'Alien: Romulus' Gets Hulu Date After Conquering Theaters
Once intended to go directly to Hulu, gets the same victory lap that the likes of 'Mean Girls' and 'Smile' did before
Come give the Xenomorphs a nice welcome home face hug. Disney has announced that Alien: Romulus, the seventh film in the Alien franchise and first since the studio purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019, will arrive on Hulu (and Disney+ through it) on November 21.
Yeah, announced just two weeks in advance, it comes just before American Thanksgiving, so give thanks. That’s a wait of 98 days, or 14 weeks from its August 16 release. That’s two weeks longer than Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but 12 days sooner than Deadpool & Wolverine, which arrives on Disney+ on November 12. Despite their theatrical releases being positioned three weeks apart, their streaming arrivals are separated by nine days.
Set 20 years after the original Alien, Romulus follows Rain Carradine, her adopted malfunctioning android brother Andy, her ex-boyfriend Tyler, his pregnant sister Kay, their cousin Bjorn, and Bjorn's adopted sister Navarro, who come face-to-face with Xenomorphs while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station. Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu star. Directed by Fede Alvarez, he wrote the film with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. Original Alien director Ridley Scott produced with Michael Pruss and Walter Hill.
The film that became Alien: Romulus was originally intended to be released straight-to-Hulu when Alvarez was first announced to be working on it in March 2022, similar to sister franchise Predator prequel Prey, but with a theatrical-prioritized release strategy restored, it was made a theatrical release by the time filming started. It ended up grossing $105.3 million domestically, $245.5 million internationally for a $350.8M worldwide box office. It’s behind Prometheus but still considered a major success. The next installment of the franchise will be an FX Hulu original series Alien: Earth, whose first teaser played in front of Romulus at Cineplex theaters.
Source: Deadline