New ‘Alien’ Movie From Fede Alvarez Gets Release Date

Alien is perhaps the most iconic space horror franchise in film history, and for good reason. The franchise that built itself from the original 1979 film by Ridley Scott has stood the test of time, and has continued to delightfully frighten audiences worldwide for years, some of its titles moreso than others. A noticeable pause came after the release of Scott’s film Alien: Covenant in 2017, followed by rumors that the next sequel would instead be a reboot of the entire storyline with Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez at the helm. Details were sparse for the most part until earlier this year when he shared an on-location tease of the film for ‘Alien Day’, facehugger included. Now, per a report from Collider, an official release date has finally dropped for the film. Currently under the working title Alien: Romulus, the latest deep space horror flick will crawl into theaters August 16, 2024.

Alien: Romulus is set to be a standalone reboot of the franchise, taking from the creative roots that made the initial films so successful and reworking it into something entirely new. An exciting prospect to say the least, its director Fede Alvarez is definitely up to the task, having previously helmed the very bloody 2013 Evil Dead reboot and the spine-tingling horror film Don’t Breathe (2016). He’s also serving as co-writer alongside longtime collaborator Rodo Sayagues, while Alien creator Ridley Scott is co-producing the project with Michael Pruss. Starring in the film so far are Cailee Spaney (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Isabela Merced (Rosaline), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Morbius), Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. All roles are currently undisclosed, and few details are available on the plot of the film. Only a brief synopsis is available courtesy of distributor 20th Century Studios:

“In this ninth entry in the immensely popular and enduring film series, a group of young people on a distant world find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Related: Alien TV Show Director Wants To Bring Mystery Back to the Franchise For Modern Audiences

The Prospect of Rebuilding the Alien Franchise

The Alien franchise as a whole is very beloved by sci-fi and horror fans everywhere, but its most recent installments notably didn’t perform as well. The origin story of the Engineers presented in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (2012) was a fascinating alternate take that resonated well with critics, some even lavishing praise on its storytelling and stellar performances from the cast, particularly lead actress Noomi Rapace who was heralded as a worthy bearer of the torch that Sigourney Weaver passed on. Its box office performance was commendable as well at just over $400 million, but the movie was still criticized overall for pulling back the curtain too far on the terrifying mystery behind the Xenomorphs, and going in a direction that was less horror and a bit too tedious and introspective. The follow-up film, Alien: Covenant (2017) was Scott’s attempt to steer things back in the other direction, with Michael Fassbender’s advanced android Walter as the main antagonist. However, it didn’t quite hit the mark and did even more poorly at the box office than its predecessor, leaving the future of the franchise in doubt among fans and creator Ridley Scott.

The upcoming reboot film promises a fresh introduction back into the universe of Alien, with an entirely new cast and what will be a completely different story, which we anxiously don’t know yet. Nonetheless, production is moving on smoothly, with principal photography reportedly wrapping up in Budapest this month. More details will likely follow towards the end of the year, with perhaps a teaser of some kind for what we can expect.

On top of that, an Alien TV series for FX is also in the works, though it will be creatively separate from Alvarez’s film project. At the helm of it will be Noah Hawley, while Sydney Chandler (Don’t Worry Darling) was recently announced to be starring in the show.