So last week it was finally official: Disney became the owners of the Alien and Predator franchises. Nobody knows for sure what this means yet, but many are worrying that the studio will reboot both properties as ‘PG-13’ rated efforts. It’s very likely that there will be no more of the Alien prequel series, nor any direct sequels to The Predator, though I certainly won’t complain about that as I think it’s been over two decades since we’ve seen some quality series entries. There’s no doubt though that it’s depressing that Disney will probably one day own everything.
Even sadder is some news that we could have had an Alien miniseries several years ago from Legion and Fargo creator Noah Hawley, but his attempt was shot down by Fox executive Emma Watts. Says ‘Deadline’:
“Watts has long been known as a very strong executive, and several have said she is about the only one there who has been clued in on the Disney plans. Does she have the clout to prevent Fox film properties from being repurposed as TV projects or as streaming projects on Hulu and Disney+ with low budgets and no back-ends? Sources said that in the recent past she fended off an attempt by Hawley and FX to take the Aliens franchise and turn it into a miniseries, and when Searchlight once wanted to do something with The Omen, she held fast because who wants to give up your franchises? She did that before the Disney deal, when it was a whole different ballgame.”
We don’t know precisely what Hawley wanted to do with the property, but I’m sure it would have turned out better than some of the movies we’ve had instead.
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