Alien

Overview

The Alien series began with Ridley Scott's 1979 film and has been handed to a different filmmaker almost every time since. Its constant element is the The Xenomorph, the parasitic predator that grows inside a living host, and, for the first four films, Ellen Ripley, the warrant officer played by Sigourney Weaver. Seven feature films in the main line, two crossover films with the Predator series, comics, video games and a 2025 television series make up the larger universe.

Each entry carries the fingerprints of its director and its decade. The first film is a slow, quiet haunted-house story set on a cargo ship. The second is a war movie. The third is a bleak prison drama, the fourth a stylized and strange cloning story. The 2010s prequels turned to big questions about creation, and the 2024 film went back toward close quarters and dread. That makes the series a useful case study in how one idea can bend across genres without breaking. Many fans and critics argue about which version is the real Alien, and the argument is part of the series' appeal.

The series is also a business story. It has been owned by 20th Century Fox and, after Disney's acquisition of Fox, by 20th Century Studios, with Brandywine Productions, the company of Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill, attached to the films from the start. Budgets and grosses across the main films, as listed on the franchise's reference page, add up to roughly $1.69 billion worldwide on combined budgets of about $440 million to $465 million, though such totals are not adjusted for inflation.

Release order

Titles without a link do not have their own PORTFLICK entry yet.

How the series evolved

From Star Beast to Alien: development at Fox

The story began with screenwriter Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, who developed it under the titles Memory and then Star Beast before it became Alien. Brandywine Productions, the company of Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill, bought the script. Giler and Hill rewrote it heavily, including adding the android character Ash, though the Writers Guild gave O'Bannon the sole screenplay credit. The studio, 20th Century-Fox, moved forward after the success of Star Wars in 1977 made science fiction a hot property.

Ridley Scott got the job after the producers saw his first feature, The Duellists. The initial budget was about $4.2 million, and Scott's detailed storyboards reportedly persuaded Fox to roughly double it. Sigourney Weaver was the last of the main cast to be chosen, in her first leading film role. The part of Ripley was reworked into a woman's, and the role became the series' anchor.

Designing the creature and the ship

The look of the first film remains its most famous achievement. Swiss artist H. R. Giger designed the creature and its environments, including the facehugger, the chestburster and the adult form, and Carlo Rambaldi built the adult creature's head. Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the human-built ship and its interiors, and the French artist Moebius contributed costume renderings that shaped the space suits. Bolaji Badejo wore the suit for most of the adult creature's appearances.

Principal photography ran from July to October 1978 at Pinewood and Shepperton studios near London, with miniature work at Bray Studios. Jerry Goldsmith composed the score; Scott had originally wanted Isao Tomita. The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and in 2002 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry. Early reviews were mixed, and the film's reputation grew in the years that followed.

Aliens: a sequel built on a hit

Fox did not seriously pursue a sequel for years, and a dispute between the studio and the first film's producers over profits delayed things further. James Cameron was hired in 1983 on the strength of his Terminator script and wrote a treatment quickly. When The Terminator became a surprise hit in 1984, his standing rose and he was allowed to direct. With producer Gale Anne Hurd, he set out to combine the first film's horror with the energy of his own action style.

Production was demanding. Principal photography ran from September 1985 to January 1986, mostly at Pinewood Studios, and Cameron clashed with parts of the British crew. The budget is reported at about $17 million to $18.5 million, depending on the source. Stan Winston's studio built the creatures, including the large queen, and Syd Mead designed the ship Sulaco. James Horner's score was assembled under extreme time pressure. The film opened in July 1986, topped the box office its first weekend and earned about $85 million in the United States. Weaver received a nomination for Best Actress, rare for a horror or science-fiction film, and the film won Oscars for sound effects editing and visual effects.

Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection: troubled productions

The path to the third film was long and messy. A script by William Gibson was never produced, other writers developed their own versions, and Renny Harlin left. Director Vincent Ward was dismissed, and David Fincher, then a music-video director making his feature debut, took over. Filming began in January 1991 without a finished script. The film opened in May 1992 and earned about $55.5 million in the United States and Canada but roughly $104 million abroad. Fincher has publicly disowned it and blamed studio interference. A longer 144-minute Assembly Cut released in 2003 without his involvement has been better received.

For the fourth film, Fox hired Joss Whedon, who wrote a script that reintroduced Ripley as a clone. Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed, and Winona Ryder joined the cast. Weaver received a co-producer credit and reportedly a fee of about $11 million. The film opened in November 1997 with a worldwide gross of about $161 million, the lowest United States and Canada total of the main series at around $47.8 million. Whedon later said the final film followed his script but was poorly executed, a view that still colors its reputation.

The crossovers and the prequels

The idea of pitting the creature against the Predator hunters started in a 1989 Dark Horse comic, and a nod to it appears in Predator 2 (1990), where an alien skull sits in a trophy case. The 2004 film, written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, was set on Bouvet Island, a remote Norwegian island chosen by Anderson as a hostile setting, and earned about $177 million worldwide. Its sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), from directors Greg and Colin Strause, was shot as an R-rated film and cost about $40 million, but grossed about $130 million. Critics were negative about both.

Scott and Cameron discussed a prequel as early as 2002, but the crossover took priority. Scott returned to it in 2009 with a script by Jon Spaihts, and Damon Lindelof rewrote it as an original story in 2010. Prometheus began filming in March 2011 and opened in June 2012. Alien: Covenant took several writers, among them Jack Paglen, Michael Green, Dante Harper and John Logan, and was originally titled Alien: Paradise Lost. Michael Fassbender played the android David in both films, and in Covenant also a second android.

Alien: Romulus and the television series

In 2019, after Disney acquired Fox, the studio confirmed that new Alien films were in development. Fede Álvarez was attached in 2022 after pitching his own story. The project began as a streaming title and became a theatrical release shortly before filming, which took place in Budapest in 2023. The production emphasized practical effects, with studios including Legacy Effects, Amalgamated Dynamics and Weta Workshop building creatures and sets.

The film opened on August 16, 2024, with a reported budget of $80 million and a worldwide gross of about $351 million. One decision drew sharp criticism: the use of a digital likeness of the late actor Ian Holm, who played the android Ash in 1979, for a new character. Álvarez said he had permission from Holm's family, and visual effects work was improved for home video. Álvarez wrote a follow-up script, according to reports. Meanwhile Alien: Earth, an eight-episode FX series created by Noah Hawley, premiered on August 12, 2025, and was renewed for a second season.

Box office and reception

The numbers follow a pattern. The first two films were critical hits: Rotten Tomatoes lists 93 percent approval for each, and Metacritic scores of 89 and 84. The third and fourth films fell to 43 and 55 percent, with CinemaScore audience grades of C and B minus. The prequels recovered partly, at 73 percent for Prometheus and 65 percent for Covenant, and Romulus reached 80 percent. These scores shift over time, and they are best read as a rough guide to how each film was received.

Money tells a similar story. According to figures compiled on the franchise's reference page, worldwide grosses ran from about $188 million for the first film and $183 million for the second, to $160 million and $161 million for the third and fourth, up to $403 million for Prometheus, $242 million for Covenant and $351 million for Romulus. The crossover films earned about $177 million and $130 million. Different sources give different budgets and grosses for older films, so these should be treated as approximate.

Continuity and timeline

Story order and release order do not match. In the in-universe calendar given on the franchise's reference page, Prometheus takes place in 2093 and Covenant in 2104. Alien is set in 2122, Romulus in 2142, and Aliens and Alien 3 in 2179, with Alien Resurrection two centuries later in 2381. The television series Alien: Earth is set in 2120, two years before the first film. The two Predator crossovers are generally treated as a separate line, with their own tangled relationship to the main story.

Fans often watch in release order, which lets each film's style land as it did in its day. A story-order viewing runs the prequels first and is better for following the android and corporate threads than for savoring the horror. Romulus, set between the first two films, can be seen at either point. Because the later films refer back to earlier ones, but no single film is required, the series can be entered almost anywhere.

Where each film stands today

The first film is regarded as a landmark of both science fiction and horror, and its place in the National Film Registry reflects that. Aliens is widely considered one of the great action sequels. Alien 3 is the most reassessed: the Assembly Cut has many defenders and it is generally regarded as stronger than the theatrical cut. Alien Resurrection has a smaller following that values its design and humor.

Prometheus and Covenant remain split, with some viewers valuing their ambition and others missing the original's focus. The crossover films have mostly faded from critical discussion. Romulus was received as a welcome return to form, and Alien: Earth scored highly with critics in its first season. For readers who want to start with the source, the library's entry on Alien covers the 1979 film in depth, while the xenomorph and Ellen Ripley pages follow the monster and the heroine across the series. The series also sits within the creature feature tradition, and its body-horror moments connect it to body horror and to the work of David Cronenberg, whose The Fly shares its mix of transformation and dread.

Verified details

• Aliens was directed by James Cameron and Alien 3 by David Fincher, early in both directors' careers.
• Ridley Scott directed Alien, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
• Alien: Romulus (2024) is set between the first two films.
• The first film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was added to the National Film Registry in 2002.
• Sigourney Weaver received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Aliens.
• Alien 3 was David Fincher's feature debut, and a 144-minute Assembly Cut was released in 2003.
• The idea of a crossover with the Predator series began in a 1989 Dark Horse comic.
• Alien Resurrection was written by Joss Whedon and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
• Alien: Earth, the first television series in the franchise, premiered on August 12, 2025.
• Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was rated R, while the first crossover film was less graphic.

Sources and further reading

• Alien (franchise), Wikipedia
• Alien (film), Wikipedia
• Aliens (film), Wikipedia
• Alien 3, Wikipedia
• Alien Resurrection, Wikipedia
• Prometheus (2012 film), Wikipedia
• Alien: Covenant, Wikipedia
• Alien: Romulus, Wikipedia
• Alien: Earth, Wikipedia