Alien (1979-2017)

After completion of the film Dark Star (1974), writer Dan O’Bannon wanted to develop some of the ideas and create a science-fiction action film. Provisionally called Memory, screenwriter Ronald Shusett collaborated with O’Bannon on the project, adding elements from a previous O’Bannon script, Gremlins, which featured gremlins causing mayhem aboard a World War II bomber. The duo finished the script, initially titled Star Beast — it was changed to Alien after O’Bannon noticed the number of times the word “alien” occurred in the script.^[8][9] Their script was sold to Brandywine Productions, which had a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. The writers anticipated a low-budget film, but 20th Century Fox was inclined to invest millions, thanks to the success of Star Wars.^[10] The original script featured an all-male crew, including Ripley character, with Tom Skerritt attached, with the caveat that the roles were interchangeable for men or women”. When Fox president Alan Ladd Jr. and the producers at Brandywine were made aware of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads, Skerritt was cast as Captain Dallas and Ripley was recast with Veronica Cartwright, before director Ridley Scott opted for Sigourney Weaver shortly before filming.^[8][11] Though Alien was successful, Fox did not consider a sequel until James Cameron expressed his interest to producer David Giler in 1983. After the box office success of Cameron’s The Terminator in 1984, Cameron was given approval to direct and produce Aliens.^[12] The third film in the series, Alien³, faced a mired production, with extensive script difficulties, trouble securing a director, production beginning prior to the completion of a final script, as well as studio interference against the director selected to helm the film, music video filmmaker David Fincher.^[13][14] Though Alien³ was not a critical success, the film was an international box office hit and piqued Fox’s interest in continuing the franchise. The fourth film, Alien Resurrection, began production in 1996, with Jean-Pierre Jeunet directing and Weaver receiving more creative control and an enhanced salary.^[15] The film was released in 1997, to mixed to negative reviews and modest box office returns, marking the last installment in the original series to date.^[16] The story of the original series focuses on Ellen Ripley’s struggle for survival against the Aliens, alongside several groups of comrades, while also preventing Weyland-Yutani from obtaining the creatures. After sacrificing herself, Ripley returns two hundred years later as a human-Alien hybrid clone called Ripley 8, retaining genetic memory, but with a different personality and superhuman abilities.