On hiatus from the fright-film industry, I think we are all glad to see Ridley Scott return to this realm with Prometheus. Somebody should have told him a while ago to lay off the partycasino.com, and get back to what he knows—films! If there is one thing Scott should be noted for, it is his masterfully-crafted ability to blend the Sci-Fi and Horror genres into a cinematically-spectacular experience for viewers. Luckily, to say that Prometheus was a hit would be a complete understatement. It might even be safe to say, “He’s Back!”
To further exemplify this, for those of us who saw Prometheus know that Scott ended the movie with Elizabeth Shaw embarking on a journey into the unknown, hoping to track down the Engineers. With questions still left to be answered, and a fate unknown to us, it seems as though there is still a story to tell (or at least finish). I don’t know about you, but to me, this seems like the perfect opportunity for a sequel to Prometheus to evolve.
Even better, Scott personally hinted to the idea of a Prometheus sequel in an interview with publishing giant, Metro, when he says, “Prometheus evolved into a whole other universe.” He goes on, mentioning how Shaw still has the head of David, which is still fully functioning. Furthermore, the detached-head is completely capable of assisting Shaw in the reattaching the head to its body, which of course means that David is dangerous once again. Not to mention, there is still the begging question—“Who are the engineers?”
After the initial hint to a sequel, Scott moved into a discussion of film-making, and how he prefers digital film-making, as well as 3D viewing. So if you loved the look, the feel, and the overall aesthetic qualities of Prometheus, you will most likely enjoy the sequel since it appears Scott will stick with the same tendencies in his film-making. Not only is talk of a Prometheus sequel buzzing around the cinema scene, but Scott also verifies that Blade Runner will also see a sequel too.
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While development is still presumably in its early stages, Prometheus co-screenwriter Damon Lindelof has officially ruled himself out of working on the sequel.
Speaking to Collider, he says:
“The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in. The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting. But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”
I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does. I don’t have the capability. I’m usually very single-minded creatively. I can only be working on one thing at a time. So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff. And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.” And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.” He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him. But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.”
I think that’s a shame. While many were frustrated by perceived shortcomings in Prometheus’s script, I like what Lindelof did. Not all of his revisions to Jon Spaihts’s script were ideal, but overall he elevated the movie away from a general Alien movie into something that could stand alone and head off in its own direction.
On the other hand, given some of the vitriol sent his way, I don’t blame him for wanting to step away. It’s pretty clear that the basics have already been thought out for the sequel’s storyline, and hopefully Lindelof at least played a part in that. And who knows, maybe he might be persuaded to come back for a little script polish if it’s needed!
While Fox have confirmed that a sequel is in development, an exact release date is yet to be set. We’ll bring you more as we get it!
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In a round-up of this summer’s box office, The Hollywood Reporter got confirmation from Fox that a Prometheus sequel is being actively developed:
Fox confirms to THR that Scott and the studio actively are pushing ahead with a follow-up (stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace are signed) and are talking to new writers because Prometheus co-scribe Damon Lindelof might not be available. “Ridley is incredibly excited about the movie, but we have to get it right. We can’t rush it,” says Fox president of production Emma Watts, who also has overseen the successful reboots of the X-Men and Planet of the Apes franchises. A Prometheus sequel would be released in 2014 or 2015.
Fantastic news – though let’s not confuse development with active production – but let’s hope they don’t rush things too much – there’s much more story to tell, and I’d rather wait for them to get it right!
Thanks to seeasea for the heads up!
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While pretty modest by some movies’ standards (The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises spring to mind), Prometheus has finally achieved a respectable $300 million in worldwide box office takings.
It won’t break any records, but Prometheus hasn’t performed too badly. We’ve covered the opening weekend in detail here, but, in summary, despite opening against Madagascar 3, which by its nature automatically has a much larger potential audience, Prometheus still managed a higher per-screen average – not bad for an R-rated movie, and a franchise that many believed had outstayed its welcome.
As of July 22nd, the total box office tally stood at $300,209,887. This is made up of $125,113,489 (41.7%) in the USA and Canada, with $175,096,398 (58.3%) in foreign takings.
Fox will no doubt be paying close attention to the success of the upcoming Blu-ray & DVD release before making any final decisions, but it would seem that, schedules permitting, a sequel is pretty much assured.
Prometheus is directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Patrick Wilson and Kate Dickie, and is now on release around the world.
Box office figures from Box Office Mojo.
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So, Prometheus has been on wide release around the world since the beginning of June, and with just a few countries left to see the movie, the hype-dust has just about settled.
Now seems like a good time to take a look at the box office performance, and see how this will affect the chances of a sequel.
At the time of writing, the movie is number one in a few countries, including the UK, but it’s normally the US box office performance that’s dissected, so that’s where we’ll start.
In the US, Prometheus opened to very good, but not stellar performance. Moreover, it was beaten by, of all things, Madagascar 3. Let’s look at the details.
Madagascar is of course a family film, which automatically gives it a MUCH wider audience than Prometheus. You could reasonably expect Prometheus to suffer badly. However, that’s not actually the case. Madagascar made $60,316,738 in its opening weekend, across 4258 screens, for a per-screen average of $14,166.
By contrast, Prometheus pulled in a lower $51,050,101, which looks bad. But that was on fewer screens – 3396 – giving it a higher per-screen average of $15,032.
So, with just under 80% of the number of screens that Madagascar 3 had, it takes nearly 85% of the money. Not bad at all, especially for an R-rated movie with an inherently much smaller audience.
That’s just opening weekend of course. How’s Prometheus doing now? Well, at the time of writing, the total worldwide box office currently stands at around $218m. That’s with an estimated budget of around $130, which is actually pretty modest, and compares well to Madagascar 3′s $145m (for an ANIMATED film!). Factor in those countries where the film is yet to be released, home video sales, TV rights, streaming & download rights, merch, soundtrack sales and so on, and Fox is surely looking at a tidy profit.
Scott and co have already publicly said that plans for a sequel story are already in place, and with the box office take heading in the right direction, I have a feeling we’ll hear word on a sequel pretty soon.
What’s not known of course, is when Scott might fit this in to his schedule – with The Councillor getting ready to film, and the Blade Runner sequel in active development, Prometheus may have to wait a couple of years. Of course Fox may make Scott an offer he can’t refuse to fast-track it, or he could shepherd the project as producer, but hand over the directorial duties to someone else.
Your thoughts, as always, are welcome!
Box office figures courtesy Box Office Mojo
Prometheus is directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Patrick Wilson and Kate Dickie, and is now on release around the world.
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Time have published an interview with Prometheus co-screenwriter where he specifically discusses the end of the the film and where a sequel might lead.
BE WARNED – SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!
TIME: In that final scene, David wants to go to Earth, and Elizabeth wants to go to the alien home world. Where do you think they’re going?
Lindelof: I think they’re going where she wants to go. His fundamental programming has been scrapped. Weyland [the man who built and programmed him] is dead and so now his programming is coming from God knows where. Is he being programmed by Elizabeth, or is it his own internal curiosity now that Weyland isn’t telling him what to do any more? He’s always been interested in Elizabeth, remember that: He’s watching her dreams when she’s sleeping in much the same way that he watches Lawrence of Arabia. He’s a strange robot that has a curious crush on a human being, and when Weyland is eliminated, I think he is genuinely interested in what she’s interested in. He reaches out partly for survival, but partly out of curiosity, and I think he’s sincere that he’ll take her wherever she wants to go.
Thanks again to seeasea for the link!
Prometheus is directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Patrick Wilson and Kate Dickie, and is now on release around the world.
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Talking on the Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo film show on the UK’s BBC Radio 5 Live, Ridley Scott talked a little more about the links between Prometheus and Alien, and one little nugget suggests he may have plans for not one, but two sequels!
Talking about how the end of Prometheus links to Alien, he said that should the film be a success:
“There’ll be two more of these before you even get to Alien 1″
Sounds like he and the writers have quite a details story arc planned out!
Prometheus is directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Patrick Wilson and Kate Dickie, and is due for release on June 8th 2012 in the USA, and June 1st 2012 in the UK.
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The chaps from Hey U Guys were at the Prometheus premiere in London last night, and managed to have a few words with Producer Michael Costigan, who, among other things, touched on what the future holds for Prometheus, in terms of sequels, a director’s cut and Blu-ray extras.
Prometheus explores a lot of different ideas, and a lot of different themes. Do you think that you’ve got enough material for a sequel?There is so much already packed into the film.
Sequels are hard. We should be so fortunate to have that problem is the short answer, the longer answer is, yeah of course there’s enough different ideas. You meet these makers, but you don’t know that much more about them, so there’s a larger story to be told about them in the future, and our relationship to them. I think one of the biggest questions, but this is getting ahead of ourselves, is why they stopped coming? If they came once, why didn’t they come again? There’s plenty of questions. That’s what Noomi’s asking about at the end of the film, and what she’s asking at the end of the film, there’s 15 movies in that. Certainly one more.
Obviously Ridley’s known for doing director’s cuts of his films, quite epic long ones. This comes in at two hours, so how much is on the cutting room floor, and how much will we get on the Blu-Ray?
The nature of those director’s cuts has changed with Blu-Ray. There’s certainly some additional material that can be added, I think enhance a few things. It’ll be to show more, it won’t be because he feels dissatisfied with this cut, this is the cut he stands by and loves, there’s no major secret looming that hasn’t been included – at least not that comes to the top of my head. There’ll be some goodies. I think also in this one, a lot of the things we’ve explored in the viral pieces, have also given him – I think that’s what’s been so satisfying for him. What’s so satisfying about the process is that some of the things a director looks to do, those viral films allow you to kind of explore some different ideas.
So they weren’t generated by the marketing department then?
No, they were 100% led by us. That was working with Ridley on the script, and frequently different ideas would pop up, that you knew, in building the mythology for this movie, it’s a two hour movie, there’s a limit to how much can make it into the film, and so different ideas were accrued over time, and we logged them. We started making those movies while we were shooting the film.
Did Ridley direct them?
No he did not, no. A couple of brilliant [Ridley Scott Associates] directors did. We were fortunate to do it, and our cast was incredibly gracious about participating in them.
Do you think we may get to see some more of those then?
That’s a good question, you should be demanding those before the Blu-Ray. I would hope, if there’s anything additional on the Blu-Ray, it should be more of those.
There’s more to read here.
Thanks again to seeasea for the link!
Prometheus is directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Patrick Wilson and Kate Dickie, and is due for release on June 8th 2012 in the USA, and June 1st 2012 in the UK.
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After yesterday’s… unexptected announcment that Ridley Scott has signed on to direct a new Blade Runner project, more details are now emerign on how the project came about.
The LA Times provides some background on producer Andrew Kosove’s efforts to snag the legendary filmmaker.
“Here’s how it went down. As Kosove and his partners were locking down rights to the movie about replicants in 2019 Los Angeles along with the Philip K. Dick novel on which it was based, they called an executive at Scott Free, Ridley and Tony Scott’s production company. The Alcon people simply wanted to see if Ridley would sit down with them.
The filmmaker agreed, and shortly after the rights deal closed in March, Kosove and his partner Broderick Johnson flew to London to meet with the director.
Over the course of one meeting, they hashed out how a new film would look, how it could avoid seeming too similar to the many movies that have since paid homage to the original, and how different the new film should be from the original itself. They eventually decided it should stand as separately as possible.”
So, it would seem that Scott is taking an approach similar to that of Prometheus; not a direct sequel or prequel as such, but more a ‘companion piece’, inhabiting the same cinematic universe as Blade Runner.
In terms of schedule, while the film is on what might be classed as a fast-track in Hollywood terms, Kosove reckons that with the amount of work needed – getting a script that everyone is happy with, casting and a no doubt heroic bout of pre-production design work – the film is unlikely to begin filming before early 2013, giving us a release sometime in 2014 at the earliest.
As for the big question of Harrison Ford’s involvement, according to Kosove:
“In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott, but if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting”
Finally, Kosove addresses fan concerns on returning to such a well-loved film:
“When we made the first announcement there was a lot of skepticism, understandably. And now with Ridley coming back there’s a greater level of comfort. And once we have the writer, I think fans will feel even more comfortable. We want people to know that we’re very serious about doing this in an artistic way. This isn’t just commercial fodder”
Well, Kosove is certainly making all the right noises here, and, as with Prometheus, I don’t think Scott would risk his reputation on this project if he didn’t think it was worth doing. Time will tell of course, but for now at least it seems like this could turn out to be another worthy return to past glories for Scott
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Ridley Scott
Back in 2009 the New York Times reported that Ridley Scott was working on a web video series set in the universe established in Blade Runner.
Then, in March 2011 it was reported that Warner Bros-based Alcon Entertainment were working on securing the rights to make prequels and/or sequels to Scott’s seminal sci-fi film.
Now it seems that things have finally fallen into place, as it’s being reported that not only have those rights been secured, but Scott is onboard to direct a new Blade Runner movie!
It’s not known at this stage whether the film will be a direct prequel or sequel, or, in the the style of Prometheus, simply set in the same ‘universe’. All we do know at the moment is that the film WON’T be a remake; Alcon’s rights don’t cover that.
While, as with another Alien movie, the merits of Blade Runner film are a matter of personal opinion, the fact that Scott is onboard is enough to calm the nerves; after all, what’s been seen so far of Prometheus has pretty much universally silenced those who were originally against another entry in the Alien franchise.
While there may not be a script yet, one can imagine that story ideas must be far enough advanced to grab Scott’s interest and get him onboard. We may well see this project go the way of the original plans for an Alien prequel, which eventually became Prometheus. Will we now be teased by Scott’s indication of a new film containing Blade Runner DNA?
Stay tuned and hopefully all will be revealed as work on Prometheus comes to a close.
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