The Alien franchise has well expanded over the years, spawning everything from live-action movies and video games to even comic books. There’s also a completed 10-episode anime series that’s currently kept under lock and key at Disney, with respected mechanical designer Shinji Aramaki (Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045) reported to be at the helm.
His involvement was later confirmed in a Twitter post, where he acknowledged an IGN report on the project and added, “It was completed almost 7 years ago, and unfortunately I don’t know why they didn’t release.” Now, more details about the project have surfaced.
The industry veteran shared during his dedicated panel at Otacon 2023 that he did indeed work on the show, and showcased screenshots and designs — dated from 2015 — from the project with the title Aliens vs. Predator: Annihilation (via Anime News Network).
According to Aramaki, it takes place on a giant immigration ship and sees various Predator factions involved in the plot, with the aliens introduced under Ridley Scott playing a major role. When it came to the specifics, he refrained from over-divulging, in case it ever gets a formal release.
Attendees also got a glimpse of stills featuring the iconic Alien and Predator factions from the shared universe, as well as designs for an Alien Queen that Aramaki personally drafted for Aliens vs. Predator: Annihilation.
Back in May this year, Joshua Izzo, the former licensing director at 20th Century Fox prior to Disney’s acquisition of the company and founder of Alien Day in 2016, revealed details about the anime. “There is, sitting at Disney now, at 20th Studios, 10 episodes of a fully completed Alien vs. Predator anime series that I produced,” he said. “It’s done. It’s in the can. It’s mixed; it’s finished. It was produced and story cracked by Eric Calderon and Dave Baker, two unbelievably crazy talented guys.”
With information running scarce, fans can only imagine how Aliens vs. Predator: Annihilation will look like. Considering Aramaki’s expertise in blending 2D animation with CGI, it’s likely the series would ditch traditional 2D for this style, but there’s no way to know for sure until Disney releases it — if there are even plans to do so at all.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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