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Ridley Scott's Alien Prequel 'Prometheus' Ready to Launch in 2012

by Alex Billington
January 14, 2011
Source: Deadline

Whoa - it's here, the official announcement that Ridley Scott's Alien prequel (or, no longer an Alien prequel, you'll find out why) is in development. Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has officially announced the title Prometheus and a release date of March 9th, 2012. But here's the catch, it might not exactly be an Alien prequel after all, as it has morphed into something "more original." And this original idea apparently involves five major roles, one of which will be played by Noomi Rapace, the others haven't been cast, but actresses circling roles called "Vickers" are Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron. More quotes below!

As we already know, Lost's Damon Lindelof came in last year to rewrite Jon Spaihts's original script that he initially drafted for Scott. Well, it expanded into "new directions" (as was hinted at in a recent update) and has become something else. So here's how it's explained in its current form by Ridley Scott himself:

"While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn't be more pleased to have found the singular tale I'd been searching for, and finally return to this genre that's so close to my heart."

Wow, Lindelof must've struck some serious gold, because it sounds like he's riled up Scott in a big way and even made sure to get Fox on-board ready to go with a 2012 release date. Deadline spoke to Lindelof who, as well, seemed ecstatic to even be working on the same project: "In a world flooded with prequels, sequels and reboots, I was incredibly struck by just how original Ridley's vision was for this movie. It's daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects. When I sat in a movie theater as a kid, feet raised off the floor for fear that something might grab my ankles, I never dreamed in my wildest imagination I would one day get to collaborate with the man responsible for it. Working alongside him has been nothing short of a dream come true." And with that dream realized, together they're set to bring us Prometheus in 2012!

That's all the info Deadline has for now, also adding that "the other major roles will be cast shortly," as I'm sure production will be aiming to get underway sometime soon this year. This probably explains why Jolie left Gravity and why Noomi Rapace (of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) was one of Scott's top contenders originally. This really sounds incredible, an entirely new sci-fi series from Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof that brings in new characters in a new universe. And I bet he'll somehow still sneak in an explanation for the "Spacey Jockey" from Alien. Stay tuned for more updates as they arrive! Until then - what do you think?

Explore tags: Hype, Movie News, Opinions

Anonymous

WOW! Gotta love Scott for creating something new instead of a generic "lets discover the mystery" prequel. Scott has been away from Sci-fi for too long and I'm sure it will be a return to splendor with "Prometheus"! cannot wait!

Anonymous

from that aspect, i'm excited too - but what about lindelof? i'm not a fan of his work on "lost" and more than little nervous about his being on this project.

Anonymous

I'd say give him a chance, his work on Lost became muddled but I'm hopeful that was just one mistake, and its is Ridley Scott and I trust him.

Anonymous

while "muddled" is being very kind..........i'm not giving up on this either. i like the fact that the story is going to be kind of it's own unique thing. and of course, there's ridley scott......and i trust him too!

Avalade

Lindelof's work on LOST was consistently great work. Its always boiled down to those who can't accept no having all the answers being explained and those who can. LOST was one of the most daring and original shows ever. Hearing he is attached to this and is creating a whole new universe with scott is so awesome!!

Anonymous

avalade - the first 2 years of lost was as good as tv has ever been. however, the last 4 years was a disappointment. and i didn't need answers - i was just tired of storylines that ended up going nowhere. cuse even admitted that they were stalling for time by the middle of the third season due to their not knowing how long the show would run. and then there is the lying about what the main theme of the show was about - i think 90% of the people guessed they were dead and still lindelof and cuse said no........well, this is a movie site and i won't take up any more space on a tv show- so, i guess if you were happy.......good for you. i know i'll consider the show a disappointment. oh, and as far as daring tv - i think "the walking dead" or "breaking bad" or "damages" are far more daring and much better tv than lost.

jiji

rapace and jolie/charlize in the same movie...fainted
http://www.skonmovies.com/ Sean Kelly

This film has suddenly become a lot more interesting for me.
Phontsolo

Ummm, sounds great but this IS still an Alien movie right?

Tra la la la la di da

Gosh I hope not! I'm kinda excited right now. Before there was nothing but dread but now...now they're moving away from Alien and making something else! Thank you! A prequel would be such a waste. Who really cares? If anything, a sequel.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

No I don't think it is... I think this is their first announcement trying to tell us that it's not Alien anymore and it's something entirely new and "original" but it'll have hints of Alien. But it's not an Alien prequel anymore, for better or worse (we have yet to see).

Anonymous

i trusted lindelof when he worked with "lost" - then he and cuse turned that show into a complete mess. i'm going to remain hopeful for this movie, but (for me) having lindelof on it really doesn't instill a lot of confidence that the story will make ANY sense at all.
Enzo

im confused now. does it still involve ALIENS at all?

Jericho

did you read?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=590067291 Anonymous

I think I'm relieved that they are going in a different direction, and not making this an ALIEN prequel. That franchise, I think, has suffered from too many trips to the well. I look forward to seeing what Scott & Lindelof came up with.
SavageHawk

Sir Ridley Scott always has been and will forever be the most visually dynamic director. I am already excited!
Anonymous

Well now this is sounding a lot better to me, I'm interested to see what they have come up with, now lets just hope the whole story doesn't get leaked out ruining it.
Anonymous

Wait... How am I the only one pissed that this movie is not going to have the cuddly, cute faced, acid bleeding aliens running around? seriously the idea of Scott coming back to the franchise to dig it out of the hole its been in since Alien: Resurrection had me so happy... but now i have to hear the writer of Lost completely changed his mind and is taking what he praised as an amazing idea and turning it into something completely different? this is bull shit!

SV7

I'm with you Canoe! The headline should read: New ALIEN film NOT HAPPENING. One minute we have new Alien film being developed, now we don't! That sucks! "The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA" To me this pretty much says there's gonna be no aliens in it. Maybe a nod to the space jockey somewhere. Maybe. This is mighty disappointing. We need redemption for Alien: Resurrection!

._.

you are retarded. period. if you thought alien resurrection was at all good, you are a complete waste of an Alien fan. do you even realize that Giger is on board with Scott for this film? your puny mind must be rotten with desire for special effects void of any dramatic substance. if that is true, congratulations - you have fallen into the void of enjoying film mediocrity. Ridley Scott and his film Alien are the reason you are even a fan of the franchise in the first place...Have a little god damned faith in his work you short-sighted imbecile.

Kellyzz64

First movie sucked ass. Boring, the Alien even looked like a guy in a rubber suit. Don't know why people say it was great. It sucked. If I wanted to be left to my imagination as to what the Alien looked like I would read a book. Low budget and shit effects is why they never showed the Alien very well and always in the dark. Sucks!

Moif

Bah! Who gives a toss if the old banana head aliens don't show. They're as worn out and dried up as Madonna.

Jericho

i love it, for all we know this movie would be ABOUT encountering the Space Jockey that could very well be the Prometheus *English translation for the Space Jockey's ship name?*which will lead up to the next alien movie...and maybe a GOOD Alien VS. Predator flick in the future timeline.......
Cody W.

Yeah my interest in this just got way boosted.
Zephyr

Well, I'm excited about Prometheus, but disappointed at the same time..I was looking forward to seeing more Alien movies.
tir na nog

Ridley scott and sc-fi is a must see,I just hope he doesn't cast Jolie or Theron.
Moif

Please not Jolie!!!!!!!!

alien fan

Totally agree. Please don't cast Jolie, this movie needs strong female characters not sex symbols! I can't wait for the movie to come out!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Eric-Wilson/100001127302735 Eric Wilson

He did this on purpose. THink about it. Tell people it's going to be an Alien Prequel and that you're are going to make sure it doesn't suck, tell people it's going through some "rewrites" and then tell them it's now not about the Aliens. They had captive veiwers and now they've done a bait and switch.

BinaryChaos

This is Ridley Scott we are talking about. Anything attached to his name says prestige storytelling. He doesn't have to manipulate anyone into thinking anything. With the trend of sequels and requels being done it would be no surprise for him to join the bandwagon and uncover the mystery of the space jockey. Any good writer knows that an idea can evolve into something completely different in the end which has happened here. If you may not know George Lucas intentions for all jedis were to be all midget people sort of like hobbits and Han Solo was suppose to be an alien clone war veteran and it all changed around for the best.

Roro

can we all just forget about the Alien movies, so sick of preQs seQs mashups rehashs. every year an Alien movie related movie. just LEAVE IT OK first one was good second was great, LEAVE IT just think of the infnt amount of amazing books out there ready to be transformed on to the big screen, fresh orgnl storys now need really to keep going back to movies drives me nuts... ill still go see it tho, so forget rant, oh im such a sheep...
Citizen_kane84

hmm ok.. i hope there will be aliens in it.. that they`ve just walked away from the original franchise so they dont have to tie up any loose ends and connect it with the first alien movie... this accually gives them more ideas to play with and im excited as hell.... p.s NO NO NO NO angelina jolie PLEASE she SUX
Bozo

Well... at least he won't be fucking up the prequel now. (?)
Solo Calrissian

I say this with the utmost respect for the project because I think that this will be "Labrynth" to the originial Alien's "Dark Crystal." So similar, yet so different. I say that as a compliment because I loved both movies as a kid and was absolutely terrified by the aliens. If Scott can recapture what the first one brought by not rehashing a rehash of his own original work, I'm in.
lumière

i'm in, too, with you, Solo! Scott has demonstrated time and again that he is interested in his own storytelling and his own stories, and sod the studio. personally, i am much happier that he has gone off in a different direction than originally planned, even including Lindelof's involvement. many posters have suggested this will not involve aliens - we'll find out soon enough, but i read it as Prometheus still relating to Aliens, just not in detail to the existing anthology. even the title 'Prometheus' has got me interested, as Prometheus is cited in Greek mythology as being part of the early history of mankind. think about it - lots of interesting possibilities for a story there. as usual with Scott, we'll see what he comes up with - it's almost always worth your ticket money, and he won't shirk from telling the story he wants to. either that, or we'll get the usual Ridley Scott Director's Cut saving-the-stuff-the-studios-idiots-cut- out-home-viewing version.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TCTFTH2RGV65M5GATVLR4PZ6AE Magellan

This is good news. By making a film that possibly exists within the same (or similar) "universe" as Alien, but isn't directly connected to Alien, this is the best possible result we could hope for! It might mean 3 things. 1) He won't ruin Alien by making an inferior prequel. 2) The film will perhaps still have a nice, dark/gothic feel to it anyway. 3) There is scope for more originality.
Startmywp

Today's generation of movie goers is totally absolutely ignorant of how the original Alien movie had an impact on viewer's minds that time. It was a revelation in fear until Terminator came up. I follow that world of excitement and thrill in a movie. Announcements will come and go, but the very fact that Sir Ridley Scott 's creative juices have been tingled into 'awakening the creative alien', and attachment of Lindelof verified, will make sure that the impact is freshly renewed for movie goers this time around.
shaky

Not a huge fan of lindelof's work, but if scott is trusting him with the basis of what is probably his greatest film making achievement, then i think we can all sleep easy in the comfort of knowing that scott knows the difference between what works and what does'nt
Cpl Dwayne Hicks

I'm a bit disappointed, frankly. :/ Yes, I'm still excited about this movie (I am, after all, a sci-fi fan). Yes, I've had faith in this project, even before Scott was wooed to direct it by Fox. Yes, I like that they are going for a fresh, new approach to this movie. But as an Alien fan who has been extremely disappointed by the current direction of the franchise I FEEL VERY CHEATED by this news. A lot of people might be completely content by it, but when you've been following for YEARS about a serious revitalization of the Alien mythology and then get slapped with a 'oh-guess-what-we're-ditching-that-movie-for-something-different’, the closes thing one feels is betrayal. I wouldn't feel this way had Scott just said from the get-go that this movie WASN'T a part of the Alien universe. Yeah, I know people here will argue that this new project will FEEL like an Alien movie and have more original ideas. However, that still doesn’t hide that this ISN”T the serious revitalization of the Alien series as originally promised. It doesn’t hide the fact that the Alien series is dead in the water and will only be recently be remembered by all those horrible Alien versus Predator movies. And it doesn’t hide the fact that fans will never that amazing Alien movie made by one of the most amazing directors of our time. Instead, Alien fans will have to settle for a movie *inspired* by the mythology, yet not a part of it. No doubt, watching this movie will be incredible. But watching this movie will also be the equivalent of having a cookie dangled over the heads of devoted Alien fans (fans who have been anticipating a serious Alien movie for a long time). So close to the dream…and yet, so far. I've been hoping that Scott would revitalize the Alien series much like a young James Cameron did back when he approached Fox with his initial Aliens script, even when he was still wrapping up Terminator. Cameron proved to Fox studios (and to Alien fans who were dead-set against the sequel) that the Alien universe was worth revisiting AND introducing fresh elements. I have been dreaming of the day Scott (or Cameron) would return to the franchise and save it from itself. I was totally happy that Scott wanted to investigate other elements inside the alien universe while still being faithful to the mythology and fans. This series deserves better than the recent treatments it's received. At the very least, I would’ve been content with a proper farewell to the Alien movies. Will I still see this movie? As a sci-fi fan, yes, of course I will. But me, along with many alien fans, were promised a serious reboot of the Alien mythology. This feels like a slap on our face.

Lieutenant Hudson

Perfectly Said Corporal Hicks. Scott is awesome Lindelhof sux and cant keep an idea together, and i am also wearing a huge slap mark on my face.

moose

C'mon, y'all! I KNOW you all want to find out if the Aliens were originally 6-inch bugs on Planet Parasite that mutated into acid-dripping monsters, whose buttery fingers would NOT allow them to build their own spaceships! I welcome ANY Ridley Scott-type movie that would explain their origin and what enables 'em to take over ANY species they get oral with! That, and a farewell scene of an aging Ellen Ripley stepping out of a shower cubicle on a green Earth after FINALLY making it back to terra firma. THEN we can move on to the mystery of the Space Jockey and how that poor dude ended up with a cargo of bugs from Planet Parasite. I believe the solution will be forthcoming in a movie entitled PROMETHEUS.