Don’t Breathe filmmaker Fede Alvarez has signed on to write and direct an original stand-alone Alien feature for 20th Century Studios. The project is intended to be made for Hulu as part of 20th Century’s plans to make more than 10 movies a year for the Disney-operated streaming service, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Not many details about the upcoming stand-alone film have been released by 20th Century or Hulu. But it has been reported that it’s not connected to the franchise’s previous installments.
Ridley Scott, who helmed the original Oscar-winning 1979 Alien movie and its two prequels, 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant, will produce the upcoming entry in the series via his Scott Free banner.
Alvarez, who’s reportedly a big fan of the franchise, casually pitched an idea for the stand-alone film to Scott years ago. The Alien director kept his fellow filmmaker’s idea in the back of his mind until late last year, when he ultimately called Álvarez and asked him if he was interested in making it. The Don’t Breathe helmer immediately agreed to work together on the stand-alone movie.
After Scott and Alvarez decided to proceed with the Alien stand-alone film, 20th Century picked up the project “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch,” said division president Steve Asbell. “It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”
Asbell added that by making the movie for Hulu, there wouldn’t be the pressure to whittle down the potential edginess that could come with theatrical considerations. “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.”
Alien and its many sequels and prequels focus on the horrors of a cruel race of alien beings called Xenomorphs, who implant eggs inside living bodies. The eggs violently burst out of their hosts’ chests when they reach a certain stage of maturity.
Dan O’Bannon scribed Alien, which followed the doomed crew of cargo spaceship Nostromo. The ship’s sole survivor, warrant officer Ripley, and the actress who played her, Sigourney Weaver, became most closely associated with the series, particularly after she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the first film.
Weaver returned to the franchise when James Cameron directed its first follow-up, Aliens, in 1986. The filmmaker turned the series into a bigger massive cultural hit when he added more intense action-driven sequences to the franchise’s sci-fi-horror origins.
The second and third straight sequels in the series were released in the 1990s, which were followed by the prequels in the 2010s. There were also two spin-off entries in Alien‘s crossover franchise with Predator in the 2000s – 2004’s Alien vs. Predator and 2007’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.
Álvarez made a name for himself in the horror genre by penning and helming the original Don’t Breathe, which was released in 2016, and writing and producing its sequel, which was distributed last year. He also made his feature film directorial debut on the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. The filmmaker most recently co-scribed and produced the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel, which premiered on Netflix last month.