After its launch decades ago, the Alien, Predator, and the Alien vs Predator franchise immediately became a cult classic among fans of the genre. Much to the rejoicing of the fans, movie after movie kept coming over the years.
However, after Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox studios, not only the movies lessened, with a big budget sequel still in the development process with no expected date of seeing the light of the day, there seems to be more that Disney is hiding in the dungeons.
In an episode of the Alien Day episode of the Perfect Organism podcast last month, former licensing director of the 20th Century Fox studios, Joshua Izzo revealed that there is a completed Alien vs. Predator anime series Disney is not releasing.
Also Read: New Alien Vs Predator Under Development
Disney is hiding a completed Alien vs Predator anime series
Joshua Izzo, who used to head the licensing direction team of 20th Century Fox studios prior to Disney’s acquisition, was also the founder of Alien Day back in 2016.
He explained that back then, taking note of the hype around the Alien vs Predator franchise, they kind of decided to take matters into their own hands rather than wait arbitrarily for any potential theatricals that might or might not see the light of day. Elaborating, he revealed,
“I said, ‘Hey listen, I want to pitch this idea of a direct-to-DVD Alien and/or Alien/Predator and/or Predator animation that we, the consumer products division, can sell against. Let us be the masters of our own destiny rather than waiting for theatrical whenever a movie decides to come out.”
And once everything got approved, they allegedly brought in a director who had prior experience working in projects like Halo Legends, Starship Toppers: Invasion, Harlock, Appleseed, and even Blade Runner: Black Lotus.
And while it is not yet confirmed, the director in question is rumored to be none other than Shinji Aramaki, who is infamously known for his talents in blending 2D animation with CGI.
As a result, the anime, which is set sometime after Alien vs. Predator and Alien 4, is expected to follow his original style rather than going with the traditional 2D popular in Japan.
And so, along with Dave Baker and Eric Calderon, who Izzo claims as “crazy talented,” experts in the Western animation style, and Aramaki heading his own blended style, they completed the project.
However, Disney took over the studio in the meantime, and for now, Izzo noted that it is, “Sitting at Disney now, at 20th Studios, 10 episodes of a fully completed Alien vs. Predator anime series that I produced.” And obviously, the fans went into a frenzy upon this news breaking.
Fans urge Disney to release the Alien vs. Predator anime
News of this caliber, claiming that there is an unreleased completed anime of one of the most popular cult classics of all time just sitting around, was obviously not going to go over smoothly.
Inevitably, fans of the franchise took it upon themselves to rally for Disney to set the aliens and predators finally free from the dungeons. From asking Disney to “release it now,” and claiming that they got to go and get it themselves, fans are taking Twitter by storm.
Whatttt. Release that now. pic.twitter.com/YTkxhnsMGZ
— Scopey_13 (@Scopey_13) May 19, 2023
NOOOOOOOO, HOW COULD THEY DO THIS pic.twitter.com/VXNBocS6Oc
— Skye ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ (@QueenSkyeee) May 19, 2023
God forbid they make up for “AVP” after all these years of suffering. pic.twitter.com/h0MHqRuv7F
— Adam Masnyk (@AdamMasnyk) May 19, 2023
— SYTH! ∞ (@PossiblySyth) May 19, 2023
Release it !!!!! Maaaaannn I want this !
— Mr.oldassfoo1 (@oldassfoo1) May 19, 2023
Guess we gotta go in and get it ourselves pic.twitter.com/D9xJXyNh1I
— Mr-Furious (@JakeLew30297485) May 19, 2023
The Alien vs Predator anime series was expected to be a combination of three DVDs for the Western audience and air individually on Japanese television with the regular interval structures most anime series follows.
However, with no confirmations or even acknowledgments yet released from Disney officials, it seems only time can tell if fans would get their hands on this series in the near future or ever at all.
Also Read: Marvel’s Predator Series: Finally Receives A Release Date
Source: Twitter
