franchise, somehow nullifying both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. And he had star Sigourney Weaver on board as well. But Blomkamp tweeted a reply to a fan asking about the likelyhood of the project moving forward, where he only said one word – “Slim”.

@jamesportella slim

— NΞill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) January 21, 2017

Update 3/27: Variety reports that Fox has indeed purchased the spec script from Uhls.

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After the success of the proof-of-concept teaser on Vimeo (shown below), Ruairi Robinson’s The Leviathan got some hefty SF creds on the production team.

X-Men writer/producer and Star Wars: The Force Awakens creative consultant Simon Kinberg, and Neill Blomkamp, who recently announced he will be in the captain’s chair for the next Alien movie, will join the film as producers, while the project is shopped to studios. Kinberg has a first-look deal at Fox, so likely they would get first crack at it, but there is a lot of heat for the project should they pass. Robinson (The Last Days On Mars) is working with Jim Uhls (Fight Club), who is writing the screenplay.

The Leviathan is set in the early 22nd century, when man has managed to colonize many worlds after harnessing exotic matter to make faster than light travel possible. The problem – the exotic matter must be harvested from the eggs of enormous creatures, who don’t take kindly the the efforts of the harvesters – who consist of a mostly involuntary workforce.

Following up on last week’s story, during an interview with Sky Movies about the upcoming Chappie, both director Neil Blomkamp and actress Sigourney Weaver of course had to talk about Blomkamp’s planned Alien sequel – and it appears that he wants it to be a direct sequel of Aliens – basically inserting it as third in chronological order. See an excerpt of the entire interview below:

Of course, there is a slight problem…there was already a direct sequel in Alien 3, which might have to be explained away, and the followup Alien Resurrection, set a couple hundred years later. Perhaps we will learn that you can, in fact, dream in hypersleep, and Alien 3 was just a nightmware…and anything that can erase Alien Resurrection from reality is fine with me as well. 🙂

Chappie director Neill Blomkamp tweeted out the other day a picture of a classic Giger Alien with the text: “Um… So I think it’s officially my next film. #alien”

[We tried embedding the pic, but it failed – see it here]

It has since been confirmed that he will indeed direct a fifth film in the Aliens series, which will be follow up the prequel-sequel Prometheus 2. Blomkamp had been teasing an Aliens film for a while but it appeared to have died out. Star Sigourney Weaver was also expected to return as Ripley but it is not known if she is still attached. Blomkamp is no stranger to directing strange CGI aliens…he directed and received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of the surprise hit District 9, his feature directorial debut.

Where it will fit in the franchise is unknown but it will definitely take place years after the time of Prometheus 2.

The latest from District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp. In theaters March 6th, 2015.
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Now we have an idea of what Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium is about, through the trailer you can watch below.

Elysium appears to be an orbital station, similar to a Ringworld/Halo construct, although in some scenes it looks open and others more like the old “wheel in space” space stations. On board live the rich elite, while those left on earth suffer in poverty on a devastated Earth…but it looks like the peace of Elysium won’t last long. Reminds me a bit of “The Cloud Minders” in Star Trek…

Little is known about the plot and no studio has been approached yet, but Neill Blomkamp’s next sci-fi film, Elysium, has some star power. Jodie Foster has just committed to join the film, with Matt Damon and Sharlto Copley (who starred in Blomcamp’s District 9) already attached.