For anyone who loves the scale and spectacle of a big studio movie, you have to accept an ugly truth: Franchises rule the roost. Original blockbusters haven’t completely gone extinct, but risk-averse executives tend to favor what they believe is closer to a sure thing. It’s a strange predicament for artists, who have to take familiar IP and find ways to get creative within that sandbox.
It can work, however: Mission: Impossible has parlayed Tom Cruise’s insatiable desire to risk his life for our entertainment into some all-timer action set pieces. (This year, Cruise has been spotted dangling from a biplane ; praise Xenu .) But the one franchise to rule them all has hung around for more than four decades without overstaying its welcome.
I’ll give you a hint: In space, no one can hear the characters scream, but in a theater, we sure as hell know what it sounds like when one of the franchise’s signature creatures tears through human tissue. Strap yourselves in, because it’s Alien season again. Friday marks the release of Alien: Romulus , the seventh entry in the mainline series, and one that boasts a new creative team behind the camera.
(More on that later.) Whenever a beloved franchise shakes things up, there’s cause for concern among the fans that the wheels could come off. (The less said about Terminator Genisys , the better.
) But for Alien , creative overhaul has long been a feature, not a bug: The franchise endures as Hollywood’s greatest because continuity .