Alien Resurrection

"Alien 4" redirects here. For the album, see Alien 4 (album). For other uses, see Alien 4 (disambiguation).

Alien Resurrection
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJean-Pierre Jeunet
Written byJoss Whedon
Based on
Characters
by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDarius Khondji
Edited byHervé Schneid
Music byJohn Frizzell
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • November 6, 1997 (1997-11-06) (Premiere)
  • November 12, 1997 (1997-11-12) (France)
  • November 26, 1997 (1997-11-26) (United States)
Running time
109 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$70 million[2]
Box office$161.4 million[3]

Alien Resurrection is a 1997 American science fiction horror film[4] directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Joss Whedon, and starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder. It is the fourth installment of the Alien franchise, and was filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, California.

Set 200 years after the preceding installment, Alien 3 (1992), Ellen Ripley is cloned, and an Alien queen is surgically removed from her body. The United Systems Military (USM) hopes to breed Aliens to study and research on the spaceship USM Auriga, using human hosts abducted and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. The Aliens escape their enclosures, and Ripley and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches Earth. Additional roles are played by Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, J. E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, and Michael Wincott.

Alien Resurrection had its premiere in Paris on November 6, 1997, and was released to the public on November 12. It grossed US $47.8 million in the United States and Canada, making it the least successful of the Alien series in that market. It grossed $161 million worldwide.[3] The film received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized the screenplay but praised Weaver's performance and Jeunet's direction. The film was nominated for six Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Weaver, Best Supporting Actress for Ryder, and Best Direction for Jeunet.

A sequel to Resurrection was planned, as Whedon had written an earth-set script for Alien 5. Sigourney Weaver was not interested in this setting, but has remained open to reprising her role as Ellen Ripley on the condition that she likes the story.[5] More sequels were planned to follow Resurrection, but were ultimately abandoned as the crossover series arrived with the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator, along with the prequel series including the 2012 film Prometheus. The storylines of Resurrection have been continued in the comic series Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator, and books Aliens: Original Sin and Alien: Sea of Sorrows.

  1. ^ "ALIEN RESURRECTION". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  2. ^ Mcdonald, William (December 7, 1997). "Sigourney Weaver Eludes the Image Police". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Alien Resurrection (1997)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  4. ^ "Alien Resurrection". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  5. ^ Breznican, Anthony (July 13, 2016). "Sigourney Weaver reveals more details of Neill Blomkamp's Aliens sequel". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 20, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.