Aliens (film): Difference between revisions

| gross = $131.1–183.3{{nbsp}}million

}}

 

Despite the success of ''Alien'', its sequel took years to develop due to lawsuits, a lack of enthusiasm from [[20th Century Fox]], and repeated management changes. Although relatively inexperienced, Cameron was hired to write a story for ''Aliens'' in 1983 on the strength of his scripts for ''[[The Terminator]]'' (1984) and ''[[Rambo: First Blood Part II]]'' (1985). The project stalled again until new Fox executive [[Lawrence Gordon (producer)|Lawrence Gordon]] pursued a sequel. On an approximately $18.5{{nbsp}}million budget, ''Aliens'' began [[principal photography]] in September 1985 and concluded in January 1986. Like its development, filming was tumultuous and rife with conflicts between Cameron and the British crew at [[Pinewood Studios]]. The difficult shoot affected the composer, [[James Horner]], who was given little time to record the music.

==Plot==

<!--Per Wikipedia Guidelines, please do not expand this summary any further.-->

 

After contact is lost with the colony, Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke and Colonial Marine Lieutenant Gorman ask Ripley to accompany them to investigate. Still traumatized by her alien encounter, she agrees on the condition that they exterminate the creatures. Ripley is introduced to the Colonial Marines on the spaceship ''Sulaco'' but is distrustful of their [[android (robot)|android]], [[Bishop (Aliens)|Bishop]], because the [[Ash (Alien)|android aboard the ''Nostromo'']] betrayed its crew to protect the alien on company orders.

===Creature effects===

{{see also|Xenomorph}}

 

The facehugger design remained faithful to the original ''Alien'' design, but the overall appearance was made to appear more organic, and its eight legs were made more finger-like, enhancing the detail on the knuckles and adding fingernails.{{sfn|Shay|1986|p=28}} Unlike in ''Alien'', which only involved one substantial jumping scene, the facehugger models used in ''Aliens'' featured full articulation for their tongue, legs, and tail, allowing for more action set pieces. The tail was also lengthened about {{cvt|6|in|cm}} to give it more functions such as a whip-like action.{{sfn|Shay|1986|p=28}} Nine operators were required for the fully articulated facehugger; other less-detailed variants were used for simple actions such as scurrying across the floor. The design team struggled with making it scuttle believably while moving the appendages; they eventually developing a control wire along the floor that activated a gear inside it, causing the appendages to move as it was pulled along. Several rubber facehuggers were made to be thrown or blown up.{{sfn|Shay|1986|pp=28–29}} Manipulating the facehugger inside a water tank was also difficult as the tank had to be watertight, limiting the use of control cables. A method was developed that required fewer cables to move the facehugger around the tank; the tail was fitted with a spring that caused it to snap back and forth.{{sfn|Shay|1986|p=28}} Winston added arms to the chestburster alien form (since the adult form had arms), explaining how it could drag itself out of a host's chest. Two chestburster puppets were used: a reinforced one, and an articulated one for movement. A puppeteer punched the former through a fabricated latex-foam chest; the scene took several takes to film because it could not pierce the clothing.<ref name="StanWinstonColes"/><ref name="StanWinston"/>

[[Category:Films produced by Walter Hill]]

[[Category:Films scored by James Horner]]

[[Category:Films set on fictional moons]]

[[Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios]]