By Drew Dietsch
| Published
Hey, everyone, Drew Dietsch back for Giant Freakin Robot and yet another dive into the film failures of yesteryear. Naturally, since I’m at the helm for this one, we’re heading back to the ‘90s and back into the world of sci-fi franchises.
And not just any sci-fi franchise, one we’ve covered on this channel before. Since we took a look at the performance and reputation of Alien 3, it feels only natural to examine the last Alien movie to feature Sigourney Weaver in the lead as Ellen Ripley.
Well, not exactly Ellen Ripley.
It’s time to explore Why Alien Resurrection Failed.
How Alien 3 Affected Alien Ressurection
Before we even talk about Alien Resurrection, let’s rewind back to 1992 and the ending of Alien 3. Ellen Ripley sacrifices herself to eliminate the antagonistic alien species once and for all. It’s a bold ending that was intended to close out the story, but the response to Alien 3 was not exactly warm for many fans at the time.
But even though things were made to feel wrapped up with Alien 3, there was always the idea of how to bring Ripley back. Producer David Giler even told Sigourney Weaver at the Alien 3 wrap party how they’d do it.
Fast forward a few years and 20th Century Fox enlists Joss Whedon to write the script for a fourth Alien film. Originally, the idea was to clone the character Newt from Aliens who had died in the beginning of Alien 3. This new Newt would be the successor to Ellen Ripley. However, the studio was then able to negotiate with Sigourney Weaver and the idea of this new character being a clone of Ripley came to pass.
Weaver would also end up as a co-producer on Alien Resurrection and had a lot of creative control over her portrayal of Ripley 8, a clone whose DNA merged with the queen alien inside of her. Likewise, we find out that the queen alien has taken on human DNA from Ripley and has mutated into this big, delightful, gross puppet.
Alien Resurrection Cost Tons Of Money
Alien Resurrection has a lot of big, delightful, and gross stuff in it. There is no doubt when you watch the movie that every cent of the film’s reported $70 million dollar budget is on the screen. The sets and effects were some of the most elaborate to date for a major studio production, including an underwater tank set that I still can’t believe they built for real.
In addition to this extravagant production, the cast would include a number of genre favorites like Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, Michael Wincott, Brad Dourif, my man Leland Orser, and even Raymond Cruz, Tuco from Breaking Bad, shows up.
But the big get for Alien Resurrection was Winona Ryder, cast as the android Call who would end up having some pretty intense and charged scenes with Sigourney Weaver.
All of these factors on their own seem like they have the workings of a pretty good Alien movie. And just for the record so everyone can dogpile on me in the comments, I like Alien Resurrection. We’ll get back to that later.
A Very Different Director
But, one of the crucial factors in why Alien Resurrection was not quite so well-received had to do with its choice of director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Jeunet had made a name for himself with darkly humorous sci-fi features like Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, both movies that you should absolutely check out.
The Alien films had always been director-driven with strong visions behind them and Jeunet was no exception. Empowered by Sigourney Weaver’s support, Jeunet was allowed to play with the tone of Alien Resurrection in a way that seems to be against the original intentions of the script. So, you have the first film in the series that’s having a legitimate goof at times. That tonal oddness was not something that sat well with fans.
Not to mention the overall kooky nature of the story and characters. We’ve got a ragtag assembly of wacky space mercenaries — huh, Joss Whedon wrote this, you say? — and a new clone Ripley that shifts between being mysteriously dangerous and outright silly. And then you have the whole Newborn Alien being birthed from the Queen Alien thanks to Ripley’s human DNA stuff and it’s hard not to call Alien Resurrection a madhouse.
The Madness Of Alien Resurrection
But, like I said, I enjoy the insanity and the over-the-top take in Alien Resurrection. It feels less in line with what people might expect for an Alien movie and more like one of the more out there Dark Horse Comics stories brought to life.
But, I know I’m in the minority and most people hate this movie because “fun” shouldn’t be in the Alien franchise. I’m guessing those same people absolutely love Alien: Romulus for being nothing more than a junky Disney theme park ride through the franchise’s greatest hits.
Anyways, Alien Resurrection was given all the glitz and glamour of a studio tentpole release, but fans who hated Alien 3 for being too dour and killing off Ripley were now mad that the new Alien movie was funny and brought Ripley back. I think professional wrestler Bryan Danielson best summed up all fans and their wants with one word: fickle.
Box Office Blues
Alien Resurrection hit theaters early in France thanks to director Jeunet’s involvement, and it ended up making the majority of its box office through international markets, a not-unimpressive $113 million dollars. But when the movie opened during the three-day Thanksgiving weekend in 1997, it landed at the number two spot with a highly disappointing $16 million dollar opening. Even more embarrassing was that it lost the number one spot to Flubber.
I don’t care if you saw this movie as a kid and loved Robin Williams like I did, Flubber sucks, especially in comparison to a movie where a mutant alien-human hybrid gets sucked out into space while screaming, “Oh no!”
The failure of Alien Resurrection at the box office was certainly due to the nature of diminishing returns with franchise films, but also because it wasn’t the kind of experience most moviegoers were looking for in their sci-fi blockbusters. Just four months earlier, Men In Black had dominated multiplexes and offered a fresh take on alien adventures. Alien Resurrection, no matter how expensive and gorgeous it looked, felt old hat for a lot of folks.
The fallout from Alien Resurrection was pretty substantial. 20th Century Fox kept trying to develop new films but nothing ever got past development. It would be fifteen years before Ridley Scott would return to the series he kicked off with a movie I’m not going to say anything about and y’all can just argue over in the comments. Alien: Covenant rules though.
Nowadays, pretty much every Alien movie except for Alien Resurrection has gotten a bunch of reappraisal and has found fans within the overall Alien faithful. Why hasn’t Alien Resurrection? It’s an astonishing physical production, the actual filmmaking is unique and energetic for the franchise, and though it’s tonally stuck between glum and goofy, it’s pretty good at nailing those attempts.
Unfortunately, as the views for any of the videos I write seem to say, I’m outside of the crowd on this one. And I guess Alien Resurrection is going to stay there with me as the black sheep of the Alien franchise. Oh well, I’ll be watching it again for the twentieth time while I will never, ever sit through the corpse-reanimating, catchphrase-dependent, unoriginal slop of Alien: Romulus ever again.
I’m sure some of you want to tell me why Disney’s Alien: The Ride movie is better than Alien Resurrection, so hop in the comments and prove me wrong. Anyone out there actually want to stand with me and my love of Alien Resurrection? Make sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel so I know I’m not alone. And keep watching for more here at Giant Freakin Robot.
People really don’t like the Alien movie with Ron Perlman in it? I have no faith in this planet.
