How a Disney deal destroyed plans for a new Alien movie

Walter Hill has been discussing how Disney’s purchase of Fox scuppered his plans for a new Alien movie featuring Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley.

Walter Hill is pretty much the godfather of the Alien franchise. He produced the 1979 original horror, and together with David Giler, did an uncredited rewrite on Dan O’Bannon’s script that’s the stuff of legend.

He got a story credit on action classic Aliens. And a screenplay credit on the less well received Alien 3. He’s also had a producing credit on each subsequent movie of the franchise, including the most recent – 2017’s Alien Covenant.

And in a new interview, Hill revealed that he recently pitched a new script idea for the franchise.

Walter Hill wanted to make new movie with Sigourney Weaver

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about new western Dead for a Dollar, Hill was asked about any Alien plans.

“We took a shot at that a couple of years back with Sigourney,” the writer-director revealed. “But that was back when Aliens was still at Fox.

“The people at Disney, who now control Aliens, have expressed no interest in going down that road. I had an idea for a good story with the Ripley character and Sigourney.”

The future of the franchise

But this isn’t the end of the Alien franchise, as there’s currently a pair of projects in the works…

In December 2020, Disney announced an Alien TV series, to be overseen by the Fargo and Legion showrunner. In a Tweet posted during an investor day presentation, the studio described it as “a scary thrill ride set not too far in the future here on Earth.” Production set to start in 2023.

As for a future feature, in March 2022, Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez was hired to write and direct a new movie which Ridley Scott would produce for Hulu. Idea is for the film to be a standalone story about all-new characters.