‘Alien’ Producer Drops First Details of New Ripley Film: ‘A Meditation on the Franchise’
Zack Sharf
Sigourney Weaver sent a shockwave through “Alien” fandom last week when she revealed franchise producer Walter Hill had sent her a 50-page script treatment for a fifth movie centered around Ellen Ripley, the action icon Weaver has played in films such as Ridley Scott’s 1979 original “Alien” and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel “Aliens.” Weaver, who hasn’t played Ripley since 1997’s “Alien Resurrection,” suggested the character deserves a break from the big screen. In a new report published this week by SyFy Wire, Hill is confident Weaver and Ripley have what it takes to pull off a fifth “Alien” movie.
“Sigourney, as she has from the very beginning, is being too modest about her proven ability to pull off the idea,” Hill said in statement. “[The idea] 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.”
SyFy reveals that Hill wrote the script treatment with David Giler, another producer who has been with the “Alien” franchise since Scott’s 1979 original. Both Hill and Giler have shared story credits on “Aliens” and “Alien 3.” Hill and Giler’s production company, Brandywine Productions, also confirmed that the 50-page treatment is not some story script that’s being dusted off. The two completed the most recent treatment draft in March of this year.
Brandywine Productions also sent over a picture of the treatment’s cover page, which is published on SyFy Wire. The cover includes both the original “Alien” tagline (“In space no one can hear you scream”) and a variation on that tagline (“In space no one can hear you dream”), plus quotes from Edgar Allan Poe (“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream”) and William Tecumseh Sherman (“War is hell”).
What do these taglines and quotes mean for a fifth Ripley-centric “Alien” movie? It’s anyone’s guess. “District 9” director Neill Blomkamp famously spent years developing a fifth “Alien” movie centered around Weaver’s character only for the plans to fall through. Scott has continued the franchise most recently with prequel films “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” but the poor box office returns have put Scott’s plan for more movies on hold. At this point, Hill and Giler’s treatment for a new Ripley movie is the most promising sign “Alien” fans have for the franchise’s future.
