Almost everyone I know is very excited about seeing Prometheus, which hits theaters on June 8, 2012.
We’re obviously all dying to see how Ridley Scott will return to the world of Alien, the film that launched his career in a big way.
When Alien came out on Memorial Day 1979, there was no such thing as spoiler warnings, and many had no idea the infamous chest burster scene was coming. Yes, the film was rated R, but people absolutely freaked that an outer space monster movie could be that bloody and shocking. Now there are reports from Empire and Giant Freakin Robot that Prometheus may actually be released with a PG-13 rating.
As Ridley Scott told Empire, “The question is, do you go for the PG-13 [which] financially makes quite a difference, or do you go for what it should be, which is R? Essentially it’s kinda R.”
Of course fans want an R rated genre film, and if Prometheus is successful, it could possibly mean more serious horror flicks in the pipeline, but as Scott continued, “It’s not just about the blood, it’s about ideas that are very stressful. I’m not an idiot, but I’ll do everything I can to get the most aggressive film I can.”
And a very skilled director like Scott can tell a hell of a story without blood or extreme violence if he has to, because without a strong narrative, all the blood and violence in the world isn’t going to make a movie any good, especially one that’s following in the footsteps of one of the best loved genre films in history.
While nobody’s officially said that Prometheus is an Alien prequel yet, Scott also told Empire, “I always wondered when they did [Aliens] 2, 3 and 4 why they missed the biggest question of them all; who’s the big guy?,” referring to the space jockey. “And with what? Why that cargo? There’s all kinds of questions.”
While I’m personally sick and tired of movies that go back trying to answer everyone’s questions, judging from the trailer I’m willing to bet Prometheus will deliver with Scott at the helm.
