Before Ridley Scott took his Alien franchise back and ran it into the ground, Neill Blomkamp had been developing a direct sequel to James Cameron‘s 1986 Aliens. 20th Century Fox had been behind it, especially because it would bring both Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn back into the franchise. We all celebrated the return of Scott, who promised several sequels and a rebirth to the franchise that he likened to Star Wars. It never came to fruition and the third film, tentatively titled Awakening, has allegedly been shut down for now. There was a speckle of hope and minor speculation that maybe, just maybe Fox would call on Blomkamp to realize his vision. It never happened, and Blomkamp has since moved on to opening his Oats Studios, which launched several short films that are intended to become features.
This brings us to a new interview over at JoBlo, in which Blomkamp explains that he’s lost the internal fire to take on Alien(s).
“Yeah, I mean, I wish I could share more, but obviously Fox owns it. It’s just an unfortunate thing. I speak to Sigourney about it sometimes. At this point, it’s kinda like the fire that was burning within me to make that is gone. Stepping outside of even the legal kind of studio-based politics I just feel like its time has come and gone. So, yeah…I think no. And I say that really reluctantly, because I cannot state how much of a fan of Sigourney I am and how much of a fan I am of Alien and Aliens and the idea of doing a sequel to James Cameron’s film is amazing on all levels. But, there’s a point at which when you’re years into it you have to move on. So, I think that has happened to me.”
It sounds as if things just weren’t meant to be. The studio chose Ridley Scott over Blomkamp and, in turn, he created his own studio and is now focused on bringing his new creations to life. Still, it’s got to be hard to shake the idea that he once had both the studio and Weaver onboard to resurrect the franchise. It sounds as if there’s an internal struggle, so who knows what would happen if Fox were to reach out and give him the go-ahead on Alien 5? For now, we should feel blessed that Blomkamp is developing kick-ass new projects like Firebase, which launched just yesterday.
