I ve heard that before from others and they totally screwed with it and turned it upside down. Cough Rian Johnson cough.
>INSERT DROPS MIC GIF HERE<
*Brings in new microphone so that everyone doesn't have to use one that's been on the floor.*
Prometheus and Covenant both turned things upside down and "totally screwed with" the series in many ways, but they failed to bring in major $ and instead polarized the fan base. (Alien 3 did so as well, and essentially starts with a middle-finger to the audience, despite being a good standalone film.) TLJ did the same, yet has brought in over $1 billion so far, which has to count as a "win" for the filmmakers.
I think one major failing of P+C is that they paid
zero fan service (at least in a way that fans needed) and instead played emotional basketball with audience expectations leading up to release, instead becoming ego-drive vehicles much in the way the SW Prequels were. (And I think those films have generally made big-budget genre audiences less tolerant towards such things.) As has been mentioned before, SRS seems generally disdainful towards his audience. (For example, during the commentary of Prometheus he talks about a connection to Alien, but doesn't really explain it, instead dismissing it and saying something along the lines of "that's all I'm saying, if you don't get it... too bad.") Perhaps he isn't and is just not good at conveying enthusiasm or drawing the public in, but that's the vibe I get. It could also be the reason that many main characters in his films often fail to evoke empathy from audiences.
Too much fan service can be embarrassing of course- especially when it becomes the driving force of the narrative; there are parts of Rogue One that go a little too far i.m.o., but for long-running series like Alien and Star Wars, perhaps a
little bit of it is crucial? Even if you hate The Last Jedi overall, in plot, structure or how it treats certain characters, there are at least a
couple fan-service moments that I have a hard time thinking
everyone hated.
NB's pitch for Alien 5 relied very heavily on fan service towards fans of Aliens of course- perhaps too much so, and could even the reason why SRS didn't seem to care for the idea overall.
Maybe if Cameron's reboot of Terminator, de-canonising everything after T2 is successful, it will prompt Disney to do the same with Alien, with or without NB.
Reverse psychology at its best:rolleyes...until DisFox says: "Alright, show us how you're gonna do it".
