Trick or treat? It's hard to guess which when you know that Neil Blomkamp (of 'District 9' fame and dissed for his 'Elysium') was supposed to be working on 'Alien 5' when up comes news that Ridley Scott (of 'Bladerunner' fame) is working on the sequel to 'Prometheus' and that it is actually going to be part of the Alien franchise.
'Prometheus 2', as Ridley Scott's venture was earlier known has now been revealed to be titled as 'Alien: Covenant'. In between it was known as 'Alien: Paradise Lost'.
But now we have Ridley Scott himself giving the secret away.
The name was confirmed on 16 November in a tweet by the official 20th Century Fox Twitter account.
So now we know that the movie is part of the Alien franchise and that it will also will be released on October 6, 2017.
Prometheus, directed Ridley Scott, was released in 2012. It's sequel comes five years later. Those who thought that Prometheus would be a prequel to Scott's 1979 blockbuster 'Alien' were disappointed and yet, once into the film, the discerning viewer found the mis-direction taken into an 'origin' film rather intriguing.
Scott and writers Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, were obviously expanding the 'Alien' universe by introducing the giant "Engineers" apparently responsible for the creation of the 'Aliens' and who seeded life here on Earth (remember how the movie begins?).
The introduction of the 'Christian' element into film was an interesting takeaway given the idea that even if you find a technologically or otherwise superior species able to create different forms of life, the ultimate question remains as to who or which absolute 'God' might have created these superior species!
Which is why 'Prometheus' ended with the believing archaeologist, Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw, taking off in a spaceship to hunt for the homeworld of the Engineers as part of her ultimate search for the supreme elusive God and leaving the door wide open for a sequel.
In fact, the working title for Prometheus 2 was 'Alien: Paradise Lost' and Ridley Scott had hinted that the sequel would take us to the homeworld of the Engineers - 'Paradise'.
Meanwhile, trick or treat? What about Blomkamp's 'Alien 5'? Blomkamp tweeted in October that his film was on hold while Ridley Scott's movie moved into production. So now what? Well, one can rest satisfied that Alien: Covenant at least is in the offing and look forward hopefuly to a Ridley Scott treat in 2017, seeing as Blomkamp's Alien 5 seems to be disappearing into thin air like an Indian rope trick!
