{"id":8478,"date":"2010-02-16T13:41:57","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T12:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=8478"},"modified":"2010-02-23T16:13:25","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T15:13:25","slug":"battle-of-the-beasts-a-history-of-aliens-vs-predator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/battle-of-the-beasts-a-history-of-aliens-vs-predator\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle Of The Beasts: A history of Aliens Vs Predator – part one"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aliens_vs._Predator-Xbox_360Screenshots16364AVP<\/a>To celebrate the launch of the fantastic new game from Sega and Rebellion, Aliens Vs Predator, SciFiNow takes a look back at the history of one of sci-fi\u2019s most enduring franchise alliances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t steal Alien from anybody. I stole it from everybody.\u201d Alien creator Dan O\u2019Bannon may have taken inspiration from a number of classic movies, but that can\u2019t disguise the fact that he created a truly gripping story. It was a tale that has morphed into one of Hollywood\u2019s most successful franchises, earning $557 million from all four films and has seen it team up with another popular Fox franchise, Predator.<\/p>\n

Released in 1979, Alien saw the crew of the Nostromo being bumped off by the titular xenomorph, after they come out of stasis and answer a distress call. Famously making its cinematic debut by bursting out of John Hurt\u2019s chest, HR Geiger\u2019s creation remains one of cinema\u2019s most iconic monsters and has now been terrorising us for over three decades.<\/p>\n

When James Cameron took up the reins to develop Alien\u2019s sequel, he effectively did a Spinal Tap and turned the mayhem up to a bloody 11. Sigourney Weaver returned as the sole Nostromo survivor, Ellen Ripley, and found herself battling against an army of xenomorphs.<\/p>\n

Buoyed by the success of Aliens, which took over $25 million more than the original, Fox soon green-lit another extraterrestrial movie, this one featuring man mountain of the moment Arnold Schwarzenegger and a chameleon-like foe with a penchant for hunting and high-tech weaponry. Predator became a huge success for Fox, cemented Schwarzenegger\u2019s iconic status and spawned a sequel that transported the action from the jungles of South America to the concrete jungle of LA.<\/p>\n

Devoid of Schwarzenegger\u2019s Dutch Schaefer, Predator\u2019s sequel immediately courted controversy due to its excessive violence, which saw it becoming the first film in the US to be awarded the new NC-17 rating. It also features one of cinema\u2019s greatest in-jokes when a bruised and beaten Danny Glover enters the Predator\u2019s spaceship and discovers an Alien skull among its many trophies.<\/p>\n

It would take a further 14 years before the pairing of two of cinema\u2019s most recognisable aliens would receive the face-off sci-fi geeks craved. Plenty of time then for Fox to revisit the Alien franchise\u2026<\/p>\n

For more on AVP, head over to the next page…<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Aliens_vs._Predator-Xbox_360Screenshots16362AVP<\/a><\/p>\n

Helmed by first-time director David Fincher and plagued with numerous problems, Alien 3 is deemed as a disaster for the series, despite the fact that it made nearly $30 million more than Aliens. Many baulked at the killing of Newt and Hicks and the lack of guns and return to just a single Alien. The death of Ripley was the final blow, but we feel that Alien 3 remains a fitting continuation of the series, and features moments of brilliance.<\/p>\n

Box office success saw a fourth film, Resurrection, released four years later. CGI Aliens now replaced the rubber-suited men, while Sigourney returned thanks to being cloned from DNA. Created by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it featured bloodier action than before, a stunning underwater scene that still impresses now, and a human\/Alien hybrid.<\/p>\n

Although Resurrection proved to be the last Alien film, it wouldn\u2019t be the last time that the xenomorphs would appear on the silver screen. After much deliberation, an Alien\/Predator crossover movie was finally green-lit. Directed by Resident Evil helmer Paul WS Anderson, AVP: Alien Vs Predator saw a bunch of hapless scientists led by wealthy industrialist Charles Weyland (Lance Henriksen) get caught in a centuries old battle between the two aliens. Despite not living up to expectations, it nevertheless proved to be a huge box office smash and earned over $170 million. It also featured the debut of the Predalien, an Alien\/Predator hybrid.<\/p>\n

A sequel, Requiem was released in 2007 and proved to be far gorier than its predecessor, which had been granted an audience-friendly PG-13. Set immediately after events in the first film, the Aliens cause chaos when the Predator\u2019s ship crash-lands and the xenomorphs start preying on the Colorado locals.<\/p>\n

No further films in the crossover lines have been announced, but the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators is on the way, while Fox recently revealed that it is planning a prequel to the original Alien. It would appear that fans of both franchises are set to be scared for a few decades yet.<\/p>\n

To read the next part of this feature, hit the link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aliens Vs Predator is availiable to buy now, on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows-based PCs, courtesy of Sega and Rebellion. Keep your eyes peeled on this website for more on this exciting gaming title.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bringing you the first part of our exciting feature on these warring aliens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":8485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[140,3],"tags":[1286],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Aliens_vs._Predator-Xbox_360Screenshots16362AVP-Global-Print-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}