Jeff Nichols' Alien Nation Remake Becomes A Fox/Disney Merger Casualty & Is Now Shelved

A few months after the Disney/20th Century Fox merger was inked into completion, cinephiles are still seeing the fallout in the form of project developments and priority shifts.

While it may be some time before we see the X-Men or Fantastic Four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, another anticipated sci-fi movie is looking like it’s being put on hold. Last fall, “Midnight Special” and “Mud” director Jeff Nichols said his upcoming iteration of “Alien Nation” – a remake of the 1988 sci-fi actioner starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin – would be an “epic” film…but only if it survives the Disney/Fox merger, still a few months away at the time. “I mean, it’s the biggest canvas I’ve ever painted on, but it 100 percent feels like a Jeff Nichols film,” he explained.

At the time, Nichols seemed to understand the precariousness of the project and the shifting ground in the wake of the upcoming merger. “I’m working with Fox on it, so it feels a little bit like you’re one of those monks doing those giant murals in sand,” he said. “It might just blow away, which would be a real shame, but everybody at Fox has been so good to me about it. And they’re so positive about it; obviously I’m trying to stay in the positive zone, and hopefully knock out this last draft.”

Fast-forward several months, and while Nichols’s project hasn’t been axed altogether, Variety reports Disney is putting its development in neutral for now. While that’s certainly a better fate, for now, than some other movies have received after the merger, it does mean those of us looking forward to seeing Nichols’ filmmaking sensibilities at work on what would surely be a big-budget project – especially considering the smaller films he’s created up to this point – will have to wait. ANd whether the project is revived at all, only time will tell. If Nichols is smart however, he’ll probably move on and start developing something else.

Let’s hope Disney doesn’t put it on a high enough shelf where it doesn’t intend to reach for it at all in the future.