Alien: Fede Alvarez reveals which books he was reading when developing the new film

The new Alien movie directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead 2013, Don’t Breathe) began filming in Budapest, Hungary on March 9th and wrapped up in early July, right before the Screen Actors Guild strike began. As far as we know (and here’s everything we do know about the movie that may or may not be called Alien: Romulus), it’s still on track for an August 16, 2024 theatrical release. Alvarez is doing a good job of keeping details under wraps – but over the weekend, he did take to social media to share a picture of the books he was looking through while developing the project.

In this image we have books on the art of the video game Alien: Isolation, Aliens set photography, the work designer H.R. Giger did on Alien, the work of concept artist Ron Cobb, the making of Alien, the vehicles and technology of the Alien franchise, David’s drawings from Alien: Covenant, and the Colonial Marines tech, as well as a collection of Aliens comic books.

This new Alien movie is coming to us from Momentum and 20th Century Studios, with Ridley Scott producing through his Scott Free banner. We originally heard that it was being made for release through the Hulu streaming service, much like the Predator franchise addition Prey that was released last year (and turned out to be one of the more well-received entries in that series), but then the plan changed to a theatrical release.

Alvarez is directing the film from a screenplay he was written with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues. When the project was announced near the start of 2022, it was said that Alvarez pitched this idea for a new Alien movie to Ridley Scott years ago. Whatever the idea was, it stuck with Scott. So in late 2021, he called Alvarez and asked if he still wanted to make an Alien movie. Clearly, the answer was yes. 20th Century Studios division president Steve Asbell told The Hollywood Reporter that they picked up the project “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch. It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.“

Asbell added that, since the movie was being made for Hulu, “It’s not a film that has to be all things to all people with those gargantuan budgets. They get to be authentically what they are. And this is closer to its genre roots.“

It has been said that the story Alvarez and Sayagues crafted for this movie is not connected to the other films in the Alien franchise. It will show us what happens when “a group of young people on a distant world find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

The cast consists of Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), Aileen Wu (Away from Home), and Isabela Merced (Rosaline).

Are you interested in Fede Alvarez’s Alien movie? What do you think of the selection of books he was going through when developing the project? Let us know by leaving a comment below.