So, it looks like the ‘Alien’ franchise will live to see another day. Spurred by strong audience scores, this summer’s Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus,” which starred Cailee Spaeny, earned $100M domestically, and $350M worldwide. The budget was only $80M.
Alvarez, who directed 2016’s “Don’t Breathe,” is clearly not done with the franchise either. 20th Century boss Steve Asbell is telling THR that a sequel to ‘Romulus’ is already in the works, and that Alvarez, Spaeny and David Jonsson are set to come back.
‘Romulus’ essentially found the franchise's new Ripley in the form of Spaeny's Rain. Spaeny played a female protagonist who wasn’t afraid to pick up a gun and blast xenomorphs. The film also acted as a bridge between Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and James Cameron's “Aliens” — combining elements of both, and marrying the suspenseful horror.
With that said, ‘Romulus’ wasn’t anything special, and played it way too safely. The middle section was where the pulse-pounding action took place, and I adored Spaeny’s on screen presence, but it was nothing we hadn’t seen before. The main characters all got knocked off, one by one, and you could already tell, very early on, who would survive and who wouldn’t.
‘Romulus’ garnered a 64 on Metacritic. Many critics didn’t like the final act, and it’s surely a creative decision that’s been talked about a lot. I give Alvarez credit for wanting to go in that ballsy direction, but it just didn’t work. Of course, I won’t mention a word about it. This is a spoiler-free writeup.
The ‘Alien’ saga, which began with 1979’s “Alien,” directed by Ridley Scott, has had many sequels over the years. With the exception of “Prometheus” — and I know I’m in the minority in my admiration for that one — I don’t believe there’s been a strong ‘Alien’ movie since Cameron’s take, released more than 38 years ago.