Along with the excitement building up for “Alien: Covenant” has been an undercurrent of apology. A couple of months back, VFX supervisor Neil Corbuld stated that following “Prometheus,” director Ridley Scott “listened to the audience” and learned “that they want more aliens” in the upcoming movie. I’m not quite sure that was criticism about the film, but nonetheless, Scott does take some of the failures of “Prometheus” onto his shoulders.
“….we discovered from it that [the fans] were really frustrated. They wanted to see more of the original [monster] and I thought he was definitely cooked, with an orange in his mouth. So I thought: ‘Wow, OK, I’m wrong’,” the filmmaker told Yahoo, referring to the xenomorph.
“The fans, in a funny kind of way — they’re not the final word — but they are the reflection of your doubts about something,” he added, “and then you realize ‘I was wrong’ or ‘I was right.’ I think that’s where it comes in. I think you’re not sensible if you don’t actually take [the fans’ reaction] into account.”
So, “Alien: Covenant” was built for fans, and confident that they’re going to love it, plans are already being hatched for the tentatively titled “Alien: Awakening,” which Scott says will get in front of cameras within 14 months. However, where he has previously said he there could be as many as four more followups until we hit “Alien,” he’s dialing back on that.
“I don’t know. [I’ll make] maybe two more [films], or maybe one more, I don’t know,” he said. At some point, either the threads to the original will need to be closed, or Scott will need to determine that this prequel series will go off in its own direction.
So, more to consider as we wait for “Alien: Covenant” next week. Until then, check out this creepy VR promo.