2142, an abandoned space station. An alien with mucus dripping from its body emerges. It attaches itself to a human face and inserts larvae into its mouth. The larvae grow and tear through the human body before emerging. It grows rapidly, reaching a height of over 2m and hunting humans with its sharp teeth.
The main characters run away like crazy. Their faces are filled with fear. The screams are transmitted through the speakers, and their frustrated expressions are transmitted to the audience through the large screen. Even though I cover my eyes with both hands and let out exclamations, I can’t take my eyes off the movie.
The 7th installment of the Alien series, ‘Alien: Romulus’, which was released on the 14th, is attracting attention by gathering 1.37 million Korean viewers as of the 28th. It surpassed 1 million viewers on the 24th, ten days after its release, surpassing the 970,000 viewers of the 5th installment, ‘Prometheus’ (2012), and the 1.3 million viewers of the 6th installment, ‘Alien: Covenant’ (2017). There is an evaluation in the film industry that “the Alien series, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary, is receiving attention again.”
The Alien series is a synonym for science fiction horror films set in the vast universe. The first film, Alien, directed by Ridley Scott in 1979, received favorable reviews. The new film tells the story of Lane (Cailey Spaeny), a woman living as a laborer without hope, who encounters an alien at a space station she passes through on her way to another planet.
The reason the new film is drawing attention is because it faithfully recreates the series’ worldview. The new film was produced by Ridley Scott, the director of the first film and the creator of the worldview. Director Fede Alvarez, an ardent fan of the Alien series and a master of horror films, took charge of directing. In particular, the new film covers the year 2142, between the first film, ‘Alien’ (1979), which is set in 2122, and the second film, ‘Alien 2’ (1986), which covers 2179. Although it is the seventh film in terms of release order, it is a so-called 1.5 film in terms of chronological background, targeting fans.
The Alien series is famous for its female warriors. In particular, actress Sigourney Weaver (75), who is 185cm tall, played the role of the navigator and female warrior ‘Ripley’ in four consecutive films from the first one, showing the appearance of a strong woman. On the other hand, the role of the female warrior in the new film is played by actress Kaylee Spaeny (26), who is only 155cm tall. Although she is 30cm short, she is evaluated to have shown a new charm by fighting against the aliens with a strong and fierce girl-like appearance.
Another reason for its acclaim is that it was made with a focus on horror and action. Even if you don’t know the worldview, you can watch it without much trouble. Even if you don’t know why Alien was created, watching the main character struggling to survive will give you a thrill that will make the midsummer heat fly away. Film critic Jung Ji-wook said, “Even viewers who have never seen Alien before will watch the new film as an ‘introductory film’ and then look for other Alien series, because it is so appealing and low-barrier,” and “There are comedies (‘Pilot’) and historical films (‘Land of Happiness’) among Korean films, but the lack of horror films to compete with it also had an impact.”
Thanks to capturing the public, the audience base has also expanded. According to CGV, the new film was watched the most by people in their 30s at 31.7%, but the audience is evenly distributed among people in their 40s (26.9%), 50s (20.3%), and 20s (18.3%). This is different from the 5th film, ‘Prometheus’, and the 6th film, ‘Alien: Covenant’, where people in their 30s accounted for the majority at 45.5% and 37.5%, respectively. Seo Ji-myeong, head of the CGV communications team, said, “People in their 40s and 50s who are looking for nostalgia and people in their 20s and 30s who enjoy horror films are coming together and influencing the box office performance.”
Reporter Lee Ho-jae [email protected]
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2024-08-30 06:14:42