One of the most popular and enduring horror film series of all time is undoubtedly theAlienfranchise, which began in 1979 withAlienand is still going strong in 2024. Thefranchise’s long and storied history has had its ups and downs, as the series has gone from its relatively simple sci-fi horror roots to thehuge, complicatedAlientimelinewe know today, but one major question with all long-running franchises has been how well the films tend to do when it comes to the box office.
TheAlienfranchise has been surprisingly consistent with its release schedule, releasing movies, whether they be full additions to the franchise or crossovers with other media, every five-to-seven years on average. While the series has never been among the top earners likeStar Warsor the MCU in their prime, each film in theAlienfranchise has been successfulin one way or another, with no massive flops, although that’s not to say there haven’t been some disappointments.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Cast
Aliens vs Predator: Requiem picks up with a PredAlien crashing near a Colorado town, unleashing a deadly wave of Alien offspring. Chaos ensues as a lone Predator arrives to eradicate the infestation and prevent further devastation. Set in the Alien and Predator franchises, this film explores their intergalactic conflict.
With a total earning of $128 million,Aliens vs. Predator: Requiemhas remained the lowest-grossing film in the franchise since its release in 2007.While the firstAlien vs. Predatorfilm performed well and was generally enjoyed by fans of both franchises, butRequiemwas fully unable to recapture that success. The reported budget was $40 million, soRequiemwasn’t a huge flop, but clearly, the poor reviews alone were enough to cause Fox to pull the plug on the franchise.
In order for a film to be considered a financial success, it generally has to earn two to three times its reported budget back at the box office, in order to account for marketing and distribution costs. If a $50 million film makes $51 million, it will still likely lose money.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiemwent wrong in a few ways, chief among them the poor lighting, weak story and characters, and the wasted potential of the Predalien, the half-Xenomorph half-Predator hybrid. However,despite the film’s failure, anAlien vs. Predator 3is still very possiblegiven the continued success of the mainlineAlienfranchise.
Alien 3
Alien³ follows Ellen Ripley as she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak prison planet housing a correctional facility. Stripped of weapons and facing a new alien threat, the inmates must unite with Ripley to survive while awaiting external assistance. Released in 1992, this film continues the iconic sci-fi horror saga.
Alien 3was, obviously, the third film in the franchise, and unfortunately, everything seemed to go wrong before the film even went into production.The film had an extremely troubled development, going through many different screenwriters and directors, before eventually landing on David Fincher for his directorial debut. Filming began before the script had even been finished, and the final product shows it.
The film was widely panned, especially in comparison to the first twoAlienfilms.James Cameron himself said that killing off Newt, Hicks, and Bishop was a “slap in the face” to him and fans ofAliens,whileDavid Fincher has said thatAlien 3was terrible, and that the production was awful for him. While a $159 million return on a $50-60 million budget is nothing to scoff at, the reception and the production issues meant that changes had to be made to keep the franchise going.
Alien Resurrection
Alien Resurrection is the fourth installment in the Alien franchise, featuring Sigourney Weaver as a cloned version of Ellen Ripley. Set 200 years after her death, the film follows a team of scientists who resurrect Ripley, leading to unforeseen consequences and a battle to prevent aliens from reaching Earth.
Alien Resurrectioncame out as the last of the originalAlienseries in 1997. The film continued the franchise’s lack of consistency when it came to directors, soAlien: Resurrectionhad French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunettaking the reins. It was the final film to star Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, and unfortunately, likeAlien 3, it also wasn’t able to live up to the original duology, arriving to very mixed reviews from critics and audiences.
By the fourth film in the series, the franchise was clearly becoming stale for many, and althoughResurrectionmade slightly more money thanAlien 3, it also had an inflated budget of around $70 million. Without seeing significantly more box office success than the previous movie, and with the continued lack of support from critics and audiences,it became clear that theAlienfranchise was going to have to be shelved for some time.
AVP: Alien vs. Predator
AVP: Alien vs. Predator, released in 2004, follows a research team’s expedition to the Arctic, where they discover a buried pyramid. Unbeknownst to them, the site serves as a battleground where the Predators hunt Aliens, thrusting the team into a deadly interspecies conflict.
AVP: Alien vs. Predatorwas the first film released in theAlienfranchise to not feature Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley.Since the last two mainline films hadn’t been getting the praise of the original, Fox decided to take theAlienfranchise in a new direction entirely, and that was to crossover with the already very successfulPredatorfranchise. The crossover felt so natural, to have this exceptionally skilled group of hunters face off against theultimate life forms, the Xenomorphs.
It doesn’t share much of its DNA with the previous movies.
While few could say thatAlien vs. Predatoris a great artistic achievement, seeing these two classic movie icons face off against each other is still a delight. It doesn’t share much of its DNA with the previous movies, which tended towards more character-driven stories, butthe monstrous action remains an enduring appeal of the franchise as a whole, andAlien vs. Predatorhas that in spades.
Aliens
Aliens, released in 1986, follows Ripley as she joins a group of Colonial Marines returning to LV-426, site of her previous encounter with the extraterrestrial species. Having been in hypersleep for 57 years, her story of survival is met with doubt, yet she assists in confronting the new threat.
Aliensis the second film in the franchise, and for many, it is still the very pinnacle of the series.Written and directed by James Cameron, taking over from Ridley Scott,Alienstakes the original film’s concept, characters, and world and greatly expands them, giving the universe a depth that hadn’t been fully explored inAlien,introducing characters like Newt and Bishop, as well as debuting the Xenomorph Queen.
How Ian Holm Was Recreated For Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus featured a surprising character return, and a mix of animatronics, CGI, and an actor using facial capture helped to resurrect Holm.
Alienswas made on a production budget of $18.5 million, and as such, the $183 million return has made this movie a massive success.The film originally debuted at $85 million at the box office, but its many rereleases in international markets have boosted that number considerably.Aliensshowed that the franchise was not just a one-hit wonder, that there were plenty more stories to tell in this universe, and is certainly one reason that the franchise has kept going to this day.
Alien
Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, is a science fiction horror film that follows the crew of the commercial spacecraft Nostromo. Upon investigating a distress signal on a distant moon, they discover a deadly extraterrestrial lifeform. The film stars Sigourney Weaver as Ripley and became a seminal work in both the sci-fi and horror genres, known for its atmospheric tension and groundbreaking visual effects.
As the film that started it all back in 1979,Alienwas a pretty big hit when it was released. On a budget of $11 million, which at the time would have been quite a bit of money, the film’s original release alone made $78 million, which, if it were to be adjusted for inflation, would easily beat out the rest of the franchise. The film’s status as an absolute success helped propel both Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver into stardom, despite the fact that reviews were actually a little mixed when the film initially released.
Aliencould easily be in the conversation for the greatest movies of all time, and its success has led to the nearly 50-year-old franchise we know today.This first film created one of thebest movie aliens of all time,and showed off a gritty, more grounded sci-fi world, a far cry from many other sci-fi properties at the time, likeStar WarsorStar Trek.
Alien: Covenant
Alien: Covenant, directed by Ridley Scott, follows the crew of the colony ship Covenant as they discover an uncharted planet. Initially seeming like a paradise, the planet soon reveals dark secrets. Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender, and Billy Crudup lead the cast in this science fiction horror film, which serves as a direct sequel to Prometheus and continues to explore the origins of the Alien species.
As a film that has made significantly more than some of the most beloved movies on this list, saying thatAlien: Covenantis the biggest financial disappointment of the franchise might seem like a stretch, but by all accounts, it’s true.Alien: Covenantcame out in 2017, well into the modern era of Hollywood, where films were making billions of dollars left and right. Off the back ofPrometheus, Fox poured around $100 million into this film, hoping to continue to build off the success of the franchise.
Direct sequels to this film were still being considered by Ridley Scott and the studio in the years following, but when Disney completed its Fox acquisition in 2019.
Unfortunately, off the back of the mixed reviews of the previous film,audiences were hesitant to see this film, and when it seemed to just be much more of the same,Covenantfell by the wayside, making significantly less thanPrometheus. Direct sequels to this film were still being considered by Ridley Scott and the studio in the years following, but when Disney completed its Fox acquisition in 2019, thoseCovenantsequels were shelved.
Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
Alien: Romuluswas the firstAlienproject to be released by Disney, following the financial flop ofAlien: Covenant.The film marked a return to form for the franchise for many, creating a story much more akin toAlienorAliensthanPrometheusandCovenant,without ignoring what was set up in those sequel films. The film was a huge success, making $350 million on a relatively small (by modern standards) budget of $80 million.
How Many Aliens Are On The Romulus Space Station
Alien: Romulus has been hailed as a return to form for the long-running franchise, but how many of the iconic aliens does Romulus actually have?
Alien: Romulus' financial successalso managed to revitalize the series as a whole.After the disappointment ofCovenantand the Disney acquisition, the future of the franchise was unclear. While the seven-year break betweenRomulusandCovenantwasn’t abnormal for the series, in today’s media landscape, that long of a gap between films is a gamble, especially because the franchise seemed like it may have been running out of steam.
Prometheus
Prometheus, released in 2012, is a science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. It follows a team of explorers as they uncover clues about humanity’s origins, embarking on a perilous interstellar expedition where they confront formidable challenges to secure the future of mankind.
Prometheuscame out at just the right time to be a huge hit for the franchise.The previousAlienfilm wasAlien vs. Predator: Requiem, a movie that saw very limited success. Audiences were looking to see what was next for the series, and having Ridley Scott, the director of the first film in the series, back to tell another story in the universe, gave many people reason to be excited about this film.
From the outset,Prometheusseemed to be something very different, not simply repeating the same plot points and story that had been told in the first fourAlienmovies. Despite the more mixed reviews of the film, attaching Ridley Scott to the project and ensuringPrometheusasked enough questions and left enough mysteriesunsolvedwas clearly enough to make the film a huge hit, and one of the biggest successes in theAlienfranchise.
