It appears the future of the Alien franchise is once again uncertain. Anticipation was mighty high for director Ridley Scott’s return with 2012’s Prometheus, and indeed despite some mixed reviews, the sci-fi pic grossed a hearty $403.3 million worldwide. Scott intended for Prometheus to relaunch the franchise in an intriguing way, but while he was busy making Exodus: Gods and Kings and The Martian, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp convinced Fox to give his own separate idea for an Alien movie a go. However, as soon as Scott got wind of this, he forged ahead with Prometheus 2, effectively killing Blomkamp’s movie—which would have seen Sigourney Weaver reprise her role in a sequel to Aliens.

Scott’s return resulted in Alien: Covenant, a massive, hard-R-rated follow-up to Prometheus that’s basically a hybrid between a Prometheus sequel and an Alien ripoff. This one was also somewhat divisive, and its box office dropped 71% in its second weekend, ending its worldwide run with just $232.3 million—just a little over half of what Prometheus made.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Scott has made clear that he has plans for somewhere between 1 and 3 more Alien sequels that will wrap this whole franchise up and tie it neatly into Alien, but THR reports that while Scott is off making his crime drama All the Money in the World, Fox is “reassessing” the two intended sequels that Scott has pitched to the studio.

What this means is unclear, but Covenant certainly left things on a cliffhanger that sets up some sort of confrontation involving Michael Fassbender’s David. The David stuff was the best part about Covenant, and it felt like all the gore and horror was uninteresting to Scott—something he threw in to hopefully please fans. I like seeing Scott make weird sci-fi on a massive scale, so I’m definitely down to see an Alien: Covenant sequel, but given the disappointing box office performance it’s unclear if Fox is interested. Obviously Fox is going to keep making Alien movies, so hopefully this doesn’t mean we’re in for yet another reboot or some schlocky spinoff. I think we’ve learned enough from the Alien vs. Predator movies.

What do you think folks? Would you be down for an Alien: Covenant sequel? Do you want to see Scott finish his arc or would you rather see the series start over? Sound off in the comments.

 

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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox