Alien Movie Universe

Hybrid network on Alien Covenant "bombing" at the box office

Alien-Covenant.com/forum/
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joylitt

MemberNeomorphMay-29-2017 7:34 PM

Hybrid Network, together with Mr H is one of the most popular Alien themed youtube channels. In his latest video, the channel's host rather surprisingly states Alien Covenant bombed at the box office and that we might be facing a post "Resurrection" type of crisis, where studios put the franchise in the freezer for many years. He also mentions "reshoots" that might have added costs to the budget. To make things look even gloomier, Grace Randolph from Beyond the trailer estimates that about as much as 60 million dollars might have been spent on advertising. She adds that we might see Sigourney Weaver return soon.

Hybrid Network:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0rM4XOMW8I

Beyond the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73_eIzwTtuk&t=683s

11 Replies

QueenElizabethShaw

MemberChestbursterMay-29-2017 9:06 PM

joylitt

Thanks for sharing this. I casually follow both of these channels and enjoyed hearing the take on sales from each.

I couldn't help but somewhat agree with Mr H that Fox may need to relieve Ridley from duty, but it's a shame. Ridley's ideas for these films are solid, but I don't think he fully understands how to execute them in a way that would keep audiences engaged. I've been back and forth on my feelings regarding the xeno "origin" reveal but at this point I find myself firmly grounded in the camp of disapproval. Slapping fans with something like this in the wake of Prometheus' shortcomings was just such a sloppy move. If he really wanted to bring in that kind of reveal he should have done so in a later film. This one needed to be the "Aliens" of these prequels. Not to say it needed to be a bug hunt or action fest. It just needed character focus, and maybe a touch of that clever nostalgia massaging we got with Force Awakens (not that I'm worshiping that movie. It was just strategically a good time for such a thing.)

joylitt

MemberNeomorphMay-29-2017 9:12 PM

QueenElizabethShaw No, that's Hybrid Network's opinion. Mr H has been slightly less vocal about Ridley Scott (he's even been invited to the premire!) Anyway, they do some podcasts together and I am sure they are going to discuss this further.

QueenElizabethShaw

MemberChestbursterMay-29-2017 9:29 PM

joylitt

My mistake on the Mr H ref. 

joylitt

MemberNeomorphMay-30-2017 12:14 AM

QueenElizabethShaw What you suggest would have been a safe approach, nothing wrong with that. And I would add a bit of mystery, but not the type of mystery where nobody knows there is one. What if for once you get smart people who questions what's going on and do something about it.

QueenElizabethShaw

MemberChestbursterMay-30-2017 1:29 AM

 joylitt

Yup agreed. It blows my mind that he said over and over this was aimed at being the scariest Alien, and that it's aim was to scare the shit out of people. If he wanted to do that he would have needed to add in some truly disturbing content. The neo birthing scenes gave "disturbing" a nod but it wasn't enough.

This film was rampant with the IDEA of unwilling impregnation (and he could have capitalized there) but instead these scenes ended up being nothing. I remember when I first saw the trailer on Christmas, saw the spores and thought "well that's kinda lame. Maybe it'll be cool anyway." Nope, completely anti-climatic.

The neomorphs were also a squandered opportunity. New, full of possibilities, and they could have easily been deployed into some violent adult alien impregnation scenes. He could have introduced completely original facehugger creatures that made the trilobite look like a stuffed animal. That would have been nuts. Things that don't even look like facehuggers but impregnate in the same violent fashion, just more intense while embracing the entire body.

He could have actually melted an entire person with the acid blood of a massive black goo creature while the victim is screaming in horror. The bombard engineers could have had deaths far more impressive than the lightning fast montage we saw. Shaw could have actually been strapped into a birthing machine, dying with a psychotic menacing look in her eyes as she delivers her final egg. David could have killed one of the crew brutally by smashing them into rocks over and over. He also didn't need to be some sort of rapey mechanical clown. The stone faced David from Prometheus killing someone in that manner would have been incredibly unnerving.  And the worst part is, all of this could have been in the movie while maintaining the same story. But he didn't. And it wasn't scary.

That aside, I think I've realized one of my biggest disappointments is that ANYTIME a creature would show up, they would have already made it abundantly clear it was about to happen (except for two instances). I could overlook quite a bit of the things that rubbed me the wrong way, but the lack of surprise (which I'm certain was premised off Ridley believing he was building tension) really is a huge issue. This may have been how he arranged the fear in Alien, but that doesn't work anymore. What's there to dread? A creature showing up to slaughter someone? We've seen that a million times since Alien. But seeing some unknown creature show up when least expected and impregnate somebody in a horrific way we've never seen? It would have been gold.

joylitt

MemberNeomorphMay-30-2017 2:02 AM

You cannot get that type of visceral horror using cgi. I just watched this european flick called "Raw", it really made feel queasy. I was not even close to feeling like that while watching Alien Covenant. BTW this week I hope to go see "It Comes at night", Carmen Ejogo is in it, hopefully she gets more screen time there.

colonialsoldier

MemberFacehuggerMay-30-2017 4:01 AM

Joylitt - You are correct about CGI taking away from the horrors.  I started watching your link and if you look at the right; there are a few youtube videos talking about the problems with Covenant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCr_t8O7s9k <-Why Alien Covenant Failed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ijnxaXkm3s <-- Huge plot holes

colonialsoldier

MemberFacehuggerMay-30-2017 4:08 AM

joylitt

MemberNeomorphMay-30-2017 4:21 AM

Is that you? I've watched that before, I think I gave it my like and all

Starlogger

MemberChestbursterMay-30-2017 7:17 AM

@joylitt I don't agree with you on here much, ha!, but "Raw" IS a truly incredible (yet disturbingly beautiful!) film!

QueenElizabethShaw

MemberChestbursterMay-30-2017 8:30 PM

joylitt

I just watched the trailers for Raw and It Comes Tonight.

Raw definitely looks disgusting and well executed. I will say however, I'm not a huge fan of the cringe effect. My comments on the lack of disturbing content were more about things on on psychological level. The height of fear to me is very specific and generally has to tie into confronting a deep horror as one acknowledges their life is about to end. Maybe you could call it existential horror (which can employ cringe elements, but for me must maintain the awareness of inevitability of death in truly sad, terrible, tragic conditions.) I do believe Raw probably has this, though from the trailer it appears the focus is more on the cringe, and less on the deep horror, but I could be wrong. I haven't seen it yet. Either way, the closest Covenant got to what I was looking for was Branson's, Oram's, and Rosenthal's deaths. Now none of them really disturbed me, but their deaths were in the direction of what I look for to be disturbed.

Branson' being burned alive while trapped in a coffin staring at his wife and her bearing witness.

Oram giving birth to the xeno, having some level of awareness that a creature was emerging from his body, that this android is likely going to kill his crew, and knowing that he's about to die without a friend in site and there's nothing he can do about it.

Rosenthal being fairly aware of what is standing behind her, and knowing that she is alone, and the feeling that must have swept over her the moment the neo bit into her neck, knowing that this was it, she was going to be food just as the lights go out.

Again, these moments didn't really do it for me but they were heading in the right direction.

That aside, It Comes Tonight appears as if it may be more up my alley as it also appears to employ the cringe elements, but seems to have much more of an emphasis on the deeper emotional horrors accompanying the cringe elements.
 
I'll be looking forward to that one.

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Alien: Covenant is a sequel to 2012's Prometheus as well as a prequel to 1979's ALIEN. Alien fans looking to know more about Alien: Covenant should check back often. Alien-Covenant.com is an information resource for film enthusiasts looking to learn more about the upcoming blockbuster Alien: Covenant. Providing the latest official and accurate information on Alien: Covenant, this website contains links to every set video, viral video, commercial, trailer, poster, movie still and screenshot available. This site is an extension of the Alien & Predator Fandom on Scified - a central hub for fans of Alien and Prometheus looking to stay up-to-date on the latest news. Images used are property of their respective owners. Alien: Covenant, Prometheus and its associated names, logos and images are property of 20th Century Fox and are in no way owned by Scified and its related entities. This is a fan-created website for the purpose of informing and exciting fans for Alien: Covenant's release. If you have any questions about this site, its content or the Scified Network in general, feel free to contact Scified directly.

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