This Day In Horror History: Love It Or Hate It, ALIEN: RESURRECTION Opened In 1997

On this day in horror history, Alien Resurrection with Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder opened in 1997. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) directed the fourth Alien film. Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers) penned the script.

Set 200 years after Alien 3, Ellen Ripley is cloned and an Alien Queen is surgically removed from her body. The Military hopes to breed Aliens to study and research on the spaceship USM Auriga. They use human hosts kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. But the Aliens escape their enclosures and Ripley must escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches its destination: Earth.

Ron Perlman (Hellboy) co-starred along with Brad Dourif (Child’s Play).

Alien Resurrection grossed $16M opening weekend and debuted at number two behind Flubber. It’s the least successful Alien movie in the U.S. at $47.8M. But it snagged $113.6M internationally, bringing its worldwide gross to $161.4M.

RELATED: studioADI Clones Us Back to Alien: Resurrection

The film snagged six Saturn Awards nominations including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Direction.

Whedon wrote an Earth-set script for Alien 5. But Weaver turned it down. That said, the storylines continued in the comic book Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator. And the books Aliens: Original Sin, and Alien: Sea of Sorrows.

It sports a 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s Critics Consensus reads: Resurrection marks a slight improvement over its predecessor, but still lacks the emotional stakes that helped make the franchise’s first two entries sci-fi/horror classics.

Do you dig the flick?

Make sure to let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also hit me up over on Twitter @MikeSpregg325.

Tags:

Categorized:

Sign up for The Harbinger a Dread Central Newsletter