The fate of the ALIEN franchise at the movies is still up in the air after the lackluster performance of last year’s ALIEN: COVENANT, but the series is still going strong elsewhere. The official Instagram account for the series recently sent out a series of motion images that tease a new story that promises to “expand” the series in 2019. What could it be? Something peaceful, perhaps?
As you can probably guess, the 6-part story that unfolds throughout the posts is not a pleasant one, and shows the Weyland-Yutani corporation getting into some secretive, deadly business. Not detail goes beyond a brief sentence or two, so this is more of a visual piece than anything else.
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Of course, the story ends with Xenomorphs running amok after shit hits the fan, teasing some of that good ol’ alien chaos we’ve come to admire over the decades. As I said, nothing else is really revealed here, including what the hell this project is. Is it a new video game, picking up after the last one, ALIEN: ISOLATION? Or is it a new graphic novel or book? We do see in the hashtags that the character Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), is involved, and she was the main character of that last game. Only time will tell what this project is, but we do know for damn sure it ain’t no new movie.
That’s not to say a new movie won’t come at some point. Ridley Scott's COVENANT got decent reviews, and though it didn’t live up to expectations at the box office the international total made it so it wasn’t exactly a massive bomb, making $240 million total off a $97 million budget. Surely a new movie will come at some point, even if Disney may have the rights to the franchise after Fox officially merges with the House of Mouse. Will the normally family-friendly studio even want to continue this R-rated sci-fi series? Eh, that seems like a question best left for 2019.