The fate of District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's proposed Alien sequel appears to be directly tied up with its sister series, Prometheus, according to a new report from Bloody Disgusting. As it stands Ridley Scott is developing Prometheus 2 while Blomkamp works on a script for Alien 5. In light of this latest rumor it seems as though Scott's desire to shoot his movie first may set back work on the former.
"Alien 5 is still very much in the works," the site reads, "as Fox remains hot on the idea. Blomkamp continues to work on the script (only an outline existed previously) and refine the tale he is telling. Ridley Scott is still producing, but has insisted on Prometheus 2 being made first."
This is the second time Scott's prequel sequel has taken precedent over Blomkamp's vision. Earlier in the year word spread that certain plot points in Alien 5 erred too close to his ideas for Prometheus 2 and were therefore amended. Perhaps the events of Scott's film directly affect whatever Blomkamp has in mind for Ripley and Hicks.
Additionally, the site's sources claim that the subsequent delay on Alien 5 will work in Blomkamp's favor, allowing the director to ensure Sigourney Weaver's availability following her commitments to the Avatar sequels. Furthermore, the film will apparently not write Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection out of the series canon as was previously reported.
It goes without saying that Fox has quite a tangled web of franchises on its hands. With Prometheus 2 scheduled to commence filming in early 2016 for a 2017 release, and Alien 5 eyeing up a 2017 production start ahead of a 2018 release, we've got plenty of time to see where Scott and Blomkamp take the xenomorph next.
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