Movies
Walter Hill’s ‘Alien V’ Treatment is Very Real, But Requires Sigourney Weaver to Return as Ripley
Long before Alien director Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with his sci-fi epic Prometheus – a prequel meant to bridge directly into his 1979 masterpiece – a fifth film was in the works that would have sent Ripley back to the Xenomorph’s home planet to destroy them all.
Its been a whopping 23 years since Alien Resurrection graced the big screen and started the conversation of Sigourney Weaver‘s character getting a proper sendoff. Neill Blomkamp had been developing is own take on a sequel that would continue Ripley’s story following the events of Aliens, but that would get axed as Scott returned to launch a brand new saga.
With the perfect storm of Alien: Covenant underperforming and Disney’s acquisition of all things Fox, production was quickly shut down on Alien: Awakening, the third film in his new series, and everything has been quiet on that front since.
Things took an interesting turn last week when Sigourney Weaver revealed that producer Walter Hill had shared a 50-page treatment for a new sequel with her in hopes of convincing the star to return one final time as Ellen Ripley. Her response wasn’t what fans would want to hear: “Maybe Ripley has done her bit,” Weaver told Empire Magazine. “She deserves a rest.”
Syfy Wire reached out to Hill for more information on this treatment only to learn that it’s very real, sharing the below photo of the cover page for Alien V. Dated this past March, the photo also reveals it was co-written by producer David Giler, who also co-wrote Alien3 with Hill.
This is huge news because it tells us that franchise producers Walter Hill and David Giler are planning a proper, canonized sequel to Alien Resurrection, which would give Ripley that long-gestured finale we’ve been promised for almost 25 years now.
“Sigourney, as she has from the very beginning, is being too modest about her proven ability to pull off the idea — which is to tell a story that scares the pants off your date, kicks the ass of a new Xenomorph, and conducts a meditation on both the universe of the Alien franchise and the destiny of the character of Lt. Ellen Ripley,” Hill said in a statement to the website.
Digressing, what’s most interesting about the below treatment’s cover page is the extension of the classic Alien tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream” to include “In space, no one can hear you dream“. There are more clues to the story with the inclusion of the Edgar Allan Poe quote, “All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream”, William Tecumseh Sherman’s line “War is hell”.
It seems to imply a further exploration into creation/cloning, a battle of consciousness, and the idea of breaking what we’ve been perceiving as reality. Who knows what kind of horrific sci-fi twists are in store for Ripley?
With all of that said, there are a ton of roadblocks in the way of Alien V ever coming to fruition, most notably is Weaver’s age (she’s now 70), and the fact that Disney now owns the property. While the newly branded Searchlight Pictures has been going hard into R-rated territory, it’s unclear if the Alien franchise would fit into their new model.
The good news here is that it’s out there now and that puts some pressure on all parties to make something happen before it’s too late.
Thoughts?
Source: Credit: Brandywine Productions / Syfy Wire
What’s that? Another EIGHT new horror movies are releasing this week?! The fresh horrors on tap include a prequel to a box office hit, a violent thriller produced by Sam Raimi, the feature debut of a horror master’s daughter, and a skin-crawling nightmare filled with spiders.
Here’s all the new horror releasing April 22, 2024 – April 28, 2024!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
First up we have a TV series rather than a movie, but we wanted to remind you that Prime Video’s “Them: The Scare,” the second season of the anthology series, premieres on April 25.
The first season of “Them” (now retroactively dubbed “Covenant”) debuted back in 2021, and this second installment of the anthology series will consist of eight episodes.
“Them: The Scare” will once again be set in Los Angeles…
The story centers on LAPD Homicide Detective Dawn Reeve, who is assigned to a new case: the gruesome murder of a foster home mother that has left even the most hardened detectives shaken. Navigating a tumultuous time in Los Angeles, with a city on the razor’s edge of chaos, Dawn is determined to stop the killer.
But as she draws closer to the truth, something malevolent grips her and her family.
The series cast includes Deborah Ayorinde as “Detective Dawn Reeve,” Pam Grier as “Athena,” and Grammy-nominated musician and actor Luke James as “Edmund Gaines.”
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with Humane, only in theaters on Friday, April 26.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to take extreme measures to reduce the earth’s population.”
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
Jay Baruchel (This Is The End), Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek), Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie), Sebastian Chacon (Emergency), Alanna Bale (Sort Of, Cardinal) and Sirena Gulamgaus (Transplant) star in Caitlin Cronenberg’s Humane.
Sébastien Vaniček has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, but first we need to experience the film that landed him the hot directing gig in the first place. It’s a spider horror movie titled Infested (Vermines), and it hits Shudder on April 26.
Watch the creepy, crawly trailer for Infested below, which looks a bit like Evil Dead Rise… with spiders. It’s already easy to see why Vaniček was chosen to direct an Evil Dead movie!
In the horror film, “Kaleb is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”
Théo Christine (“Suprêmes”), Finnegan Oldfield (“Final Cut”), Jérôme Niel (“Smoking Causes Coughing”), Sofia Lesaffre (“Les Misérables”) and Lisa Nyarko star.
Described as a heart pounding thriller set in the future, Jennifer Hudson and Milla Jovovich lead the cast of Breathe, coming to theaters and Digital on Friday, April 26.
In the film, “After Earth is left uninhabitable due to lack of oxygen, a mother Maya (Hudson) and her daughter Zora (Wallis) are forced to live underground, with short trips to the surface only made possible by a coveted state of the art oxygen suit made by Maya’s husband, Darius, whom she presumes to be dead. When a mysterious couple arrives claiming to know Darius and his fate, Maya tentatively agrees to let them into their bunker but these visitors are not who they claim to be ensuing in mother and daughter fighting for survival.”
Stefon Bristol directed Breathe, written by Doug Simon. The impressive cast also includes Quvenzhané Wallis and Raúl Castillo with Common and Sam Worthington.
Bill Skarsgård takes on the role of a deaf-mute action hero in Boy Kills World, a one-of-a-kind action spectacle set in a dystopian fever dream reality. The film comes from producers Sam Raimi and Roy Lee, and while not a horror movie, it’s a violent thriller all the same. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions will release Boy Kills World into theaters this Friday.
Moritz Mohr directed Boy Kills World, which was written by Arend Remmers (Sløborn) and Tyler Burton Smith (Kung Fury: The Movie).
In Boy Kills World, “Boy (Bill Skarsgård) is a deaf-mute with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, Boy escapes to the jungle and is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of death.”
The cast also includes Happy Death Day star Jessica Rothe, Yayan Ruhian (John Wick 3, The Raid: Redemption), Andrew Koji (Warrior, Snake Eyes), Isaiah Mustafa (It: Chapter Two), Famke Janssen (The Postcard Killings), Sharlto Copley (District 9), Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”), Brett Gelman (Stranger Things), Quinn Copeland (Peacock’s Punky Brewster), and twins Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti (Big Little Lies).
Indonesian filmmaker Kimo Stamboel (Macabre, Headshot, The Queen of Black Magic) is back with MD Pictures’ Badarawuhi Di Desa Penari (aka Dancing Village: The Curse Begins), a prequel to the Indonesian hit movie KKN Curse Of The Dancing Village.
Lionsgate releases Dancing Village: The Curse Begins in select theaters on April 26.
In the horror prequel, “a shaman instructs Mila to return a mystical bracelet, the Kawaturih, to the ‘Dancing Village,’ a remote site on the easternmost tip of Java Island. Joined by her cousin, Yuda, and his friends Jito and Arya, Mila arrives on the island only to discover that the village elder has passed away, and that the new guardian, Mbah Buyut, isn’t present. Various strange and eerie events occur while awaiting Mbah Buyut’s return, including Mila being visited by Badarawuhi, a mysterious, mythical being who rules the village.
“When she decides to return the Kawaturih without the help of Mgah Buyut, Mila threatens the village’s safety, and she must join a ritual to select the new ‘Dawuh,’ a cursed soul forced to dance for the rest of her life.”
Aulia Sarah, Maudy Effrosina, Jourdy Pranata, Moh. Iqbal Sulaiman, Ardit Erwandha, Claresta Taufan, Diding Boneng, Aming Sugandhi, Dinda Kanyadewi, Pipien Putri, Maryam Supraba, Bimasena, Putri Permata, Baiq Vania Estiningtyas Sagita, and Baiq Nathania Elvaretta star.
KKN Curse Of The Dancing Village was the highest grossing film in Indonesian box office history when initially released in 2022. Its prequel is the first film made for IMAX movie ever produced in Southeast Asia and in 2024, it will be one of only five films made for IMAX productions worldwide.
While you wait for Cinderella’s Curse, another Cinderella-based horror movie is beating that movie to the punch. It’s titled Cinderella’s Revenge, coming to theaters April 26.
The Wrap recently reported, “The film stars Lauren Staerck as the famed young lady who finds freedom from her wicked stepmother with the help of her fairy godmother. Only this time, instead of sending her to a ball to find her prince, the godmother (Natasha Henstridge) helps Cinderella unleash a plan of bloody vengeance.”
Stephanie Lodge, Beatrice Fletcher, Megan Purvis and Darrell Griggs also star.
“I’m so excited for audiences to see this newly imagined horror version of Cinderella in theaters. The picture is scary and fun at the same time,” said producer Mark L. Lester.
In the wake of her return in last year’s box office hit Saw X, horror icon Shawnee Smith is back in Vertical’s horror movie Bloodline Killer, hitting select theaters & VOD on April 26.
Directed by Ante Novakovic, Bloodline Killer is being described by Vertical as “a terrifying horror-thriller that follows Moira Cole who endeavors to rebuild her shattered life after the murder of her family at the hands of her deranged and obsessed cousin.”
The cast also includes Taryn Manning, Drew Moerlein, James Gaudioso, Montanna Gillis, Kresh Novakovic, Adam Shippey, Anthony Gaudioso with Bruce Dern and Tyrese Gibson.
Tubi has been ramping up their Tubi Original horror movies in the last several months, and the latest one is headed to the streaming service on Friday. It’s titled This Never Happened.
In the film from director Ted Campbell, “While staying at her boyfriend’s childhood home with him and his friends, a young woman experiences terrifying visions of a violent spirit.”
María José De La Cruz, Javier Dulzaides, Conny Cambambia, Juana Serrano, and Gonzalo Zulueta star in the Tubi Original movie. You can watch the trailer down below.
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