In 1979, acclaimed director Ridley Scott changed the sci-fi genre with an iconic film titled Alien. However, it was James Cameron who was responsible for the sequel to the classic film!
Not many people know this but James Cameron co-wrote and directed the 1986 film Aliens which was a direct sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic film. Cameron, however, decided that he wouldn’t return to the franchise again.
Why James Cameron Will Not Return To The Alien Franchise
It can be said that Ridley Scott is the OG creator of the Alien franchise. The original idea of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley fighting a Xenomorph came from the mind of Scott.
Although Cameron co-wrote and directed the second part of the franchise (titled Aliens), fans felt that the sequel was better than Scott’s original 1979 film! In 2009, the Titanic director set out on his own adventure to create the world of Pandora.
The result was the iconic film Avatar which earned critical acclaim and worldwide praise for being an awesome film. In an interview with Famous Monsters (via Cinema Blend), the director talked about returning to the Alien franchise.
Unless somebody could come up with some spectacularly new concept. […] I’ve got my own kind of alien world that I’m enslaved to now with the Avatar films, so I can pretty much rule that out.
Well, both the Avatar films have earned at least $2 billion at the global box office, and according to a report by The Numbers, stand at a total collection of $5.2 billion!
On the other hand, it seems that if they could figure out a new concept in the Alien franchise, James Cameron would be happy with his world of Pandora and his Avatar franchise (which is doing quite well). But that doesn’t mean that the director isn’t slightly involved with the Alien franchise nowadays!
James Cameron Liked The Cut of Alien: Romulus!
The recently released film Alien: Romulus by director Fede Álvarez has been making news on the internet for being too good. The director revealed that James Cameron had some form of creative input in the film.
However, the director revealed in an interview with THR that people misinterpreted what Álvarez said and that he didn’t have that big of a creative input in the film.
I saw a rough cut six months ago, so I’m sure it’s changed a lot. And I viewed it once. I gave some notes to [director Fede Álvarez].
He further continued,
He and I aren’t close pals. I mean, I wish him the best with it, but I think it’s been overstated that I had some big creative input to that film. I think Ridley [Scott] did because Ridley was an actual producer on the film. So I’m just putting it in perspective.
Whether the film had creative input from James Cameron or Ridley Scott, it seems to have worked out quite well. Alien: Romulus received a rating of 7.5/10 on IMDB and 81% on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the other hand, James Cameron’s first (and probably last) film in the Alien franchise, Aliens, received a rating of 8.4/10 on IMDB and a whopping 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. The 1986 film is available to stream on Max in the U.S. as of 18th August 2024.
