In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream About an Alien Prequel
· Should the world be happy about the news that Ridley Scott is attached to direct a prequel to his seminal 1979 classic Alien? Fox announced Thursday that the 71-year-old filmmaker will take on a script commissioned from sci-fi screenwriter du jour Jon Spaihts; no plot has yet been announced, but it's probably safe to presume it will unfold aboard the crashed ship that sent the Nostromo crew its "Beware! Aliens!" distress signal in the first place. And then they die. I mean, wouldn't you much rather have a Blade Runner prequel, with Rutger Hauer's fox fur, Elton John glasses and all that? Seriously, Fox -- it's over. [Variety]
Judd Apatow re-ups, China imports our crap for a change and more Hollywood Ink continues after the jump.
· Whether or not America wants to be in the Judd Apatow business this weekend with Funny People, Universal is all about it, signing the hyphenate megapower to a three-picture directing deal that (assuming his current pace keeps up) will keep him at the the studio through 2015. Probably not among those projects: A Knocked Up sequel. Sorry. [THR]
· Summit Entertainment isn't messing around with its bid to become a legit, long-term Hollywood player. Twilight is one thing, but when you can actually get the Chinese to take B-movie droppings like Knowing as one of 20 foreign titles allowed in the country every year, that is studio muscle. [THR]
· Billy Crudup will star as the needy, baby-wanting husband whom Julia Roberts's character flees on a journey of self-discovery in the adaptation of the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love. [Variety]
· Jerry Bruckheimer made a deal for the feature rights to the graphic novel World War Robot, which I'm told is what Transformers on Mars might be like if the title characters didn't turn into jive-talking Chevrolets. [Variety]
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Comments
1. I can only ask one question: Why?
2. While Funny People does have some risk to it, being Apatow's most expensive project yet, his films do tend to be modestly budgeted and usually profitable, so it's probably the safest bet Uni's made in a long time.
3. The Chinese government did change the title to Knowing That Mao Was Right.
4. The film should be called Eat, Pray, Piss Away Millions.
5. These robots can read too.
Here's the problem with the whole Alien prequel... the distrsss/warning signal the Nostromo investigates is not sent out by an Earth-originated ship, but rather a different alien ship, so in effect you'd have yet another Aliens Vs. Predators plot on your hands. Any prequel plot would have to focus on the entire conspiracy of the Company (and Ash) attempting to bring one of those nasty bastards back to Earth.
However, if they get Sigourney to appear in her panties again, I'm sold on the deal.
/takes geek-boy hat off
Isn't the Aliens prequel going to show that the whole Aliens series was just a nightmare that Sigourney had the night before she went into labor? Think about it.
So apparently Ridley Scott and Bryan Cranston are genetic clones.
Brilliant idea and it gets to explore the mysterious origins of the Space Jockeys. The latter race should be unaware of humanity, having landed on LV426 centuries before humanity came along and they should remain a noble race.
Do not turn Alien into a darker version of StarTrek as space is an empty place with eons between races coming together.