14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, word got out that, for the upcoming 2 “Alien” movies, director Ridley Scott was looking to get Gemma Arterton for the lead. Now, it turns out, he may not be able to do the pics at all.
Scott announced a while back that he was making not one, but two prequels to the legendary “Alien” franchise. In 3D to boot, because he wanted to go for Cameron’s “Avatar” and bring it down.
As wonderfully as that may sound (for fans, in particular), it seems Scott has reached too far and 20th Century Fox is none too happy about it, G4 reports.
In other words, the budget for the two films is way too big for how much the studio is willing to pay, especially in a context in which Scott also wanted to make the flicks R-rated.
The lower the rating the smaller the profit, because large segments of the audience are effectively barred from seeing it. Fox doesn’t want “Alien” to go full R, says the report.
And Fox also wants “Alien” to cost less than the estimated budget or it won’t be made at all.
“It seems Scott’s own enthusiasm for the project(s) may have had even the fans beat. Now, it seems that those ambitious plans have put the project in a bind, as the tab for Scott’s latest brainchild may be quite a bit more than what studio 20th Century Fox is willing to pick up,” G4 informs.
“On top of that, they’re not exactly keen on putting out the gory ‘hard R’ movie that he originally envisioned. The words ‘creative differences’ have broken up many legendary bands and sunk even more potentially-legendary films,” the e-zine notes.
That is to say, if Scott can’t come up with a better offer, meaning, less costly and more audience-friendly “Alien” films, 20th Fox shelves both projects.
“With a projected budget of $250 million (which nearly equals the combined worldwide gross of the last two AVP films,) Scott didn’t quite present a plan to Fox with an intricately-budgeted ribbon on top,” G4 notes.
Moreover, the “Alien” franchise is over 30 years old, which means audiences may not be that interested in a reboot as Scott believes.
“Hiring Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof to oversee the script, it’s clear that he wants this to the tightest Alien film, yet. No doubt fueled by the spirit of competition against James Cameron’s success with Avatar, Scott seems to want to make that film’s horror / sci-fi 3D equivalent,” the same e-zine says.
For the time being, both “Alien” prequels are stuck in production limbo until Scott comes up with something to please the movie studio both in terms of rating and estimated budget.