What if Ridley Scott's Alien was a flop?

[Mysterion]

Asking this question about Alien is kind of weird. What if Star Wars had been a flop?

Then we would have gotten either a smaller sci-fi boom, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind may have nudged the boom in a different direction (no SW rip-offs, lots of aliens/UFOs and CE3K ripoffis). Probably no ST:TMP - instead we get the Star Trek - Phase II series on TV which, without Spock/Nimoy doesn't last too long and then we don't get the string of Trek movies through the 80's.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

And Sigourney Weaver might not have become a star, which would be huge loss.

Perhaps. Stars have come from underperforming films before, so she (from a casting perspective) would still be in the running for the kinds of parts she landed in the years following 1979. If I were making a film back then and watched her performance, I would have considered her a strong actress worthy of consideration no matter how the film performed.

According to Wikipedia, May - September of '86 also had:
Top Gun
Short Circuit
Ferris Bueller's Day off
Back to School
The Karate Kid Part II
Labyrinth
Big Trouble in Little China
The Great Mouse Detective
Flight of the Navigator
The Fly
Blue Velvet
Stand By Me
Crocadile Dundee
So I really don't think the loss of Aliens would have had that much of an impact.

That's true. If people can take themselves out of being a fan of Aliens to look at the larger film landscape of that summer, there were a host of films that would still reach their audiences/earn in the same way it played out.

 

[theenglish]

I wonder if Scott would have been able to make Blade Runner the way he did or if we would have had someone's else's version of the story/

 

[fireproof78]

Asking this question about Alien is kind of weird. What if Star Wars had been a flop?

No TMP.

 

[Owain Taggart]

According to Wikipedia, May - September of '86 also had:
Top Gun
Short Circuit
Ferris Bueller's Day off
Back to School
The Karate Kid Part II
Labyrinth
Big Trouble in Little China
The Great Mouse Detective
Flight of the Navigator
The Fly
Blue Velvet
Stand By Me
Crocadile Dundee
So I really don't think the loss of Aliens would have had that much of an impact.

Man, that was a great summer for movies

 

[Gaith]

What if Ridley Scott's Alien was a flop?

We'd all be talking about what a classic Species is?
... Nah, that flick would still suck.

 

[Qonundrum]

What if Ridley Scott's Alien was a flop?

We'd all be talking about what a classic Species is?
... Nah, that flick would still suck.

And not in a good way!

Worse, there were two or five hundred sequels to that movie series... the first was awful enough, what kept the sequels coming?

I'd also ask, if for no other reason to get that horrid movie series out of my mind, "What if Richard Donner would have been allowed to complete Superman II to his design and make Superman III?" (apart from getting better storylines, more reasoned grit, no camp (Donner's style didn't need it as that wasn't his vision for the franchise), no atrocious III or IV (which was a semi-remake of II... let's face it, III and IV worked only because Christopher Reeve excelled as Superman, above and beyond whatever goofy scene had to be acted out.)

 

[Vger23]

According to Wikipedia, May - September of '86 also had:
Top Gun
Short Circuit
Ferris Bueller's Day off
Back to School
The Karate Kid Part II
Labyrinth
Big Trouble in Little China
The Great Mouse Detective
Flight of the Navigator
The Fly
Blue Velvet
Stand By Me
Crocadile Dundee
So I really don't think the loss of Aliens would have had that much of an impact.

When summer movie seasons were still filled with diverse and fun offerings, and not just 837 MU movies.


Also: sometimes I feel like the only person in creation who really liked Alien 3, Prometheus and Alien Covenant.

 

[The Wormhole]

When summer movie seasons were still filled with diverse and fun offerings, and not just 837 MU movies.

Even though I like the MCU, I can't disagree with this sentiment, so I'll give you a Like for that.

Also: sometimes I feel like the only person in creation who really liked Alien 3, Prometheus and Alien Covenant.

I have a weird relationship with these movies. I remember doing a re-watch of the Alien series back in 2004 for the AVP film and really digging Alien 3, moreso than the first two even. Though on subsequent re-watches it just hasn't quite clicked the same with me. Similar situation with Prometheus, when I saw it in theatres I loved it, but whenever I re-watch it, not so much. Covenant meanwhile was enjoyable in theatres but didn't blow me away or anything like that. And that pretty much remains my opinion on rewatches.

And I don't care what anyone says, but I freaking love Alien Resurrection. There I said it. Even on re-watches (most recent of which was last year) I still enjoy it as much as I ever have.

 

[Mage]

Also: sometimes I feel like the only person in creation who really liked Alien 3, Prometheus and Alien Covenant.

Don't worry, I'm with you

 

[fireproof78]

When summer movie seasons were still filled with diverse and fun offerings, and not just 837 MU movies.

Wouldn't that be nice.

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

There would not be any more interesting sci-fi movies and horror films, i'm glad it was a success and made an impact on the sci-fi and horror genres

 

[fireproof78]

There would not be any more interesting sci-fi movies and horror films, i'm glad it was a success and made an impact on the sci-fi and horror genres

I find that very hard to believe. That is giving this film way too much credit.

Ugh...makes me sick.

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

I find that very hard to believe. That is giving this film way too much credit.

Ugh...makes me sick.

But this movie is very important to both the sci-fi and horror genres as much as Star Wars was to Sci-fi and fantasy and adventure genres and Close Encounters was to the sci-fi genre as all made big impact among mainstream audiences and pop culture.

 

[fireproof78]

But this movie is very important to both the sci-fi and horror genres as much as Star Wars was to Sci-fi and fantasy and adventure genres and Close Encounters was to the sci-fi genre as all made big impact among mainstream audiences and pop culture.

And I find that sad and tragic that this film had that much impact. I'm sure I'm in the minority but I hate Xenomorphs, I hate how popular they have become, and I genuinely feel like science fiction would be better off without it.

YMMV.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't really think a failure of Alien would really have a noticeable impact on sci-fi, horror, or sci-fi/horror films. Aside from the Predator not having the befit of cross-promotion through Alien vs Predator, I don't think anything would be all that different. We'd probably end up with Terminator vs Predator, though I guess that's basically the first Predator movie anyway. Robocop vs Predator?

 

[suarezguy]

I like Alien: Resurrection more than many people, consider it OK, mostly just for the Call character and for it being better than Alien3, but I also think Joss Whedon doesn't get enough blame for it. The worse parts of Resurrection were 1. the basic story idea and 2. the script.

Whedon, I guess kind of to his credit, has admitted that with Resurrection his script wasn't changed much but still insists he wasn't to blame.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Apparently, the director was working off of a French translation of the script and a lot of the Whedon-y nuance was lost.

 

[The Wormhole]

Whedon, I guess kind of to his credit, has admitted that with Resurrection his script wasn't changed much but still insists he wasn't to blame.

I actually remember an amusing interview with Whedon back when Buffy was on the air that started with the interviewer pointing out Whedon's IMDB listed him as writing an episode of some show I don't remember and asking him to talk about it. Whedon said that was an error on his page and that he'd never been involved with the show in question or even watched it. After which he added "but I am more proud of that episode than I am of Alien Resurrection."

 

[Vger23]

Ron Perlman's spider scene more than makes up for any defects. I can't fault RESURRECTION given the far worse AVP installments.

Agreed. Resurrection isn't that bad. The AvP movies, on the other hand (particularly the Requiem sequel) were absolute rat feces.


Did any of you watch the 40th anniversary shorts? I thought they were tremendous.