James Cameron Isn't Happy With The State Of The 'Alien' Franchise

James Cameron is skeptical about the Alien franchise. In the 30 years since Cameron made Aliens, the series has repeatedly failed to live up to the high expectations set by Sir Ridley Scott's original film and Cameron's sequel. The sixth installment in the franchise comes out this summer, Alien: Covenant, which Cameron will line up to see opening day, despite his reservations about another Alien sequel.

The filmmaker saw Prometheus twice when it was released in theaters.

"I thought it was Ridley returning to science fiction with gusto, with great tactical performance, beautiful photography, great native 3D," he said, although he didn't think it added up logically. "There might have been a few things that I would have done differently, but that's not the point, you could say that about any movie."

Despite his appreciation for Scott's film, he's not sure this series has any gas left in it, but he says the jury is still out.

While discussing the unpleasant state of the world and a new show he executive produced for National Geographic, Atlantis Rising, Vulture asked him about his feelings on Alien: Covenant. His response:

The franchise has kind of wandered all over the map. I don't think it's worked out terribly well. I think we've moved on beyond it. It's like, okay, we've got it, we've got the whole Freudian biomechanoid meme. I've seen it in 100 horror films since. I think both of those films stand at a certain point in time, as a reference point. But is there any validity to doing another one now? I don't know. Maybe. Let's see, jury's out.

I don't think it's worked out terribly well. I think we've moved on beyond it. It's like, okay, we've got it, we've got the whole Freudian biomechanoid meme. I've seen it in 100 horror films since. I think both of those films stand at a certain point in time, as a reference point. But is there any validity to doing another one now? I don't know. Maybe. Let's see, jury's out. Let's see what Ridley comes up with. Let me just add to that — and don't cut this part off, please — I will stand in line for any Ridley Scott movie, even a not-so-great one, because he is such an artist, he's such a filmmaker. I always learn from him. And what he does with going back to his own franchise would be fascinating.

Cameron has always been candid about the Alien series. He thought they "screwed up the whole franchise" with the Alien vs. Predator movies. He's always believed they made a mistake right out of the gate with Alien 3 by killing off Newt and Hicks, too. Many more mistakes in this series followed that decision, so Cameron understandably has some doubts about the franchise's future. He did think Neill Bomkamp's (Elysium) script for an Alien sequel was "gangbusters" and "a very strong script," but there's a slim chance of that movie getting made.

Alien: Covenant opens in theaters May 19th.