In what could easily be the biggest news bomb of the year, Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez will both write and direct a brand new Alien movie for Ridley Scott and 20th Century Studios, reports THR.
The project is described as “an original standalone feature”, which is a breath of fresh air after several big swings by Scott himself.
Ridley Scott, who of course directed the original classic in 1979 and later returned for prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, will produce via his Scott Free banner.
“The project is intended to be made for Hulu as part of 20th Century’s ambitions to make more than 10 movies a year for the Disney-owned streaming service,” THR reports.
Two of such projects are the David Bruckner-directed Hellraiser reimagining and Predator prequel Prey, both on the slate for 2022.
“Alvarez’s take is being kept deep inside the studio’s chest, but sources describe it as unconnected to the previous movies.”
According to THR‘s sources, “Alvarez is a rabid fan of the franchise and casually pitched a take to Scott many years ago. The idea remained implanted in Scott’s brain until late last year when he called Alvarez out of the blue and asked him if the younger filmmaker was still up for it. Alvarez didn’t have to be asked twice.”
20th Century division president Steve Asbell said of Alvarez’s strong pitch, “It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”
Fede Alvarez is fresh off of producing the brand new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is currently streaming on Netflix.
On a related note, FX has a small screen Alien project in the works at the moment, a planned “Alien” television series from Noah Hawley. That’s expected in 2023.
The Alien film franchise is currently six movies deep, with filmmakers including James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet bringing to the screen their own versions of the Xenomorph monsters that Ridley Scott and Dan O’Bannon gave birth to back in the 1970s. No word yet on Alvarez’s pitch for his own take on the material, but we expect more real soon.
