A few months back, Ridley Scott announced that he would follow up his hit sci-fi film The Martian with Prometheus 2. Many had speculated that the sequel would have been the director’s next project, but he then confirmed that the film wouldn’t be called Prometheus 2; instead it would be titled Alien: Paradise Lost. The film put Neill Blomkamp’s planned Alien 5 in a very tough position, forcing the District 9 director to put his Alien film on hold.

Spectre scribe John Logan was recently brought in to do some of the rewrites for the Scott’s sequel, and at the same time a rumor popped up that Alien: Paradise Lost would be getting a new title. Now, Fox has announced that the film won’t be titled Prometheus 2 or Alien: Paradise Lost, but rather Alien: Covenant. More on the story below, including the official synopsis.

When Ridley Scott announced that Prometheus 2 would actually be Alien: Paradise Lost, there were a few wondering what would be happening to Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5. After all Sigourney Weaver did sign on for at least two Alien films, and the actress did speak about the film that would have been a genetic sibling to the first two Alien films. Not to mention Blomkamp recently confirmed that the pulse rifle would be making a return.

But there were rumors that Scott insisted that Prometheus 2 (which is what it was called at the time) be made first. This essentially would have delayed Blomkamp’s Alien 5, giving more time to the director to work on his script. Now that rumor is starting to look more like a reality as Blomkamp has confirmed that his Alien 5 has been delayed indefinitely. More on the story here below.

The Martian
Paperback | Kindle
Written by Andy Weir
Broadway Books
Publication Date: February 11, 2014
Cover Price: $15.00

Let’s get the opinion stuff out of the way: The Martian, the book upon which the recent movie starring Matt Damon is based, is pretty fantastic. The premise, like most science-fiction, doesn’t initially come across as compelling. There’s an astronaut named Mark Watney who, through chance and misfortune, was left for dead on Mars by his team. He’s got to find a way to let humanity know he’s still around, and he’s got to figure out how to survive for as long as possible, hoping all the way that NASA can figure out a way to get him back home.

Rather than yet another science fiction blockbuster epic, Andy Weir‘s novel eschews the grandiose space empire stuff in favor of focus and intimacy. In that respect, The Martian is a minor work with major scope. The author achieves this in some interesting ways. There’s a focus on the “how” things get done. Put another way, Weir’s protagonist, Mark, delivers the action of the story to the reader with both high-level strategic sci-fi love (“I have to generate food”) and then drills down into the tactics of how that’s achieved (“I’ve created 192 square meters of farmland and have 600 liters of water for the potatoes I’m about to plant, which should last me 200 Sols beyond my NASA rations”).

The Martian
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Drew Goddard
Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Chiwetel Ejiofor
20th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 | 141 Minutes
Release Date: October 2, 2015

“It is good to renew one’s wonder, said the philosopher. Space travel has again made children of us all.” – Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

A classic work of twentieth-century literature, 1950’s The Martian Chronicles documents the exploration and colonization of Mars by humans fleeing an unstable Earth. Sixty-five years later, we’re still trying to reach the red planet.

Of course, there have been countless cinematic explorations of Mars: The Angry Red Planet, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Total Recall, Mission to Mars, John Carter – and who could forget Mars Needs Women and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians? And while fantastical these films may be, none of them have transported me to Mars in a way that felt truly and undeniably real.

Enter The Martian. Written by Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) and directed by Ridley Scott (Exodus: Gods and Kings), The Martian is based on Andy Weir‘s 2011 novel of the same name. It is the harrowing story of the first human to colonize Mars, NASA astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon.

While on the promotional tour for The Martian, director Ridley Scott didn’t exactly confirm that Prometheus 2 wold be his next film, but said that his next film would be a part of the Alien franchise.

During a recent interview, the director slipped that his next film will actually be titled Alien: Paradise Lost. This would certainly conflict with the reports that Prometheus 2 would be his next film. This comes off of months of rumors and speculation as to what his next project would be. While much of the news has been focused on Prometheus 2, Scott says the sequel isn’t his next film, but he is still planning for at least three more Prometheus sequels. Instead the director will go back to the film franchise that started it all, Alien.