Disney Hits Pause on ‘Alien Nation’ Remake
The effects of the Disney/Fox merger continue to be felt, with a proposed remake of the ‘80s film Alien Nation now being put on hold by Disney.
According to Variety, Fox had signed Loving director Jeff Nichols to helm the film back in 2016, but while the movie hasn’t been cancelled, production on the movie is being put on hold by Disney who now have the rights after the merger earlier this year.
Disney shut down the Fox 2000 label back in March, and recently the Fox motion capture film Mouse Guard became the first casualty of films that were already in the works at the time of the merger.
The original 1988 film starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin as mismatched police officers who eventually bond on the job. Patinkin’s character was a member of an enslaved alien race who sought refuge on Earth and were just beginning to integrate into modern society. The movie was a modest hit at the box office though it garnered some critical acclaim.
Fox eventually spun off the concept into a TV series, one of the first for its fledgling television network, and the Gary Graham and Eric Pierpont-starring series ran for 22 episodes in 1989-1990 before it was canceled.
Nichols was rumored to have cast Michael Shannon as the lead alien police officer in his remake. In 2018, he spoke with Slash Film about his enthusiasm for the project. “It’s epic. I mean, it’s the biggest canvas I’ve ever painted on, but it 100 percent feels like a Jeff Nichols film, which I’m sure there are gonna be some Alien Nation fans out there that are like, ‘What the fuck?’ But my hope is … If people come to it just ready for a new story, that they’ll like it. And I put my heart and soul into it. To be the project that’s supposed to be me being a sell out, it is like the least … I’m not saying that to save face or be cool. I put so much of myself into it, it takes place in Arkansas. There’s so much of me in it.”
There was no comment on when the film might be revisited by Disney.
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