The Alien franchise has been going strong since 1979, even though many fans would argue that most of the sequels don’t measure up to Ridley Scott's original film. Scott himself has never been shy about admitting that sequels to his movies made by others were substandard. While he has been critical of the Alien sequels, he feels differently about James Cameron’s Aliens and about Cameron himself.
James Cameron famously took over the Alien franchise from Scott to make Aliens, a movie he promised would make the studio lots of money. He swapped out the original film’s horror elements for a more action-oriented story. Scott tells THR that Cameron was very complimentary of the original film, and he planned to make an action movie because he already knew he couldn’t top the original movie’s fright. Scott explained…
Nah. Jim said to me, ‘I’ve watched fucking Alien 19 times. I can never be as frightening. The cat’s out of the bag, we’ve seen the shark. So I’m going to go more military.’ And that’s what he did. But it was sweet that he said that. [Aliens] was fun. And then three and four just evaporated. And ironically, with that evaporation, they had the “help” of digital. Alien had no digital at all. It was just a guy in a rubber suit.
If nothing else Cameron appreciated the compliment that Alien could not be outdone on its own terms. He calls Aliens “fun” which isn’t the same thing as calling it a great movie. But he doesn’t lump it into the same camp that he does the sequels that followed it, which he clearly feels were less than impressive, despite having arguably better technology at their disposal.
Scott says he felt after the fourth film the franchise had been run into the ground. He then had the idea to resurrect the franchise via the prequel film Prometheus. While neither of Scott's prequel Alien movies were as well received as the original, they were able to keep the franchise rolling.
Most people would likely agree both Alien and Aliens are among the best science fiction movies ever made, though it’s unlikely anybody else would count the other films in that same class. The only exception might be the most recent film in the series, as Alien: Romulus was heralded as a return to form by many critics.
The future of the Alien franchise is quite bright. An Alien TV series is on the way. What Ridley Scott will think of it all is anybody’s guess. However, Scott is also working on yet another Alien movie of his own. Fans will certainly be excited for that. Whatever happens, Aliens as a franchise isn't going anywhere.