Following the underwhelming box office performance of Alien: Covenant, ($240 million on a $97 million budget) the future of the Alien franchise has been in doubt. Fears that Covenant might be the last Alien film that we’ll see in a while were further amplified when Disney acquired the franchise in their merger with 20th Century Fox last month.
Since Disney is known for their family friendly releases, the odds of them continuing an already struggling R rated horror franchise have seemed like a long shot.
While promoting his new film All the Money in the World, Alien franchise creator Ridley Scott expressed that he remains hopeful about being able to make a sequel to Covenant saying:
“It looks to me that the Fox deal is certainly going to go ahead with Disney, and I’ve been with Fox for a number years now. I’m hoping I’ll still probably be there so whether or not they go ahead with such a dark subject, being Disney, as Aliens remains to be seen. I think they should because when people have a hard and fast franchise which has ongoing interest, it’s crazy not to do something with it.”
Scott acknowledges the things that Mouse House would have to consider in making an Alien movie saying:
“They draw the line at anything that crosses PG-13. [If] they find that they’re so successful with that that they want to cross the line and do something a little darker, and if they do that, do they want to do that under Disney or do they want to do that under the Fox banner? I think there’s a business plan afoot definitely.”
Whatever happens, Scott knows where he wants to take the franchise saying:
“I’m in tune with where Covenant 2 would go. We already know what we’d do with that.”
It’s good to know that the series isn’t dead – even if it’s future is a little blurry.
Would you see a Disney Alien movie? Let us know in the comments!