Summary
While Ridley Scott may have intended to trip up theAlien: Romuluscast, they have a fairly universal agreement about the bestAlienmovie. The cast and director are currently atSan Diego Comic-Conto promote their movie, asAlien: Romulus' release dateof August 16 is fast approaching. It will star Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux, David Jonsson, Spike Fearn, Isabela Merced, and Aileen Wu, who will play a group of travelers searching for life. Set between the originalAlienand 1986’sAliens, the new movie is expected to honor the franchise’s history.
Screen Rantwas present at theRomuluspanel, where Aliendirector Scott questioned the cast and crew about the franchise’s quality. He asked them to share their individualAlienmovie rankings, and Álvarez took charge of answering. Rather than ranking every movie, the director revealed thatthe original is the best,whileRequiemis the worstmovie in franchise history. He did reflect that everyone has their own opinions, however, and explained that every movie in the franchise is entertaining.
Can we do the best and the not as good? Can we do that? Okay? I think we can all say together out loud, for every fan: The best one is the first one, right? It really is. I think the not-as-good one would be Requiem. There’s some really good kills in that movie, by the way… Let’s say that. Then everything in the middle is, like, whatever you want to be. That’s the beauty of this franchise. It does not have an obvious top to bottom ranking around it. It almost, like, defines who you are as a fan. Like, what’s your ranking defines who you are.
Even the ones that didn’t work well for me,all of them give me a great time in the theaterand debate my friends the next day about how shitty that was or how great that was. And no one seems to agree, even the ones that people agree didn’t work so well, still suddenly, making this movie, people come out of the woodworks saying, “Actually, this one was actually one of the best ones!” It’s surprising, and that’s how it was in this franchise. It’s so complex and so rich, andthere hasn’t been been a terrible onewithin the main ones.
I think it’s never a bad time in the theater watching this. If you’re a real cinephile, so much fun the next day to go at it with your buddies. “Was it good? I don’t think so. That was shit! That part with the flute!”
Alien: Romulus Is Likely To Be A Return To Form
The Alien Movies Have Struggled Since Aliens
TheAlienfranchise began with a horror movie and quickly evolved into a very different genre. The second movie,Aliens(1986), was directed by James Cameron, who elected to take the sequel in a new direction. Rather than focusing on terrifying audiences, Cameron created a science-fiction action movie, which reshaped the future of the entire movie series. Later movies, includingPrometheusandResurrection,focused more on building the science-fiction lore than on ensuring scares, which stripped the franchise of its impact.
Alien vs. Predator: Requiemattempted to recover by returning to its horror roots, but Álvarez and the rest of theRomuluscast and crew believe it to be a low point in the main franchise. The dark visuals made it difficult to process the events, while the attacks came too often and proved too bloody to fully satisfy. The movie had a much weaker score on Rotten Tomatoes, wheretheAlienmovies have been trending poorlyamong critics and audiences since Cameron left the franchise. Check out the chart below, which reveals every Rotten Tomatoes score of the main movies:
93%
94%
96%
49%
46%
55%
39%
22%
12%
30%
73%
68%
65%
In returning to the franchise’s roots in horror,Romuluscould also be a return to form. Rather than focusing on lore, the movie wants to provide a terrifying experience for its viewers. TheAlien: Romulustrailershave already showcased a more traditionalAlienexperience, which could help the franchise recover from its current slump. If Álvarez and his team can match the fear factor of the original movie, their film may stand besideAlienandAliensas the best in the franchise’s history.
Alien: Romulus
Cast
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
