Finally some good news for the Alien franchise (if the report is true), after being butchered by AVP... http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=25459
There are two films in the Alien franchise. One Predator movie. Two Terminators. One Robocop. One Jaws. One Rocky. And possibly two Rambo films.
TPTB in Hollywood should leave well enough alone A3 stunk. A:Rez was atrocious. The avps are pitiful. This A5 thing looks like a disaster The braintrusts in Hollywood should just leave the fuck alone the mysteries of the xenomorph's origins & the bizarre Space Jockeys & their surreal ship. Aside from anything else, this is yet another example of Hollywood having 0 originality & new ideas The Alien series ended 23 summers ago
A prequel? WTF???? Humans didn't discover the Alien until the Nostromo set down on that planet. Are they planning on making a movie that has no human characters in it?
Maybe all the humans who encountered the Alien the first time were killed. Or they could be still asleep in a return ship (with an alien tucked away for the sequel to the prequel). Besides, weren't those beasties roaming the Earth in droves in ancient Antarctica?
In his commentary for Alien, Ridley said that his idea for what had happened with the ship that the Nostromo found was that it was "an alien version of an aircraft carrier" and that what had happened was that the pilot of the ship had been inadvertently taken over by the alien. If they go with that concept, and have it being something about a species dumping aliens down on a planet (say a remote Earth colony world) to wipe the locals out, so that they can then colonize the planet, it could be an epic picture. Think Patton vs Alien epic.
OK. I'll conditionally allow Predator 2. They stuck to the premise and it had to be hot as balls for the Predator to come to town--no Predators in Antarctica. And they get cool points for having an Alien skull on the Predator ship, IIRC. But I hold reservations. I haven't seen this film since it was first out on VHS so, while I remember it being cool, it could blow for all I know.
Here's my take, more or less: Best Sequels of all time (a great movie that follows a really good/great movie) Godfather II Empire Strikes Back Terminator II Aliens From Russia, With Love, or Batman: Dark Knight, or Toy Story 2, tough call Honorable mention, mainly because first movie arguably was not quite “great” Road Warrior Spider-man II X-Men II Star Trek II Worst Sequels [all prior movies were great, but these left a really bad taste] Godfather III Anakin’s Star Wars trilogy [though Return of the Jedi falls short of “great” for those who can't replace every Ewok with a Wookie, in their mind] Honorable mention Jurassic Park 2 Jaws 2 Sting 2 Men in Black 2 (a close one, it's just bad enough) The original movies weren’t really "great," but these were pretty awful Robocop 2 Highlander 2 Blues Brothers 2 Cadyshack 2 Worst Non-Sequels (feeble attempts to recreate co-star(s) chemistry) Fierce Creatures (cast of A Fish Called Wanda) Big Trouble (Falk and Arkin of The In-Laws) S*P*Y*S (Gould and Sutherland of M*A*S*H) Plus a whole bunch that weren't good or bad enough to make any of the lists, e.g.: Superman 2 Back to the Future 2 First Blood 2 Lethal Weapon 2 Predator 2 Rocky 2 Die Hard 2 Mummy 2 Indiana Jones 2 Matrix 2 Beverly Hills Cop 2 Sequels over past 21 years: 1989 Indiana Jones Last Crusade (5/24); Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (6/9); Ghostbusters II (6/16); The Karate Kid Part III (6/30); Lethal Weapon 2 (7/7); License to Kill (7/14); A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (8/11); Back to the Future Part II (11/22); National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (12/1) 1990 Gremlins 2 (6/15); Back to the Future Part III (5/25); Another 48 HRS. (6/8); Robocop 2 (6/22); Die Hard 2: Die Harder (7/6); Young Guns II (8/3); The Exorcist III (8/17); Child's Play 2 (11/9); Rocky V (11/16); Predator 2 (11/21); Three Men and a Little Lady (11/21); Look Who's Talking Too (12/14); The Godfather Part III (12/25) 1991 Terminator 2 (7/3); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (3/22); The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (6/28); Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (7/19); Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (9/13); Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (12/6) 1992 Batman Returns (6/19); Lethal Weapon 3 (5/15); Patriot Games (6/5); Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (7/17); Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (11/20) 1993 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (3/19); Hot Shots! Part Deux (5/21); Adams Family Values 2 (11/2?); Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (12/10); Wayne's World 2 (12/10); Beethoven's 2nd (12/17) 1994 The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (3/18); D2: The Mighty Ducks (3/25); Major League II (4/1); Beverly Hills Cop III (5/25); City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (6/10); Star Trek: Generations (11/18) 1995 Die Hard 3 (5/19); Batman Forever (6/16); Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (7/14); Father of the Bride Part II (12/8); Grumpier Old Men (12/22) 1996 Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (3/8); First Contact (11/22) 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (5/23); Speed 2: Cruise Control (6/13); Batman & Robin (6/20); Alien Resurrection (11/26); Scream 2 (12/12); Tomorrow Never Dies (12/19) 1998 Star Trek: Insurrection (2/11); U.S. Marshals (3/6); Lethal Weapon 4 (7/10); Halloween: H20 (8/7) 1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (6/11); The World Is Not Enough (11/19); Toy Story 2 (11/19) 2000 Scream 3 (2/4); Mission: Impossible II (5/24); The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (7/28); Rugrats in Paris 2 (11/17);102 Dalmatians (11/22) 2001 Along Came a Spider (4/6); Mummy 2 (5/4); Dr. Dolittle 2 (6/22); Scary Movie 2 (7/4); Jurassic Park III (7/18); Rush Hour 2 (8/3); American Pie 2 (8/10) 2002 Blade II (3/22); Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (5/16); Men in Black II (7/3); Stuart Little 2 (7/19); Austin Powers in Goldmember (7/26); Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (8/7); The Santa Clause 2 (11/1); Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (11/15); Die Another Day (11/22); LOTR 2: Two Towers (12/18) 2003 X2: X-Men United (5/2); The Matrix Reloaded (5/15); The Italian Job (5/30); 2 Fast 2 Furious (6/6); Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (6/27); Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (7/2); Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (7/2); Bad Boys II (7/18); Spy Kids 3D: Game Over (7/25); Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (7/25); American Wedding (8/1); The Matrix Revolutions (11/5); LOTR 3: Return of King (12/17) 2004 Spider-man 2 (6/30); Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2/6); Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (3/26); Shrek 2 (5/19); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (6/4); The Bourne Supremacy (7/23); The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (8/11); Ocean's Twelve (12/10); Meet the Fockers (12/22) 2005 The Ring Two (3/18); Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (5/19); Saw II (10/28); Harry Potter 4: Goblet Fire (11/11); Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (12/21) 2006 Underworld: Evolution (1/20); Big Momma's House 2 (1/27); Ice Age: The Meltdown (3/31); Scary Movie 4 (4/14); Mission Impossible 3 (5/5); X-Men: The Last Stand (5/26); The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (6/16); Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7); Jackass: Number Two (9/22); Saw III (10/27); The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (11/3) 2007 Spider-Man 3 (5/4); Shrek the Third (5/18); Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (5/25); Ocean's Thirteen (6/8); Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (6/15); Live Free or Die Hard (6/27); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (7/11); Borne Ultimatum 3 (8/3); Rush Hour 3 (8/10); Saw IV (10/26); National Treasure: Book of Secrets (12/21) 2008 Batman: Dark Knight (7/18); The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (5/16); Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (5/22); Hellboy II: The Golden Army (7/11); The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (8/1); High School Musical 3: Senior Year (10/24); Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (11/7); Quantum of Solace (11/14) 2009 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (1/23); The Pink Panther 2 (2/6); Fast & Furious (4/3); Crank: High Voltage (4/17); Angels & Demons (5/15); Terminator Salvation (5/21); Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (5/22); Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (6/24); Harry Potter 6 Half-Blood Prince (7/15); Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (7/1); Final Destination: Death Trip 3D (8/28); Saw VI (10/23); The Twilight Saga: New Moon (11/20); Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel (12/25) Hollywood can be so original. Remakes and prequels aren't included (with the one notable exception).
