Back in March, District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp sparked a firestorm of interest by revealing some concept artwork for an imaginary Alien movie. Such was the online enthusiasm that his fantasy became a reality, with Alien studio Fox immediately getting behind making the film for real. Since then all's been quiet, presumably while Blomkamp actually gets on with the business of figuring out what the film is. But he's just released another design to demonstrate that Alien 5 continues to tick over. It's "going very well" Blomkamp says.
Once again, the new pic reiterates that Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and Michael Biehn's melty-faced Hicks (he got sprayed by acid in Aliens, remember) are front and centre of the project. Depending on what day it was, Blomkamp indicated earlier this year that his Alien would either somehow be set between Aliens and Alien 3 or ignore 3 and Resurrection completely.
The specific details of the new film's story have yet to be revealed. The artwork above slightly puts us in mind of Mark Verheiden's Dark Horse comics series Aliens Book II, in which Hicks and Newt (Ripley wasn't with them at that point) arrived on a Company transport to be met by hostile military types. But that's almost certainly just coincidence.
For more on Blomkamp's initial thoughts on the project, give his Empire podcast a listen, and click here for the rest of his so-far-revealed Alien art. Ridley Scott is producing, and the film is currently in pre-production with no release date set.