It’s been a couple of years now since Neill Blomkamp‘s (underrated) “Chappie,” and the director has been keeping his head down on his own projects. Of course, his name bubbled back into the conversation when he posted concept art for his mooted “Alien 5,” a film that would take place after “Aliens” and spinoff into its own storyline. Ridley Scott pretty much kiboshed those plans as he continued down the path made by “Prometheus” and last month’s “Alien: Covenant,” and as the godfather of the franchise, has made it clear Blomkamp’s movie isn’t happening. And now, Blomkamp himself is saying the same.
“I think it’s totally dead, yes. That would be an accurate assumption at this point,” he candidly told The Verge. “It’s sad. I spent a long time working on that, and I feel like it was really pretty awesome. But [studio politics], the way it’s gone now, and the way that it all is — it’s just not going to live.”
“Ridley [Scott] was one of my idols growing up. He’s so talented and he’s made this film that really set me off in a direction. I want to just be as respectful and not go stamping around in this world that he created,” Blomkamp continued. “I think that if the circumstances were different, and I didn’t feel like I was getting too close to something that he obviously feels a massive personal connection to, that things that may have played out differently. But I did want to be as respectful as possible.”
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It’s a bummer, and given how poorly ‘Covenant’ performed at the box office, it could be a long time before any new “Alien” movie, but perhaps it’s for the best.
Meanwhile, the director continues to tease some kind of “District 9” followup. Back in 2013, the filmmaker revealed he had written an 18 page treatment for “District 10,” and while he’s said he has a “cool idea” for the movie, he’s not quite ready to make it. But the project is still percolating.
“With ‘District 9,’ I plan on making another film in that world. To go back and work with WETA, and make the film would be cool,” he said.
So, we’ll have to wait and see if and when he gets to it. For now, Blomkamp is focused on his newly launched Oats Studio, where he plans to release a variety of short and experimental projects. As for the time travel pic, “The Gone World,” which is set up over at Fox, the script is being worked on, but the studio is “really wants to make it,” so perhaps that’ll be next.