One of the most ground-breaking sci-fi horror films ever made is Ridley Scott’s iconic Alien. To celebrate the 40th anniversary and the 4K re-release Alien will return in cinemas across the US on March 1st via Park Circus. To help celebrate, we have ‘Alien by Numbers‘, some little known facts about the epic film that might surprise you.
A L I E N by Numbers
3 Words – That sold the script to the studio: “Jaws in space”
3 Hours 12 Minutes – The duration of the original cut of the film
4 Cats – The number of cats that played Jonesy in the film
4 Minutes – The full-screen time of the Xenomorph
5 Directors – That were considered before they found Ridley Scott
7 Feet 2 Inches – The height of Bolaji Badejo in his one and only role-playing the titular monster
26 Feet – The height of the Space Jockey prop
130 Eggs – The number of prop Alien eggs made
$38,461 – The average made per cinema by Alien on opening weekend in 1979, totaling $3.5 million
$4.2 million – The original budget of the film, which was doubled after Ridley Scott storyboarded his ideas
Bonus fact for Oscar season –
26 – Alien is a member of the exclusive club of only 26 horror films that have ever won an Oscar.
In her most iconic role, Sigourney Weaver stars as Ripley, a member of a space crew searching out a mysterious distress call. When one of the crew is attacked by a mysterious lifeform, and they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.
Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto star, with Bolaji Badejo playing the role of the vicious alien.
Alien will screen at cinemas across the UK and selected international territories from March 1, 2019, in a new 4K restoration of the original theatrical cut, to mark its 40th anniversary.
The film was restored in 4K in 2018 by 20th Century Fox at Company 3/Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, supervised by Ridley Scott and Pam Dery. The 4K scans were done at EFilm and the audio restoration was done by Audio Mechanics.
Winner of the 1979 Academy Award® for Visual Effects (H.R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, Denys Ayling), and the film which spawned a vast media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys, Alien remains a visceral, captivating and poetic blend of sci-fi and horror – and what better way to mark its 40th anniversary than to experience it back on the big screen, where it truly belongs.
Following a special screening at Glasgow Film Festival on February 28, 2019, Alien will open at BFI Southbank on March 1st for a two-week run, before screening at cinemas across the UK and selected international territories.
