20th Century Fox has reportedly cancelled the Alien: Covenant sequel after the movie sorely disappointed at the box office, leaving the status of the franchise in limbo.
Ridley Scott revived his long-dormant franchise in 2012 with Prometheus. Unfortunately, what we get was not what we wanted. Instead of scary xenomorphs running amok, Scott made the questionable decision of making a distant prequel that painstakingly details the complex beginnings of the xenopmorphs. But it was an unquestionable hit, grossing over $400 million at the global box office, making a sequel a forgone conclusion.
Cue up Alien: Covenant, which hit theaters this past summer. Scott sort of learned from his mistakes and brought back the xenomorphs, but he still included confusing mythology that bogged down the movie. Unlike Prometheus, where it received the benefit of the doubt, people didn’t turn out for the movie and it massively disappointed at the box office. Fox was left with its hands tied, and it opted to put the sequel on ice instead of going through with it.
On the site Blu-ray.com, user HumanMedia revealed in a forum Fox had canceled the Alien: Covenant sequel. Pre-production was due to start this month in Sydney, Australia, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Fox auctioned off a warehouse full of production props a few months ago. According to Human Media, the original plan was to make the sequel right away, but everything was put on hold with Alien: Covenant underperforming and interest in the franchise slowly waning.
This doesn’t mean a sequel won’t happen—if Ridley Scott wants a sequel to get made, he can make it happen—but it won’t be based on the merits of his previous two Alien movies.
Time heals all wounds, and with some time passing, Fox may be more open to give Scott one more shot at the Alien movie we’ve been waiting for in a year or two. For now, no more Alien movies are in the works.
