Ridley Scott's ALIEN Prequel Dead, New Film Titled PROMETHEUS is Born!

What a difference a few days make! We knew there were issues between 20th Century Fox (the studio behind the ALIEN movies) and director Ridley Scott. The extent of those issues seemed to just involve the cast. Would it be Scott's choice for the lead, Noomi Rapace or Fox's choice Charleze Theron? In an interesting twist we find out today, courtesy of Variety, that the ALIEN prequel is dead in the water and will now be an entirely new film...

 

Follow up:

Fox has announced today that instead of making the two films that would have told the story leading up to the 1979 film ALIEN, the project has been reconfigured as an original sci-fi movie, titled PROMETHEUS. The bizarreness doesn't end there as Ridley Scott wills till direct and Noomi Rapace will be the star of the film.

If this news isn't enough for fans to swallow, Fox also announced that the film will get a March 9, 2012 release date. We would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at this production meeting!

“While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place,” said Scott in a statement. “The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn't be more pleased to have found the singular tale I'd been searching for, and finally return to this genre that's so close to my heart.”

"In a world flooded with prequels, sequels and reboots,” stated Lindelof. “I was incredibly struck by just how original Ridley's vision was for this movie. It's daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects.”


According to our friends at THR, Damon Lindelof is working together with Scott on the new script, which was originally written by Jon Spaihts and based on an idea by Scott. It was under Lindelof that the project morphed into something more original.

So if you can gather all this information and digest it this is huge news. Fox is walking the proverbial plank here in terms of taking a risk. They are literally throwing away the droves and droves of already sold ALIEN fans in leu of a new project. We're not sure whether to cry in disappointment or jump for joy because the studio is willing to take such a chance on this new project.