Alien

While 20th Century Fox might not be too keen on making another ‘Alien’ movie at the moment thanks to the middling success of ‘Alien: Covenant‘ last year, they are all too aware of the 40th anniversary of the franchise coming up and have initiated a new plan to celebrate with the fans. They are putting out a call to those very same fans to create short stories that will be placed in the official ‘Alien’ continuity.

Of course, that does not mean they are taking completed submissions from just anyone, the rules seem to indicate that everything will happen in stages, the first of which is to submit a pitch to the studio, and you can only go forward with your idea if they accept your pitch. It is all very exciting for fans of the franchise who always wanted to contribute to the story, and a bit of brilliant marketing on the part of a studio who has not had much luck releasing new additions to the franchise, yet know they have a major anniversary to celebrate.

And here’s what the official site says:

“We’re giving you the chance to create your own original story set in the biggest horror franchise of all time: Alien! Go ahead. Run outside and scream with excitement if you want to (just don’t do it in space). But then hurry back here and pay close attention to this Brief because we’ve got a lot to cover. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Alien, 20th Century Fox is tapping six visionary filmmakers in the Tongal Community to produce their own original short videos set in the aftermath of the original film. Fox wants a wholly original story with completely new characters but your Pitch should draw on all the things that made the original Alien so groundbreaking.”

While the end product might not be as good as a full film, at least they are opening the door for some fresh blood in the movies, and who knows? Maybe one of the proposed 6 short films will be really good — good enough to spark another new film at some point in the future.

Of course, with Disney now making a bid for 20th Century Fox, a lot of other factors might come into play now, including whether the House of Mouse will even want to continue to make entries in such a dark franchise, but it will be some time before we know the details about the future of ‘Alien.’