Alien

After Alex Garland’s mysterious new sci-fi thriller ‘Annihilation,’ give these other genre fusions a spin on streaming services now.

With the House of Mouse buying one of the oldest studios in Hollywood, here are the movies and TV shows that could get revivals in the near future.

Harry Dean Stanton, accomplished actor, musician, and singer, has died at 91 years old. He starred in almost too many films to name, from Pretty in Pink to Repo Man, to Cool Hand Luke, Alien, Escape From New York, and Wild at Heart, and was beloved by fellow actors, directors, and critics alike.

For the past few years, only a handful of merchandisers could rightfully lay claim to having one of the best San Diego Comic-Con exclusive items. With dozens of different companies all vying for that top spot, the competition was absolutely fierce. However, in that great big mix of exclusives, one company constantly found itself topping nearly every toy fanatic's list. NECA has been on a major roll as of late, and with this year's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Predator and Aliens offerings, its grip on the Comic-Con crown doesn't look like it will loosen.

A new Alien opens in theaters this Friday; Alien: Covenant is the first movie in the beloved sci-fi franchise since 2012’s Prometheus, and the first with the word “alien” in the title since 2007’s timeless classic Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Audiences will decide whether Covenant is a worthy sequel (we liked it), but even if they do, the overwhelming odds are they will find it no better than the third best movie in the history of the series. That’s because the first two movies in the series — Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens — are amongst the best sci-fi films ever made.

From horror to comedy to action, here are the must-see films hitting theaters this spring.

The hardcore Alien superfans among us already know full well that the moon of Acheron, the home of the ruthless extraterrestrial killing machines known as Xenomorphs, was scientifically classified as LV-426. And just as Star Wars devotees used a little in-joke to lay claim to a day of their own (May 4 is Star Wars Day, as in, “may the fourth be with you”), now April 26 will be henceforth recognized as Alien Day. A new press release has claimed the twenty-sixth of April as a day to recognize and celebrate Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi horror fusion, with plenty of special activities and events planned to commemorate the occasion.

Poor Billy Crudup doesn’t seem to know he’s in an Alien movie, the first one with that word in the title in a decade. Though this was initially billed as a sequel to Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s recent prequel to his most enduring sci-fi franchise, the latest trailer for Alien: Covenant makes almost no attempt to connect to that film, other than the presence of Michael Fassbender as another android like the one he played in Prometheus. Instead it looks more like a straight-ahead Alien do-over, with Katherine Waterston in the central female role.

Alien is now widely considered to be one of the best sci-fi/horror films ever made, but originally Fox didn't want to make it. In fact, it was only the success of another one of the biggest sci-fi films of all-time — Star Wars — that convinced the studio to give director Ridley Scott the greenlight. So, without Chewbacca, there would be no xenomorphs. This is just one of the facts packed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which focuses on Alien!

Last night, we heard official word that 20th Century Fox was moving forward with director Neill Blomkamp’s Alien sequel and today, we already have one actor expressing his desire to be in it! However, that actor may not be who you expect and his reason for wanting to be in the film is a little unusual. We are talking about the one and only Louis C.K., the comedian and star of FX’s Louie, who wants to star in the new movie just so he can die a horrible onscreen death.