Original Alien Returning to Theaters This Month for Alien Day

Just in time to celebrate 45 years since its release, Ridley Scott’s Alien is coming back to theaters this spring. Coming no “Alien Day” — that’s April 26 — the movie will screen at theaters across the U.S. Over at Fandango, you can see where screenings are, order tickets, and browse other merch like an homage poster, collectables, books, apparel, and more. The screenings on Alien Day will also feature an exclusive conversation betwee Scott and Alien: Romulus writer/director Fede Alvarez.

Alien, the iconic film that launched the decades-long franchise, has spawned including comic books, video games, novels, merchandise, and more merch and collectibles than you can shake a stick at. Alien: Romulus follows in the footsteps of 20th Century Studios’ Prey, which took applied an interesting director’s vision to the Predator franchise in the hopes of revitalizing it after years of disappointing sequels.

Scott, who serves as a producer on Alien: Romulus, last returned to the world of Alien with Alien: Covenant in 2017, which earned around $250 against a reported budget of around $100 million. That’s not bad, but it failed to stand up to other blockbusters that year, most notably Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, which steamrolled it after having opened in theaters the week before.

Scott’s next film is set to be a sequel to Gladiator. Footage from both that film and Alien: Romulus impressed audiences at CinemaCon last week.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis (for Alien and Alien: Romulus) from 20th Century Studios:

One of the most influential sci-fi/horror films of all time, Alien, which was released in June 1979 and won an Oscar® for best visual effects, stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It is the terrifying tale of a crew aboard a commercial spacecraft that lands on an alien planet to investigate a mysterious transmission of unknown origin and encounters the deadliest lifeform in the universe. “Alien” is directed by Ridley Scot, with a screenplay by Dan O’Bannon and a story by Ronald Shusett, and the producers are Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill.

20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus, a truly terrifying cinematic experience from producer Ridley Scott and director/writer Fede Alvarez, opens in theaters nationwide August 16, 2024.  The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.