Here's How to Watch All the ‘Alien’ Movies in Order for the Ultimate Movie Marathon
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Okay, be honest—have you really watched every single installment in the Alien movie franchise? If yes, I truly applaud you, but for the other 98 percent of individuals who probably haven’t (guilty) and want to see Alien: Romulus on the big screen, you might wanna catch up on the classics before booking a ticket at your local movie theater.
Alien: Romulus will require a bit of a previous intel if you don’t want to get lost in the plot. The movie—which stars Cailee Spaeny David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu—acts as a stand-alone that takes place between the events of the Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). The cast stars as a group of space colonists that, while scavenging what appears to be an abandoned space station, come face-to-face with the true stars of the entire franchise: terrifying xenomorphs.
Of course, Alien: Romulus, Alien, and Aliens aren’t the only movies in the series. There’s multiple installment to dig into, so if finding out how to watch the entire franchise in order interests you, read on. Extraterrestrial, parasitic fun awaits you.
Alien (1979)
The original, 1979 installment of Alien follows Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) a space crew aboard Nostromo, a commercial spaceship on its way back to Earth. The crew gets a signal from a nearby spacecraft that looks to be abandoned, but after exploring the premises, the crew finds a chamber filled with thousands of alien eggs. A parasite inside the egg attacks a crew member who falls unconscious, and they take him back to their original ship—but little do they know, hell will shortly ensue.
Aliens (1986)
Xenomorphs are pretty vicious, because Ripley is the only crew member that makes it alive to Aliens. Fifty-seven years later, Ripley is called to help a group of marines take down the dangerous troop of aliens, but instead of a ship invasion, the xenomorphs have taken over the space colony on moon LV-426. In addition to staying alive, Ripley has to protect a little girl, the sole survivor of the aliens’ attack on her colony.
Alien 3 (1992)
Ripley crash lands on Fiorina 161, a wasteland where former prisoners of a maximum security prison on the planet reside. The xenomorphs continue their reign of terror, and this time, Ripley has to face off against the aliens—alongside prisoners and guards, and without weapons—to make it out alive.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
Alien Resurrection picks up 200 years after where Alien 3 leaves off, after Ripley sacrificed herself for the good of humanity. As suggested by the movie title, Ripley is ~resurrected~ through military cloning to remove the alien that lives within her, but it doesn’t go according to plan and leaves Ripley with a tough choice to determine where her true allegiance lies—with humans or the aliens.
Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Instead of taking place on a spaceship, Alien vs. Predator sees Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) on an expedition to Antarctica with the hopes of finding a source of heat. Tour guide Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) helps them uncover a hidden pyramid, and surprise! There are parasitic aliens. But when the predators—another dangerous extraterrestrial species—come to hunt the aliens, the humans are caught in the shuffle.
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
No exotic locations to be found in the second installment of the Alien vs. Predator saga—for Requiem, the franchise heads to Colorado, where, for some reason, the aliens and predators go to hash out their feud (aka beat each other into extinction).
Prometheus (2012)
Thought we were done with spaceships? Think again. Prometheus is the name of spaceship carrying a full crew. The crew follows a star map into order to find ancient earthly artifacts and discover the earliest signs of human life. Aliens, naturally, find their way into the fold and push the humans into deadly territory.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
As a new space crew heads toward a remote planet, they encounter a survivor from the Prometheus expedition after discovering what they believe to be an uncharted paradise. But things ultimately turn sour as aliens force them to fight for their life.
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