When you consider the biggest and most successful Hollywood blockbusters, you have to hand it to the producers who ultimately decided to get them made. It’s the producer’s job to choose a script from the thousands submitted daily, sell the concept to a studio, secure funding and even hire the key personnel including the director and the marquees actors.
Then, once the film goes into production there is absolutely no guarantee the finished film will resonate with audiences around the world, never mind turn a profit. This is why being a Hollywood producer requires balls of steel, and why the most successful ones are so sought after. There is a perception surrounding them that “whatever they touch, turns to gold”.
Alien vs. Predator grossed $172.5 Million in 2004
Take, for instance, the four producers who made box office gold in 2004 when their film Alien vs. Predator grossed $172.5 million against a budget of $60 million. If there was any doubt about this Alien vs. Predator ‘mashup, ’producers John Davis, Walter Hill, Gordon Carroll and David Giler never let on as they oversaw the project’s completion and success.
Of course, although Alien vs. Predator received mostly negative reviews from critics around the world, fans of the respective franchises seem to embrace the film for the most part to ensure that it more than doubled its production cost. Like the other alien and predator films that came before, this film has since achieved something of a cult status across the world.
Aliens has Even Been Adapted into an Online Video Slots
In the case of Alien, for instance, this epic film was even adopted by the online gambling industry in the form of Aliens slots, a featured-filled 3 row 5 reel 15 pay line online video slot game. Designed and released by Swedish casino game developer NetEnt, Aliens slots can be played for real money or for free in demo mode and has Wilds, Multipliers and Re-spins.
You can find out where you can play this game for free and many other top quality titles just like it only at Nodepositfriend.com. Sadly, while there do not appear to be any plans for more Alien vs. Predator sequels anytime soon, this writer has a cracking idea for one. This idea of mine, which is laid out below, may be ‘borrowed’ by any Hollywood scriptwriter.
A Possessed Starship Could be the 3rd Protagonist
Imagine, if you will, a sequel to this film that doesn’t just involve a new galaxy, time or the teaming up of these horrifying species, but the addition of a new and unexpected opponent. I am referring to the most evil and terrifying vessel ever conceived - the Event Horizon as a third protagonist to make the perfect versus trifecta in this bold alien horror franchise.
If you’re unfamiliar with Event Horizon, brace yourself as you find out about one of the most chilling films made in the last millennium. This flick has sent more shivers down more spines than the first time Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) came face to face with the original alien in 1979, or Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) faced off with the original predator in 1987.
Event Horizon was Released in 1997
Before I describe the gist of my Alien vs. Predator vs. Event Horizon horror extravaganza, here is a brief recap of Event Horizon which was released in 1997, so spoiler alert. I do, in the name of full disclosure, however, have to point out that Event Horizon was not a box office hit. In fact, it lost money and was not particularly embraced by critics or fans.
However, I believe its premise is still one of the scariest ever captured on celluloid which is why I believe it would work so well in a new Alien vs. Predator reboot. The film opens in the year 2047, when a rescue ship Lewis and Clark is dispatched to investigate a distress signal from Event Horizon, a star ship that went missing 7 years before on its maiden voyage.
Crew Warned to Save Themselves from Hell
What the Lewis and Clark crew discovers on board will change their lives forever, as it soon becomes apparent that the ship’s crew massacred each other for no discernible reason. The mystery surrounding the ship only becomes more sinister when a video log is discovered of the captain mutilating himself while uttering the Latin phrase for “save yourself from hell.”
It’s at this point that members of the rescue ship begin to suffer various hallucinations, each tied in to their own paranoias and fears. The crew eventually realises that the experimental gravity drive used to power the Event Horizon somehow opened a gateway into a hell-like dimension, rendering the ship itself evil and on a mission to destroy all who are aboard.
My Vision is Alien vs. Predator vs. Event Horizon
I won’t spoil the ending suffice to say the Event Horizon remains intact, ready and waiting to reprise its role in my envisioned Alien vs. Predator vs. Event Horizon universe. I picture this ‘possessed’ star ship as the perfect setting for a re-match between an alien and a predator, where these other-worldly beings can give it all they’ve got to truly decimate each other.
But more than just a venue or set piece, the Event Horizon is every bit as dangerous and formidable as the two extra-terrestrials, setting the scene for an epic showdown. Where the aliens are primitive yet smart creatures intent on destroying every living thing they come across, the predators are highly evolved hunters who prefer to kill solely for the sport of it.
The Event Horizon is the Ideal Missing Ingredient
Add to the mix a possessed space ship that wreaks havoc by screwing with the minds of anyone unfortunate enough to enter the ship and you have a recipe for the ultimate in deep space destruction. The idea is that an alien and a predator are in a deep space pursuit of each other when nearing the Event Horizon, both of their ships mysteriously lose power.
Each of the aliens is forced to leave their respective ships and make their way to different airlocks of the Event Horizon, the only refuge in millions of miles. Little do they know of the terror that awaits them, however. Once on board, the hunt for the other resumes, and for a while each of the protagonists attempts (and fails) to trap and kill their counterpart.
The Alien and Predator Escape using the Ship’s Gravity Drive
Eventually, after much cat and mouse the predator discovers it can use the Event Horizon’s gravity drive to access the very same inter-dimensional gateway that turned the ship evil. Hot on its heels, the alien follows the predator through the worm hole to the evil place, a place so surprising yet warped, that both alien beings are unsure of their surroundings.
This strange new environment they find themselves is a hybrid of both the predator’s and the aliens home planets, but not everything is at it seems. When the predator meets other predators, instead of its allies, they’re reflections of its deepest fears which turn against it. Likewise, the alien encounters newly hatching aliens but they too aren’t what they seem.
The Newly Hatched Aliens are Human-Like
These hatchlings are more human than alien-like, but have the same and improved stealth and weaponry of their alien counterparts. For instance, they too have jaws that can extend with sharp metal teeth, and acid for saliva that can dissolve anything. They can also move faster than the alien, but the alien holds them off, despite becoming seriously injured.
Similarly the predator takes a beating from what it first thought were its allies, but manages to make its escape also injured, the alien not far behind. Somehow the predator finds the gateway that leads back to the gravity drive on the Event Horizon, and just seconds later the predator crashes through the gate into the ship’s engine room, the alien tumbling after.
Both Alien Creatures Are Mortally Wounded
It’s very apparent, however, that both creatures are mortally wounded and will not live longer than 5 minutes. Eyeing the writhing around alien, the predator raises his arm, ready to activate the same type of self-destruct device the predator in the original film used to annihilate half a rain forest, and Butch along with it. (Butch, luckily, escaped unscathed).
At the same time, the alien lunges out its jaw with its deadly shining teeth until they are just millimetres from the predator’s face. Just then we see an exterior space shot as the Event Horizon gets violently sucked into an unseen black hole. All at once we see a different part of space, where a single object is violently ejected from what we assume to be a black hole.
A New Being is Created More Evil Than Any Other
As the form comes into view we can see that it is almost embryonic in appearance, with four limbs and a tail. This creature has characteristics reminiscent of an alien, a predator and a starship. We see that its eyes are closed, but as the camera zooms into to its alien / robotic-esque face, its eyes spring open and we can see that this new creature is evil personified.
The screen fades to black and Alien vs. Predator vs. Event Horizon (Part I) comes to an end.
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