On May 25th, 1979, the stuff of brand new nightmares was born, shaping the world of horror movies for years to come. It was made by an unknown director on a meager budget but it was so terrifying that it has become the basis for one of the most acclaimed horror franchises to date.
In the decades that passed ever since, the movie has spawned two direct sequels, two prequels, a movie loosely related to it, countless video games including a slot machine you can try at Betway Casino, comic books, novels, toys, and everything in between. The movie is called “Alien” and it turns 40 on May 25th this year.
The story of the first Alien movie was written by Dan O’Bannon, the legendary screenwriter behind movies like “Screamers”, “Total Recall”, and “Lifeforce”, and directed by Ridley Scott, a debutant director at his second movie.
The movie, a large-scale, effects-driven feature, was made on a measly $11,000,000 budget (around $37 million or GHS 196 million today) – there are many stories about how the budget restrictions forced the team to improvise, this doesn’t show on the movie’s visuals.
The critics had mixed opinions about the movie upon its release in 1979 but the viewers loved to be scared by it: the movie made almost $80 million (almost $300 million or GHS 1.6 billion) in the US alone, won an Academy Award for its special effects, gathered a cult following, and today, it is considered one of the best movies in its genre ever made.
Its sequel, “Aliens”, was also directed by a relatively unknown director who only had two blockbusters to take pride in: The Terminator (1984) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) – James Cameron. His story was very different from the first: it focused “more on terror, less on horror”, and it involved a lot more shooting and explosions.
Nevertheless, it was a resounding success: both the critics and the audiences loved it, its visuals were once again worthy of an Oscar, and was called one of the best action and horror movies ever.
Aliens had one direct sequel to finish Ripley’s story and a movie loosely based on its idea – Alien: Resurrection that, despite the many critics, was a “mordantly funny, very graphic and bloody” take on the Alien universe set 200 years after the events in Alien 3.
This ended the franchise’s first run on the silver screen – later, everyone’s favorite blood-thirsty xenomorph was featured in two crossovers with the Predator franchise and countless video games, comic books, and novels.
Four decades after the first film, the Alien franchise appears to still have a future. After Disney took over Fox, the owner of the Alien intellectual property, it announced that there will definitely be new Alien movies… eventually.
Now, all we have to do is wait – hopefully, not for another four decades.
