It’s been seven years since Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant was released in theaters, and this summer will finally see the long-awaited next installment to the franchise. Alien: Romulus is being produced by Scott and directed by Fede Álvarez, who is best known for helming Evil Dead (2013). The new movie promises to bring the franchise back to its horror roots that began with Alien in 1979. If you’re excited about the film and headed to San Diego Comic-Con this month, 20th Century Studios promises a fun Hall H panel. In fact, they shared the details with members of the press by sending a VHS tape featuring a sneak peek.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The VHS kicks off with a news clip from 1979 that shows a regretful dad taking his son to see Alien, which proved to be incredibly scary. The old footage was followed by a trailer, and the new featurette that dropped online yesterday, which saw Álvarez saying, “The whole idea behind this film was to really take it back to basics and make it a pure horror movie again.” The tape also featured a scene that sees the main characters setting off into space, presumably before the Xenomorphs start attacking. Most importantly, the tape reveals that Alien: Romulus‘ Hall H panel will be kicking off in San Diego on Friday, July, 26th at 5 PM PT.
Thankfully, the Alien: Romulus tape was sent to a ComicBook staff writer with a VCR. You can watch the full sneak peek, recorded off of an old TV, below:
What Is Alien: Romulus About?
Alien: Romulus is being billed as more of a spinoff rather than a direct continuation of the Alien franchise and will see a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Álvarez has previously opened up about how a deleted scene from James Cameron’s Aliens featuring young colonists inspired Romulus’ story.
“My first instinct, just to try something different that hasn’t been seen before, was to approach it form the angle of characters who are not professionals or scientists; they’re not even adults,” he said. “I liked this concept of putting people in the front seat of the story who are closer to what the audience is — not that the audience is young, more that the audience is completely virgin to the realities of space. When the characters are professionals, they know more than you do. But when they’re still in their early 20s, they don’t know how to operate the f-cking airlock.”
He continued, “All their parents probably worked on the same ship when they were kids, and that’s how they got to know each other … There’s a lot of history between them because they’re the only family they have. They truly act more like surrogate siblings; some of them even lived under the same roof. A lot of the big themes of the movie are about siblinghood and what does that mean? The Romulus of it all, and the bigger plot with Weyland-Yutani, is actually connected to that as well.”
Alien: Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), Aileen Wu. Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16th.
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Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
