I don’t know if you remember this or not, but the original trailer released for Alien 3 teased a story that would have focused on xenomorphs terrorizing Earth.
The trailer came with the tagline, “In 1992, we will discover, on Earth, everyone can hear you scream.”
That was the Alien 3 movie that we were supposed to get! That would’ve been a much better direction to take the next chapter of the story!
Alien 3 was originally set to be directed by Renny Harlin, and that was his initial vision for the movie. But, the project ended up going through a lot of production issues, challenges, and script rewrites.
During that process, Harlin left the project and was replaced by David Fincher, who ended up directing a film that was set on a prison planet. That movie ended up being a big disappointment that didn’t live up to the expectations of fans.
During an interview with /Film, Harlin talked about his original vision for the movie, saying: “I was working on Alien 3 in ’89, which was before Jurassic Park and all those movies. So the concept of having these creatures on Earth for the studio, it felt scary and unattainable.
“For me, it was the natural evolution. We’ve had the Alien with the truck drivers in space, we’ve had Aliens with the Marines in space, and where do we go next? Let’s bring the aliens on Earth and have them going through the cornfield.
“I had the poster already in my mind with the farmhouse and the cornfield in moonlight, and they are going through the cornfield. To this day, I think it would’ve been a ginormous hit movie because it would’ve been the first time anything like that was done. But for whatever reason, the studio felt like, ‘Ah, the audience won’t buy that.’“
The thing is, audiences would’ve totally bought into it! It’s where the franchise was heading! The whole thing was about Weyland Industries getting the xenomorphs on Earth! It was only a matter of time before that actually happened.
When reflecting on his departure form the project, Harlin said: “So, let’s put the aliens on a prison ship. A prison ship? How am I going to relate to a prison ship? But that’s ancient history.
“I’m not blaming anybody, but for those who don’t know, I worked for a year on Alien 3, and I quit politely, respectfully, because I couldn’t stand the idea of, after Ridley Scott and Jim Cameron, coming up with a movie that is just not going to live up to what the audience is expecting and give them that experience.
“The key to me, just to say again about the ‘Alien’ movies, was that they have to be relatable. They might be in outer space, but the characters are you and I, in outer space, and that’s what makes them tick.”
I would’ve loved to see Harlin’s vision of Alien 3. What the studio did end up making was not the direction they should’ve taken the franchise.
Check out the original teaser trailer below.