Reaching the benchmarks set by Alien and Aliens was never going to be easy, but if anyone was capable of doing it, it would surely be filmmaker David Fincher. Unfortunately, the movie underperformed at the box office in 1992 and received mixed-to-negative reviews.
Despite struggling at the North American box office, Alien 3 did earn $100 million overseas. Fincher has since disowned the movie, arguing it was unfaithful to his original vision thanks to studio interference.
Deadline (via ComicBookMovie.com) recently spoke with Ripley actor Sigourney Weaver and asked for her thoughts on the threequel and the many challenges she and the cast and crew faced during production.
"Well, I could feel that David had to get on the phone and fight every day for us to shoot what he wanted to the next day. And I’m sorry that he didn’t get a chance to make the script his own before we started. That makes filmmaking very difficult."
"I recall that Vincent Ward’s original script had been about monks in a monastery and Ripley was in a coma for half of it. So, I keenly felt the lack of studio support. That was a transition moment when studios stopped being about 'let’s make great films' and started being about 'let’s not lose money.' They had the great idea to put David Fincher aboard for his first film, but then not to support the guy was very idiotic."
"It helped shooting in England so we could get on with things to an extent. I heard recently that David has disowned the project and I’m sorry about that because I loved working with him, and I think we made a good film. I’m glad he got a chance to do his version. It was a great ensemble."
Alien 3 does have its fair share of fans and is considered a cult classic by many. Weaver later returned for the poorly-received Alien: Resurrection and, while that ended her time as Ripley, has since boarded another sci-fi franchise with James Cameron's Avatar movies.
"I remember reading the script of the first Avatar and reading about these blue people with pointed ears and tails riding on these creatures through floating mountains," she recalls. "I couldn’t imagine any of it being shot. I honestly couldn’t imagine how he would ever make a film that looked like this and had these elements."
"But I’m so glad for Jim, and for the success of these films, which has meant we’re able to keep making them. I just finished working on Avatar 3 earlier this month, actually, and I think the series will continue to grow and be more and more hard-hitting."
Weaver later confirmed that she'll return in the fourth and fifth Avatar movies and revealed she's yet to start working on them. Next up for the actor is The Mandalorian and Grogu, her first trip into a Galaxy Far, Far Away as part of the Star Wars franchise.
One franchise it seems she's unlikely to return to, unfortunately, is Ghostbusters. Asked if there's been any talk about reprising her role as Dana Barrett in a future sequel, Weaver replied, "Not that I’m aware of."
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