20th Century Studios' upcoming Alien movie starring Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown) began production in Budapest back in March with Evil Dead and Don't Breathe director Fede Alvarez behind the camera directing the carnage.
David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), Aileen Wu (Away from Home), and Isabela Merced (Rosaline) also star in a movie that an official synopsis has described as follows: "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."
The filmmaker celebrated "Alien Day" yesterday (via SFFGazette.com) with a new behind-the-scenes look at the movie which appears to suggest the story will take place aboard a ship with at least one iconic Facehugger on the loose.
The second stage in the Xenomorph's life cycle, it exists solely to implant a Chestburster within a living host creature through their mouth. It can spit acid, but must rely on stealth, surprise or its victims being previously immobilized by an attacker to achieve implantation. They're nasty little blighters and we're hoping this photo is an indication the movie will boast practical effects.
As noted Alvarez directs from a screenplay he wrote with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues. Ridley Scott, who directed the original Alien and produced and directed the aforementioned latest two instalments, and Michael Pruss (Boston Strangler) are producing under their Scott Free banner.
Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), Elizabeth Cantillon (Persuasion) and Tom Moran (The Donut King) all serve as executive producers.
It's previously been reported that Alvarez pitched a new Alien movie to Scott several years ago, with the legendary filmmaker later reaching out to make it a reality. We'd be shocked if there isn't some connective tissue to the original franchise here, but don't anticipate any of these characters having "Ripley" as a surname.
We don't have a release date for the movie and it's unclear whether this will be a theatrical release or, like Prey, one that heads straight to streaming platform Hulu.