Top ALIEN Films

Director Ridley Scott and Katherine Waterston (Daniels) on the set of ALIEN: COVENANT

ALIEN: COVENANT opened in theaters this past weekend and brought in an estimated $36 million at the box office.

Fox’s film enjoyed a solid global debut performance as the Ridley Scott directed film that is the second of the prequel series and the sixth ALIEN feature film in the franchise earned $66.3 million globally.

In space, no one can hear you scream. After nearly four decades, those words remain synonymous with the sheer, relentless intensity of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece of futuristic horror, ALIEN. Now, the father of the iconic franchise returns once more to the world he created to explore its darkest corners with ALIEN: COVENANT, a pulse-pounding new adventure that pushes the boundaries of R-rated terror.

The films timeline line up as such:

• Engineers create humanity.
• Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charles Holloway discover humanity’s origins in 2089.
• Prometheus mission to find the Engineers takes place in 2093.
• Alien: Covenant takes place in 2104.
• Alien: Awakening ?
• Alien: happens twenty years after Covenant in 2122.
• Ripley wakes up from hypersleep 57 years later in Aliens.
• Alien 3: set immediately after Aliens.
• Alien: Resurrection is set in the year 2386.

Here’s a look at the franchise and the subsequent ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, crossover franchise. “Let’s Roooock!!”

ALIEN – Everyone remembers the alien bursting out of the chest of Kane (John Hurt). It lives in the annals of cinematic history now, and undeniably one that’ll never be equaled. But it’s the introduction of the full Alien during Brett’s death scene that truly frightened audiences and created the tone that set the stage for the ultimate demise of the crew of the Nostromo. All perished at the hands and jaws of the xenomorph, Captain Dallas, Parker, Brett, Lambert…Ash… except for a resourceful Warrant Officer and sole survivor, Lt. Ellen Ripley. It forever changed the landscape of horror and sci-fi movies establishing women as the hero and ultimate savior.

See our look back at ALIEN here.

ALIENS – “Go, go, go” is the main theme of James Cameron’s film featuring the Colonial Marines versus the Alien horde led by one the big screen’s best monsters ever, the Queen Alien. The tracker scene is worth the price of admission alone. Led once again by Ripley (Sigourney Weaver – who received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress for her performance), the 1986 sci-fi classic, with a rousing James Horner score, has become a fan favorite and filled with memorable quotes such as “Get Away From Her You Bitch!” The final act culminating in the battle of the titans makes ALIENS the sequel fans of the original were hoping for and a box office success.

“Ca’mon!!”

ALIEN 3 – “Was there an Alien on board?” David Fincher helmed third entry into the series finds Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) the lone survivor of the Sulaco. When her crippled spaceship crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet’s maximum security prison, Ripley’s fears that an Alien was aboard her craft are confirmed when the mutilated bodies of ex-cons begin to mount. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley must lead the men into battle against the terrifying creature. And soon she discovers a horrifying fact about her link with the Alien, a realization that may compel Ripley to try destroying not only the horrific creature but herself as well. Loved and hated by the diehard fans of the franchise, Ripley going out in a blaze of glory was a fitting end to our brave heroine.

PROMETHEUS – “Big things have small beginnings.” Fans of the franchise were elated when Fox announced that Ridley Scott’s long awaited prequel was at long last in the works. Considered by some to be a visually stunning movie and intriguing prequel, the director’s film created a groundbreaking mythology. PROMETHEUS takes a team of explorers, who discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

The debates, along with some confusion, were heard far and wide after the release of the 2012 film. While some plots were left unexplained on purpose to create mystery, like “who are these Engineers?”, there were many burning questions with the biggest being, as scientist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) asked, “Who created us and why are we here?” Damon Lindelof wrote the TV show “Lost”, and as he did with that amazing show, he knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote this film as well.

Not rife with the beasties running around, many complained it was Alien-lite, while others praised the Oscar-nominated director for giving audiences the first of three movies explaining where the creatures hailed from.

ALIEN: COVENANT – Set ten years after the events depicted in Scott’s 2012 hit Prometheus, ALIEN: COVENANT returns to the roots of the director’s groundbreaking saga with a uniquely terrifying tale filled with white-knuckle adventure and monstrous new creatures. With this, the sixth installment in the blockbuster series, the visionary director edges ever closer toward revealing the mysterious origins of the mother of all aliens, the lethal Xenomorph from the original film.

All is quiet aboard the spaceship Covenant. The crew and the rest of the 2,000 souls aboard the pioneering vessel are deep in hyper-sleep, leaving the synthetic Walter to walk the corridors alone. The ship is en route to the remote planet Origae-6, where, on the far side of the galaxy, the settlers hope to establish a new outpost for humanity. The tranquility is shattered when a nearby stellar ignition shreds Covenant’s energy-collection sails, resulting in dozens of casualties and throwing the mission off course.

Soon, the surviving crew members discover what appears to be an uncharted paradise, an undisturbed Eden of cloud-capped mountains and immense, soaring trees far closer than Origae-6 and potentially just as viable as a home. What they’ve found, however, is actually a dark and deadly world full of unexpected twists and turns. Facing a terrible threat beyond their imagination, the embattled explorers must attempt a harrowing escape.

(L-R) Danny McBride (Tennessee) and Katherine Waterston (Daniels) star in ALIEN: COVENANT.

Following in the sure footsteps of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, actress Katherine Waterston’s character, Daniels, finds a place in the broader legacy of Scott’s female heroes and is one of the many standouts of the film. Michael Fassbender and Michael Fassbender is another. He takes on the roles of androids “David” and ”Walter,” named after producers Walter Hill and David Giler. His performance is chilling and scary and the two “synthetics” are terrific additions to the Alien canon. It still makes us wonder what makes “David” seek revenge by dropping the payload of black death onto the Engineers’ civilization? Was it because he discovered their intention of wiping out humanity with the pathogen? Will we find out in the next film who the Engineers were and why they want to destroy humanity?

Plus a huge shout out to our favorite Covenant ship engineer, Tennessee, played with a lot of heart by Danny McBride. Already a favorite of WAMG, we truly loved the inspired casting of McBride, cowboy hat and all.

Scott has announced that the third film, ALIEN: AWAKENING will start production tentatively next year.

ALIEN: RESURRECTION – 200 years after her last adventure, a group of scientists has cloned Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), along with the alien queen inside her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the resurrected Ripley is full of surprises for her resurrectors–as are the aliens they’ve attempted to imprison.

To combat the creatures, Ripley must team up with a band of smugglers, including an advanced female android named Call (Winona Ryder), to combat the rampaging aliens in a lab ship hurtling toward Earth.

The underwater chase scene makes the Aliens even scarier! Swimming aliens – very creepy!

AVP: Alien VS. Predator – After fans caught the Alien head hanging in the trophy case towards the end of PREDATOR 2, it then became of a question of when Fox’s iconic creatures from two of the scariest film franchises in movie history would finally appear in a film together.

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, AvP follows billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) and his team of drillers, scientists, and archaeologists, to an obscure pyramid site in Antarctica. Among the icy ruins, allegedly, lies the proof of an empire predating humankind. Once there, however, the group finds more than ancient sarcophaguses and hieroglyphics; rather, their discovery consists of dismembered human skeletons and fossilized remains of the alien creatures that appear to have violently burst out of their chests. Even more horrifying is the evidence suggesting that the aliens may still exist.

Indeed, there are aliens below the pyramids, but an equal threat looms above: three Predators, all on the verge of manhood, are engaged in a gruesome rite of passage — every hundred years, young Predators must travel to Earth and take on a hunting ritual in order to complete the transition to adulthood or die in the process. Before long, the humans find themselves battling for their own lives as the Predators and aliens continue their fight for superiority.

Featuring another female protagonist, Sanaa Lathan, AvP culminates with her character and the Predator joining forces to destroy the alien creature.

(AVP2) ALIEN VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM – The small town of Gunnison, Colorado becomes a war zone between two of the deadliest extra-terrestrial life forms – the Alien and the Predator. When a Predator scout ship crash-lands in the hills outside the town, Alien Facehuggers and a hybrid Alien/Predator are released and begin to terrorize the town.