Was the Alien Covenant's budget well invested?

joylitt

With an estimated budget of 97 million dollars, Alien Covenant doesn't even come close to Prometheus when it comes to looking expensive. Cgi has been extensively used in the creation of alien creatures and in the enhancement of the alien planet setting, most of which could have been saved if the suits, prosthetics and props specially built for the movie had actually been used. I wonder... Why not using "blood bombs" detonated by remote instead of fake looking cgi blood, which is probably more expensive. Why building expensive moving machinery to suggest a more realistic bumpy ride experience on the lander when you are going to complement that with shots of the protagonist dangling from a rope and bumping around like in a cartoon? Wouldn't have been better to add more corridors and ventilation airlocks to the Covenant? Or showing some of the other crew members in their quarters? Wouldn't this have added needed information about the characters and their connections? Why spending money on those solar sails, when they haven't been used in any Alien movie before?. Nowadays you get directors who can make a 5 million film look like a 50 million one, and then get a return of 200 million. Of course those directors know where to put their money and have a good script in their hands. How would you have invested the same money on an Alien film?

colonialsoldier

By giving it to Blomkamp to make Alien5.

sherris

im glad you raised this question because i have had similar thoughts.

why are they wasting money on these mindblowing sets if we are just skipping through them like they werent there.

i watched a video regarding the sets and they looked really amazing.

however, for instance, say the jugganaut.

did they really need to spend all that money creating the scene when the actors are largely just walking through it.

the hall of heads: since none of the characters really even mentioned the magnificent room, never mind spend some time examining it and talking about it. creating wonder and reveals for us viewing. no they just skimmed past it like most other scenes.

now some of this you might say are editing issues but this should be all panned out beforehand.

i am no expert but after watching how the scenes were set and how realistic everything is, then watching a:c i just feel that perhaps that money could of been spent elsewhere????

AdamPD

 I was surprised that none of them commented on the fact they'd come across a humanoid civilization, not to mention an advanced one with spaceships.

They only comment I remember hearing was Walter saying the juggernaut was "some kind of vehicle"

From what I remember from Prometheus, they hadn't found any signs of advanced alien life up until they found the dead engineers

The whole film could've been spread across two films, that would've made it epic.

BlackGooDrinker

This is or was paradise. We rarely got a glimpse of this magnificent planet. I would have loved a closer look at the planet and why David said the word paradise was as close as the translation would get to describe it

Davefried81

I do recall Ridley saying that built sets cost way less than CGI-

joylitt

sherris yes, they actually rebuilt part of the juggernaut interior, instead of saving and reusing what they had from Pometheus. And you barely get to see the hall of heads. As you said we are just skipping throuh those images, the characters are largely indifferent to them.

QueenElizabethShaw

I think it was a huge mistake to waste money on the CGI to show so much of the creatures when showing them too much did the film a huge disservice. They really could have saved some cash had they relied more heavily on people in rubber suits, and using the quick glimpses technique (plus I think more people would have been into that.)

The only time I thought the CGI version of the creatures was critical, was when the adolescent neomorph attacked in the wheat-field, and when Lopes facehugger had it's moment in the spotlight. 

joylitt

QueenElizabethShaw "The Descent" is a good example of how to create frightering monsters whithout abusing the cgi. Come on, even the effects in AVP work better for me than those from Covenant!

QueenElizabethShaw

joylitt

Agreed, and The Descent was great. It's why I voted Neil Marshall as one of the writers in my fantasy lineup for these prequels.

Gralen

A bit offtopic but:

I wonder why the Covenant crew dont had any questions or discussions when they saw the ruins of the big Engineer city and the massive amount of corpses.

I expected they would look deeper into this and not just get crammed in David's workshop.

Looks like wasted potential.

Raven

I liked Covenant,but the CGI was not up to par.Especially bad was the neomorph breaking the glass in the med room.

Now at the end when the Protomorph walks into the room with all the terraforming equipment,that was bad ass.

Starlogger

@Raven Yes, when they showed the ProtoXeno walking upright instead of doing its animal skitter, and when it is moving slowly in the shadows, is when it was at its absolute best. More of that would've made for more REAL terror and beauty.