Movies
Neill Blomkamp Planning More Than One ‘Alien’
While it was originally suggested that Neill Blomkamp’s planned Alien sequel, which would follow James Cameron’s 1986 Aliens, would be the final entry in the series, the Chappie (review) director now says there could be more.
In an interview with the UK Empire Magazine, via their podcast, Blomkamp explains his process, how he came to develop this new Alien concept, and how it could be more than one film.
“If you go back even three or four years, I’ve wanted to make a film in that genre, in that franchise. I’d come up with an idea, and when I met Sigourney (Weaver) on the set of Chappie, I presumed that she would never want to play Ripley again. Rightly or wrongly, I had that in my head. I also didn’t know where you could go with her, given Alien 3 and 4,” said Blomkamp.
“So when I started speaking to her, I just wanted to know more about the process of making the first two films. The first two are the ones that I care about. Then I started to realise there was a whole film – at least a film, if not more – that still contained Ripley, which I was really surprised by.”
The article goes on to boast his love for the franchise, which is slightly troubling. I’m not exactly a proponent of a director creating a “fan film,” which typically ends up as an annoying rehash with too many nods to the original films. I would love to see a sequel to Aliens, but I also want it to be Blomkamp’s own vision – something I believe he’s incapable of after seeing his films. Whatever the case, I really do want to see a new Alien sequel, as opposed to Prometheus, and hope he can pull off a miracle. How do you top Aliens? You don’t. Good luck, Mr. Blomkamp.

Movies
‘Mortal Kombat II’ Heads to HBO Max Next Week
Big screen movie sequel Mortal Kombat II is bringing its fatalities to the small screen next week as it heads to streaming.
The sequel will make its global streaming debut exclusively on HBO Max on July 24. The film will debut on HBO linear on July 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid returns to the helm from a script by Jeremy Slater (“Moon Knight,” Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), based on the popular video game franchise.
This time, the fan favorite champions — now joined by Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) himself — are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.
Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada also star.
A version of MORTAL KOMBAT II with American Sign Language (ASL)will also stream exclusively on HBO Max the same day, performed by ASL Dubber Justin Perez and directed by Rosa Lee Timm (“Sinners with BASL,” “Minecraft with ASL”). The interpretation for this film will feature Visual Vernacular, a unique sign language form that combines elements of ASL, mime, facial expressions and body movements to convey highly visual stories.
From New Line Cinema, James Wan’s Atomic Monster, Broken Road Productions, and Fireside Films, Mortal Kombat II is rated R for “strong bloody violence and gore, and language.”
Look for Mortal Kombat II to arrive on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on July 28.
Mortal Kombat III is already in development with Slater returning to pen the script.

(L-R) LUDI LIN as Liu Kang and MAX HUANG as Kung Lao in New Line Cinema’s “Mortal Kombat II,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

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