RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - “Disney’s ALIEN Franchise Coming Soon!”

“Disney’s ALIEN Franchise Coming Soon!”

One of the most disturbing aspects of Disney’s acquisition of the 20^th Century Fox assets is that they will now control what happens to the ALIEN and PREDATOR franchises.  The family oriented company has in its control two of the best horror-sci-fi franchises ever made in these two iconic cinematic monsters and yet I can’t help fearing the worst.  My fears have just been realized when Disney announced new versions of both franchises and for the purpose of this article I will only take a look at the Alien franchise mostly because Predator, in my opinion, can work either as a PG-13 or R franchise.

 

The Alien films have all been pretty much individual film-maker endeavors from Ridley Scott (Alien, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant), David Fincher (Alien 3), James Cameron (Aliens), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien: Resurrection), Paul WS. Anderson (Alien Vs Predator), and The Brothers Strause (Alien Vs Predator: Requiem).   Despite the mixed audience and critical response between each of the films, they are a singular vision of the director with the exception of Scott who is the only one to do more than one film.

 

Disney, on the other hand, is a company that produces film by committee so that they can appeal to all audiences.  They want their films to be all inclusive and homogenized and to not offend anyone.  So, in reality they don’t want creative filmmakers, they want filmmakers who understand their brand and can continue that brand.  This is most evident in the franchises surrounding their MCU and Star Wars universes which are homogenized and indistinguishable from one another.   These are all PG-13 films that focus on action and adventure and not horror or gore.  The Alien Xenomorph is not like the kaiju from Pacific Rim; these monsters hide in darkness, have acid for blood, and kill everything – violently. 

 

In Anderson’s Alien Vs Predator the horror is toned down for the action and adventure aspects that he is best known for and even though the film was financially successful fans of the franchise felt a little let down, so with the sequel Requiem, The Brothers Strause decided to craft a slasher film with monsters.  Anderson’s film was Rated PG-13 while The Brothers Strause sequel was Rated R and thought to be a return to form but a slasher film is also what audiences didn’t expect from the franchise.  This film did not sit well with anyone.

 

I mention this because at this point 20^th Century Fox had no idea what to do with the franchise as they couldn’t craft a film for all audiences (Alien Vs Predator) nor a film for the fans (Alien Vs Predator: Requiem).  The franchise has been through many different creative hands so why not let the director who started it all come back!

 

Scott’s vision with the franchise was to craft a story that went back to the beginning and in 2012 after a five year gap Prometheus was released to a divided audience that  were disappointed by the film that lacked Xenomorphs and had logic problems.  Scott tried to rectify this with Alien: Covenant but by the time this sequel saw release audiences were no longer interested.  It’s hard to determine what general audiences want from an Alien film especially since the films have had such mixed results, which is not a problem the comic books from Dark Horse Comics have ever had.

 

Two years after Cameron’s Aliens became a Box Office sensation, Dark Horse Comics purchased the rights and created the first mini-series that would help put their company on the map (along with Predator, Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, etc. a lot of film franchises).  This original series was a direct sequel to the film and would bring back popular characters from the films (the character of Ripley would eventually return in the third series Earth War which would conclude the storyline of these film characters).  The most astounding thing about the comic book franchise is the fact that over the last 30+ years the franchise has been kept fresh and interesting and almost at a non-stop pace.  Subsequent series would see the Xenomorphs cross into the DC universe and battle Superman, Batman, and W.I.L.D. Cats as well as battle such iconic figures as Judge Dredd, Hellboy, and Vampirella, to name just a few.  Cross-overs with both the Predators and Prometheus franchises happened on a regular basis but within those thirty years the franchise has remained fresh because of the many different characters and stories that were possible.

 

Dark Horse never had a loss for ideas, so why have the films?

 

One of my fears with Disney is that they will take the franchise and craft something more in line with their MCU and Star Wars franchises.  As the Dark Horse Comics have proven, there is a way to integrate all the different franchises into a “shared” universe (which will make Disney happy) but it couldn’t happen unless you could find a way to make it darker and Rated R (to make the fans happy).  Borrowing from the Dark Horse huge history of storylines would be the best way but since I’m sure Disney will yank their license with the characters (like they did with Star Wars) is soon coming if it already hasn’t happened (I’ve heard that Marvel is now doing a series which I’ll have to see how that all comes about).  It’s not too far off to see the Xenomorphs show up in a MCU television series since they already know aliens of all types exist (so why not just add the Xenomorphs?).

 

I can’t really see Disney making an R Rated film that will be in line with the original franchise.  What I do see is a remake or reboot to fit the Disney mandate which is not something I’d be interested in.  I’ve been a huge fan of the films and comic books since the Cameron film so I’m not looking forward to seeing anything Disney has planned either for the films or comic books.  I can only see it as a complete disaster, but then again I can’t say that all the films in the current franchise have been all that successful but at least they had a vision from their respective directors.

 

Only time will tell what will become of the Xenomorphs under the guidance of the Disney machine and unfortunately if I want to see another film come to fruition that is the only version I’ll be able to see.

"Rants & Ravings About Horror" - Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"

Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"
I want to be excited about another ALIEN film but the idea that yet another franchise is getting a reboot in the form of Neil Bloomkamp's ALIEN 5 which takes place after James Cameron's ALIENS just doesn't sit well with me.  Personally I think that the Ellen Ripley story is over.  It is done and everyone needs to move on.  There are a million different stories out there to tell that have nothing to do with the Ellen Ripley character.  Dark Horse Comics has made it its life's mission to present fans with new and creative stories and yet the stories are so dumb out of ideas they decided it was a good idea to go back and do it again with the same characters.  Bloomkamp has so far had an amazing career with original sci-fi ideas from DISTRICT 9 (2009) to ELYSIUM (2013) to CHAPPIE (2015) so why waste his time going back to a well tapped out of story.

Ripley's story was done in ALIEN 3 and despite the stylistic change which ALIEN RESURRECTION bringing Ripley back as a clone wasn't exactly a great idea.

After having read a different version of the events after the movie ALIENS in the original 3 Dark Horse comics (ALIENS/ALIENS II/ALIENS: EARTH WAR) Dark Horse had the great idea to split off into a multitude of different ideas because the possibilities are endless.  One of those ideas was the ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR comic books not to mention the long running ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES.

In the current climate of Hollywood's let's just bring back all our dead franchises (see JURASSIC WORLD, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D, THE X-FILES, TWIN PEAKS, STAR WARS, STAR TREK, FULL HOUSE, the list is now endless) why are we really wasting our time.  Despite the lukewarm reception of ELYSIUM and CHAPPIE there is no denying that BloomKamp is a director with a unique vision and that's what the sci-fi genre really needs.  What it doesn't need is yet another "reboot" of something that doesn't need a reboot or start over again.

Like I said, I want to be excited about ALIEN 5 but I have absolutely no interest whatsoever.  I'd rather just wait for PROMETHEUS 2 which despite all its many confusing ideas wanted to tell something new and fresh in the same world yet not try to "reboot" anything (which is actually slightly debatable considering how the comics did the origin of the Xenomorphs verses how director Ridley Scott decided to ignore the comics and do his own thing).

I'll always remain an ALIEN fan and I'll continue to read Dark Horse's comics which are superior in every way to the films (just pick up the 4-Part graphic novel series "FIRE & STONE" cross-over series between ALIENS/PROMETHEUS/ALIEN VS. PREDATOR/PREDATORS as Dark Horse tries to link the Prometheus films to the comic book world).

Here's a little something for you fans looking forward to Bloomkamp's "vision":

http://www.scified.com/site/alien5/neill-blomkamp-releases-new-alien-5-concept-art-says-production-is-going-very-well

Book Review: The Book of ALIEN By Paul Scanlon & Michael Gross

Ridley’s Scott’s film ALIEN has been one of the most influential sci-fi horror films in history.  The film has become a franchise spanning over six films and has expanded to comic books, original novels, and created its own toy industry that continues to thrive even to this day.  Paul Scanlon & Michael Gross’ book The Book of ALIEN is a look at the making of the original film but functions more as a look at the artwork and concepts that brought the story to the big screen.

A lot of the actual written word in the book focuses on the decisions that lead to the final designs in the film but a majority of the book is consumed with artwork and concept drawings both of stuff used in the film and those items that never made it to the final phase of production or was edited out of the film.  No item of production was over looked as you easily get the impression that the film was a huge under taking and that everything in the film was meticulously designed from the ground up.

When most people think about the ALIEN films one of the first names that come to mind is famed artist H.R. Giger which the book does devote some time to but the majority of the book doesn’t focus on him at all (as he was not the first person consulted for the film).  The book spends a great deal on artists Ron Cobb & Chris Foss and art directors Roger Christian & Les Dilley not to mention production designer Michael Seymour, to name but a few.  This book tries to give a grand overview of the art and design elements that went into the production of the film.

This book doesn’t go into much behind the scenes talk on the film but for people interested in knowing more about the pre-production phase of the making of the film there is a lot in this book for them.  This is not an all encompassing book on the making of the film but it is a good starting off point for those interested in the art and design of the film.