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Aliens (1986)

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton.  Cinematography by Adrian Biddle.  Editing by Ray Lovejoy. Produced by Gale Anne Hurd.  Written by David Giler, Walter Hill, and James Cameron. Directed by James Cameron.

Fifty seven years after the events in the first Alien film, Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) is still in hibernation and floating aimlessly through space on the Narcissus, the shuttle craft of the Nostromo.  She is picked up by The Company and slowly reintroduced into the new time period. On Acheron, the planet she nearly lost her life on, a colony of settlers has set up camp that has been thriving for years.

But communication with them has recently been lost and Ripley, along with a liaison from The Company and a small squad of marines, ships off to investigate what is suspected to be another infection of alien creatures. They arrive on the small planet to find it almost totally devoid of human life, but virtually seething with deadly aliens.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had been called back to fulfill his obligation for the sequel to Conan the Barbarian, so James Cameron had nine months to kill while he waited to use him for his breakout film The Terminator.  While shopping around his script for The Terminator, Cameron had developed himself quite the reputation as a talented science fiction screenwriter. So during the nine months of down time, he picked up a job as a writer for the sequel to the 1979 science fiction classic, Alien.  The production company loved his treatment and told him that depending on the results of The Terminator, he might actually be in the running for the directorial role as well. Well The Terminator was a huge success and needless to say Cameron got the job.

The first Alien was an amazingly unique and original film and is subsequently regarded as one of the best films to come out of the seventies.  So, like any formula that has worked once, a rash of knockoff films had sprung up and drifted away in the six years between the film and its sequel. For that reason Cameron didn’t want to simply remake Alien. 

He took his film, used the established storyline and characters, and put it into a completely different genre; that of the combat action film (he came up with the film’s concept of using the military in space while working on Rambo: First Blood Part II). To produce a fresh sequel to one of the most highly acclaimed films in recent years is a massive undertaking, but Cameron pulled it off with grace and once again made the Alien franchise the hottest ticket in town.

Budget: $18,500,000

Total US Gross: $81,843,793

Genre: Science Fiction

Runtime: 137 Minutes

US Release Date: 7/18/86

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Awards:

Academy Awards: 
Won for best sound effects and visual effects.
Nominated for best art direction/set decoration, film editing, original score, sound, and actress.

Golden Globes: 
Nominated for best actress. 

American Film Institute’s Top 100 Lists: 
100 Years… 100 Heroes and Villains (#8 Hero – Ellen Ripley)

Tagline: This Time It’s War.

Quote: “Just tell me one thing, Burke.  You're going out there to destroy them, right?  Not to study. Not to bring back.  But to wipe them out.”