When Prometheus debuted in 2012, it left some fans wondering where all the xenomorphs had gone. The deadly monsters were a staple of the franchise and, suddenly, they were no more. At least not until director Ridley Scott recognized fans’ “ground-zero reaction,” as he recently described it to Yahoo Movies.
The director intended to put xenomorphs behind him, thinking that they were passé after four films. In fact, he even described them as “done” and “cooked” to Yahoo in 2014.
“I think it wears out a little bit,” he said at the time. “There’s only so much snarling you can do.”
Fans, however, disagreed. Even though they turned up at the box office and spent about $403.4 million on Prometheus tickets worldwide, many were unhappy to see the series turn its back on the monsters that had hooked them. When he learned this, Scott reflected and came to feel he had been “wrong” to do away with them.
Although the famed director said that he doesn’t consider fans to be “the final word,” he did see them as “a reflection of his doubts.”
“I think you’re not sensible if you don’t actually take [them] into account,” he told Yahoo.
With Alien: Covenant, he took that experience into account and made sure to bring back the film series’ famed beasts. Scott discussed the return of the xenomorphs in a 2015 interview and hinted that Alien: Covenant would look at the origins of the terrifying life form.
“It felt bio-mechanoid, it felt like a weapon,” he told The Wrap of the xenomorph. “And so the movie will explain that, and reintroduce the alien back into it.”
The future of the creature seems to be bright now. Scott is already looking ahead to an Alien: Covenant sequel and told Yahoo he expects to shoot the John Logan-penned story “within a year.” Beyond that, he suggested he could possibly make another Alien film, so it would seem there are more xenomorphs in our future.
Alien: Covenant will hit theaters May 19, 2017.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.