Director Fede Alvarez’s new Alien film has been given a 2024 theatrical release date despite originally being planned for Hulu.

Director Fede Alvarez should now be in production on the new movie in the Alien franchise, a project which may or may not be called Alien: Romulus. Originally designed to debut on Hulu, Disney recently announced an August 16, 2024 theatrical release date for the movie, which bodes well for its quality. So as a filmmaker who’s known for moments of brutal, cringe-inducing violence works to bring the Xenomorphs back to our screens, we decided it was time to put together an article that keeps track of Everything We Know About Fede Alvarez’s New Alien Movie.

(WORKING?) TITLE

First, we have to address whether or not Alien: Romulus is really the movie’s title. The fact is, we don’t know. It could very well be a working title or a codename title that will end up being changed down the line. The first time we ever saw the Alien: Romulus title was on a production listing that was posted by the Film & Television Industry Alliance. That listing also said the movie would begin filming in Budapest, Hungary on February 6th… and while the production start date got pushed back to March 9th, filming is indeed taking place in Budapest, Hungary. The location information was correct, now we’ll have to wait and see if the title sticks as well. “Romulus” brings to mind two things, neither of which are likely to have any bearing on what the movie is about: Romulus was the name of the founder and first king of Rome, and it’s the name of a planet in the Star Trek universe.

YOUNG CHARACTERS IN PERIL

Alvarez put young characters through the wringer in his films Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe, and it looks like he’s going to be doing exactly the same thing in his new Alien movie. Every announced cast member in this film seems to be in their 20s (going by birthdates available online), and The Hollywood Reporter says that “as opposed to the other movies which focused on adults in corporate, militaristic and scientific roles, this now-ninth installment of the franchise will focus on a group of young people. On a distant colony, the group finds themselves in a fight for their lives with the titular alien, a creature known as a Xenomorph, whose race propagates by implanting eggs into people’s stomachs via face-huggers, with the juveniles eventually violently bursting out of the host’s chest.” Will this be the Alien equivalent of a slumber party slasher?

The cast consists of Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), Aileen Wu (Away from Home), and Isabela Merced (Rosaline).

THE OTHER IDEAS

There were several directions the Alien franchise could have gone after the release of 2017’s Alien: Covenant. Although that film didn’t go over well with fans or critics, it did okay at the box office ($240 million worldwide) and Alien director Ridley Scott wanted to make a direct sequel. A chance to wrap up the Alien prequel trilogy he had begun with Prometheus and continued with Alien: Covenant. So that could have happened. Alternatively, the studio could have chosen to revive the Alien 5 project Neill Blomkamp had been developing, which would have brought Sigourney Weaver back as franchise heroine Ripley and given Michael Biehn’s Hicks character from Aliens a different fate than the one we had seen in Alien 3. Blomkamp’s ideas had a lot of fan support (and support from Weaver and Biehn), but it was put on ice because Scott wanted the focus to be on his prequel trilogy. Which ran into a dead end anyway. Another filmmaker who wanted to make an Alien sequel that would have brought Weaver back as Ripley was Walter Hill, who has been a producer on every Alien movie (and got writing credits on Aliens and Alien 3). Hill wrote a 50-page Alien 5 treatment with fellow franchise producer David Giler, who has since passed away, but somehow it didn’t gain any traction. So by getting his Alien movie into production, Alvarez has beaten competition from the likes of Ridley Scott, Neill Blomkamp, and Walter Hill.

THE PITCH STUCK WITH RIDLEY SCOTT

We may not know exactly what Alvarez’s story is, but we do know the pitch made an impact on Ridley Scott, who is producing the movie that could be called Alien: Romulus. Apparently Alvarez told Scott his idea for how to approach a new Alien movie years ago and it was stuck with him. In 2021, Scott called Alvarez and asked him if he was still willing to make that Alien movie. Obviously he was. 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell had said that they decided to move forward with the project “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch”, as it’s “just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”

NO CONNECTION TO OTHER ALIEN FILMS

Sources say that the script Alvarez has written with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues doesn’t have any connection to the previous Alien movies – except, of course, for the presence of the Xenomorph. So we shouldn’t expect to see any tie-ins with the Scott prequels, the adventures of Ripley, or the Predator crossovers. However, doesn’t the story about a distant colony being stricken with a Xenomorph problem sound a lot like what happened on LV-426 before Ripley and the Colonial Marines showed up in Aliens? This is only speculation, but Alvarez could be cooking up a surprise “mid-quel” that takes place within the timeframe of Aliens. The story of the downfall of LV-426. But, maybe it really is a completely different colony. Maybe the sources aren’t trying to throw us off the trail and the movie really doesn’t have any connection to previous installments.

THEATRICAL RELEASE

Unlike last year’s new Predator movie Prey, the new Alien movie is going to be released theatrically, with the Mouse House giving the film an August 16, 2024 date. This is similar to what the studio did with Barbarian, which grossed $45 million on a $4.5 million budget, and their recent The Boogeyman, which has already raked in $25 million and counting. Many think Prey would have been a blockbuster had it gotten a theatrical release, as people still prefer to see their scary movies in a dark theater. As anyone who’s ever watched an Alien film theatrically can tell you, that’s always the best way.

TV SERIES

While the movie may be hitting theaters, we’ll still be getting some xenomorph content on Hulu, with Noah Hawley’s (Fargo) Alien TV series having recently cast its lead, Sydney Chandler. That show is set on Earth, with FX CEO John Landgraf teasing that the series takes place about seventy years from now, and will not feature any characters from the movies. However, the infamous Weylan-Yutani corporation will still be involved. Currently, the show has no release date and likely will only premiere after the new Alien movie comes out.

Are you looking forward to watching a new Alien movie that leans into pure horror territory as Fede Alvarez sets the Xenomorph lose on a group of young colony residents? Share your thoughts on this project by leaving a comment below.

Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, and Adam Devine lead the voice cast for Fixed, an animated R-rated comedy from Genndy Tartakovsky.

Genndy Tartakovsky, the man behind Hotel Transylvania, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Dexter’s Laboratory, Primal, and Samurai Jack, is in the midst of production on Fixed, an R-rated animated comedy that has landed a great voice cast. Variety reports that Adam Devine, Idris Elba, and Kathryn Hahn will be leading the project for New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures Animation.

Fixed revolves around Bull, “an average dog who discovers he’s going to be neutered in the morning. As the gravity of this life-altering event sets in, Bull realizes he needs one last adventure with his pack of best friends as these are the last 24 hours with his balls.” Genndy Tartakovsky told Variety that “some people might get uncomfortable,” but added that “if you can look past the balls and the buttholes, you will find a very sweet, charming, sincere story of friendship and romance.“

Adam Devine will voice Bull, with Idris Elba voicing his buddy Rocco and Kathryn Hahn voicing Bull’s love interest Honey. Producer Michelle Murdocca said, “When Kathryn decided to do it, she told us: ‘I want to be just like the guys. I don’t want to be the sweet girl in the background who doesn’t have any depth to her. Make her a little raunchier.’ Hiring her made this character come alive.” The rest of the cast includes Bobby Moynihan as Lucky, Fred Armisen as Fetch, Beck Bennett as Sterling, River Gallo as Frankie, and Michelle Buteau as Molasses. “I have been doing this for 30 years and when you find someone who knows comedic timing as a voice actor, it’s everything. It makes our job so much easier,” Tartakovsky said.

In a world full of elaborate 3D animated movies, Fixed will be proudly 2D. Genndy Tartakovsky called Fixed a love letter to Bugs Bunny, Tex Avery, and 1950s Disney movies, adding that they were “able to secure animators we never thought we would be able to get. That’s when it became very exciting.” Although Tartakovsky has dipped his toe in adult animation before, he has spent most of his career doing television for a younger audience. For those projects, he could never cross a boundary, but for Fixed, “everything had to be over that boundary.” No matter how raunchy Fixed may be, Tartakovsky just wants to make the audience laugh. “Comedy is the hardest thing, always, but in animation, you create it from nothing,” he said. “It’s why I got into it. I could draw a little stick figure running, my friends would look over my shoulder and laugh. It’s such an amazing illusion.“

Zazie Beetz confirms that she won’t be reprising her role of Domino for Deadpool 3, but is excited to watch it.

Deadpool 3 will feature the return of a number of actors from the previous movies, but Zazie Beetz won’t be one of them.

While speaking with Decider at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her limited-series Full Circle, Zazie Beetz was asked if the ongoing WGA strike was affecting Ryan Reynolds’ ability to improvise on the Deadpool 3 set. “Well I’m actually not in Deadpool 3, so I don’t know what they’re doing [about improvisation],” Beetz said. “I’m assuming they’re probably taking a pause. […] I’m excited to watch it.” Beetz played Domino in Deadpool 2, a mutant mercenary with the ability to manipulate luck.

While the WGA strike has prompted many movies and TV shows to hit pause while a deal between screenwriters and the studios can be worked out, Deadpool 3 is apparently still trucking ahead. As Ryan Reynolds is a credited writer on the film, this has led some to report that the actor won’t “legally” be able to improvise on the film. I guess that’s what reshoots and ADR are for.

Although Zazie Beetz may not be back for Deadpool 3, the sequel will see the return of Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter.

Of course, the biggest addition to the cast is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who finally broke down after being pestered by Ryan Reynolds for so many years. Reynolds recently said that Deadpool 3 will present a new challenge for Jackman. “I think [Jackman] was excited and what we pitched him was enough of a divergence from the character that he knows and the character that he’s left behind,” Reynolds said, “that it gives him something completely new to play and something that he’s really excited to do.” Clearly, all that pestering paid off. “I mean, I never stopped,” Reynolds said. “I was just pestering him like a gnat over the last many years. I actually just think… I believe in timing … and I think he was ready.“

Deadpool 3 was originally set to hit theaters on November 8, 2024, but Disney recently bumped the movie up to a May 3, 2024 release. As nearly every other movie on Disney’s slate was pushed back, sometimes by years, it was interesting to see the Deadpool sequel move up.

Quentin Tarantino will cut off ears and bring out the gimp all day, but stops short of enjoying onscreen violence when it comes to animals.

Early on, Quentin Tarantino became a pariah for the level of violence depicted in movies – almost always from people who don’t understand how movie violence works, what the director intended with their usage and so on. And while his films have boasted some truly memorable scenes of it (from Reservoir Dogs’ ear scene to Rick Dalton taking a flamethrower to some home invaders in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Tarantino will never be down with violence towards animals.

During a conversation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (excerpts via Variety) – where Quentin Tarantino hosted a surprise special screening of John Flynn’s terrific Rolling Thunder (1977) – the writer/director/budding movie critic put a foot down when it came to watching animals be harmed onscreen. On that form of deliberate violence, Tarantino said, “I have a big thing about killing animals in movies. That’s a bridge I can’t cross…Insects too. Unless I’m paying to see some bizzarro documentary, I’m not paying to see real death. Part of the way that this all works is that it’s all just make believe. That’s why I can stand the violent scenes, cause we’re all just f*cking around.” He added, “Some animal, some dog, some llama, some fly, some rat, doesn’t give a f*ck about your movie…I’d kill a million rats, but I don’t necessarily want to kill one in a movie or see one killed in a movie, because I’m not paying to see real death.” Notably, Tarantino has played Cannibal Holocaust at his New Beverly Cinema, a movie infamous for its onscreen murders of turtles, monkeys, pigs, and more.

Tragically, a countless number of purposeful animal deaths have occurred onscreen, going back to at least 1903’s Electrocuting an Elephant, which isn’t exactly subtle in its title. Most, fortunately, are not deliberate. Tarantino himself – who has made use of horses in a number of pictures now, most recently in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – must be proud that no animals have been harmed in the making of his movies.

Adding to his views on animal violence, Tarantino said, “Almost always, it’s not just the violence that I have a problem with…There’s usually an incompetence factor in there.” Incompetency and mistreatment leading to deaths of animals on movie and television sets has been going on for decades and decades – what, you thought the Ben-Hur horses put on Icy Hot and trotted back home? Despite regulations put in place after 1980’s Heaven’s Gate, there have of course still been many animal deaths on sets, whether as a result of mistreatment or other circumstances. But we can’t just use CGI horses all the time!

Are you on the same page as Quentin Tarantino when it comes to animal violence? Do you purposely steer clear of movies that depict intentional mistreatment? Let us know in the comments section below.