Sci-Fi Buddy Cop Movie Alien Nation To Be Remade

Just in case you hadn’t heard of enough 1980s properties being revived for the big screen in recent years (yes, that was sarcasm), here’s another one to look forward to/feel exhausted about: ‘Alien Nation’ is to be remade.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (who worked on the script for the original ‘Iron Man’) are scripting a new take on the 1988 film for 20th Century Fox, who reportedly have hopes for a ‘commercial and critical hit’ franchise on a par with their ‘Planet of the Apes’ revival.

A blend of ‘Aliens’/’Predator’ era sci-fi with the ‘48 Hours’/‘Lethal Weapon’ cop buddy formula, the original film from director Graham Baker, producer Gale Anne Hurd and writer Rockne S O’Bannon was hardly the most esteemed sci-fi fantasy/action/horror crossover of the era, but did reasonable business for Fox in cinemas and on VHS, and accrued a degree of cult status.

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The film’s interesting near-future set-up saw a seemingly innocuous race of extra-terrestrials dubbed Newcomers come to planet Earth as immigrants in search of better lives. James Caan portrayed a boorish, racist cop partnered unwillingly with a Newcomer played by Mandy Patinkin, and together they investigate a case which gets to the heart of tensions between humans and Newcomers.

The film spawned no sequels, but did lead to a TV spin-off series and a number of TV movies in the early 1990s. Tie-in novels and comic books also ensued, cementing the cult status of the property.

Nothing is known about this new take on the concept, other than that film will deal with “how and why the aliens came to Earth.”

With its mix of sci-fi spectacle and social commentary, it’s not hard to see why Fox might hope for an ‘Apes’-esque success with an ‘Alien Nation’ revival. However, one problem is that its core theme - alien lifeforms as immigrants - has been revisited in recent years, arguably to much greater effect, by Neill Blomkamp’s acclaimed ‘District 9.’

Whilst Blomkamp looks set to be busy in the immediate future directing the next ‘Alien’ movie, he has said that he hopes to make a sequel to ‘District 9′ at some point - meaning it’s not inconceivable we could see rival franchises tackling very similar ideas in the near future.

Still, at this point there is no development on ‘Alien Nation’ beyond the attachment of the screenwriters, with no producers or director said to be in the loop just yet, and certainly no hint of when the remake might hit screens.

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Picture Credit: 20th Century Fox