Alien: Romulus may have debuted in the lineup of 2024 movies, but some pieces of the world are still waiting for their turn to enjoy. More specifically, I’m talking about how the latest chapter in the Alien movie timeline is set to hit Hulu in the UK in the next week, which means now’s a good time to talk about an improvement that was apparently made to the home release.
Before you ask whether or not this new change applies to Alien: Romulus’ portrayal of Science Officer Rook, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Or rather, that’s what Fede Alvarez discussed with Empire when talking about his late summer scream machine. The Don’t Breathe director’s rationale for this fresh coat of paint was as follows:
We just ran out of time in post-production to get it right. I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with some of the shots, where you could feel a bit more the CG intervention. So, for people that react negatively, I don’t blame them. We made it better for the release right now. I convinced the studio we need to spend the money and make sure we give the companies that were involved in making it the proper time to finish it and do it right. It’s so much better.
I need to take a moment to tip my metaphorical hat yet again to Fede Álvarez, because this is a refreshing degree of candor you’d expect in the fallout of a failed blockbuster. However, we’re talking about Alien: Romulus, which has a sequel in development over at 20th Century Studios. So these are parties that are still working together in the midst of such refreshing, but also polite honesty.
And yet, the Evil Dead 2013 mastermind actually went back and enhanced the last-minute addition of the late Ian Holm’s likeness and voice Romulus for which drew some ire. I wasn’t as against the effect when I first saw it, but knowing it’s been tweaked, I feel like I need to watch the movie again to spot this key difference Álvarez described in these further remarks:
[Animatronic puppeteer] Shane Mahan actually did this animatronic of Ian Holm based on a head cast from Lord Of The Rings, and that was the only one in existence. What we did [for the home entertainment version] was revert a lot more to the puppet. It’s way better.
I know this upgraded version of Alien: Romulus was only allowed to happen due to its box office success, but I’d love to see other movies get this same sort of redemption. Thinking back to the stories of how The Thing’s 2011 prequel made its own shift from practical on-set effects to CGI, it’d be really interesting to get the original cut of that picture - the way it was meant to be seen.
For now though, I once more send my thanks to Fede Álvarez and the folks at 20th Century Studios for making this tweak. It shows dedication and love to an iconic franchise, and it now gives me another reason to re-watch one of my favorite films from last year.
Hulu subscription holders in the US can follow my example and stream Alien: Romulus’ new and slightly tweaked cut, as well as purchase it on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD. As for the UK subscribers out there, the latest battle of humans, Xenomorphs and synthetic persons will be online to enjoy starting January 15th.
