South African / Canadian filmmaker Neill Blomkamp — the director behind sci-fi jaw-droppers District 9, Elysium and soon-to-be-released Chappie — announced that he’ll direct the next instalment of 1979 horror movie masterpiece Alien: Xenomorphs, facehuggers and all.
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Fans of the sci-fi cult classic are overjoyed by the news, especially after original Alien director Ridley Scott’s follow-on Prometheus, which was considered a flop by many.
Similarly, the more recent survival horror video game, Alien Isolation, was criticised by among others IGN, calling it “frustrating”, “repetitive” and plain “boring”.
Read more: Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Chappie’ is star-studded, should have massive geek appeal
Blomkamp’s news was announced via a not-so-subtle Instagram post that simply read “Um… So I think it’s officially my next film.” Which was followed by the hashtag #alien.
Um… So I think it’s officially my next film. #alien
A photo posted by Brownsnout (@neillblomkamp) on
What can we expect? According to some reports, the story will follow the events of Prometheus, which set the stage for all the other three original Alien movies.
A few weeks ago Blomkamp shared some of his concept art on social media, which showed original protagonist Ellen Ripley putting on a Xenomorph helmet of some kind. Whether these images are just meant for inspiration or hints to the title’s plot, we’re not sure.
A photo posted by Brownsnout (@neillblomkamp) on
And finally, my home desk #xenomorph
A photo posted by Brownsnout (@neillblomkamp) on
Furthermore, Johannesburg-born filmmaker Blomkamp calls Isolation‘s production design team “disgustingly awesome“, which hints at some inspiration if not collaboration.
Whatever the case may be, as one Instagram user warned: “There better be some prawns thrown into the mix.” We really hope this is not the case.
