Why is aliens directed by James Cameron and not Ridley Scott?

Answer 1

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The 1979 Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, was so amazing, but the style in Aliens (1986), directed by Cameron, is somehow the next logical step as far as it has as more "active" quality to it. The mysteries in Alien have been solved and now the character Ripley has to be more proactive against the monster--Aliens is more of an action movie, whereas Alien was a suspense/horror film with really no action.

It's likely that Ridley Scott was more focused on Blade Runner which was released in 1982--a BIG EXPENSIVE BEAUTIFUL COMPLICATED MOVIE that would be more important to him, perhaps, than a sequel. Sequels were not a fair bet back then, and could lose a lot of money. Scott was now gaining a rep as an expensive director with big budget movies. Cameron, I think, also came up with the ideas for Aliens 2 and he was a new hot director, up and coming, at the time (and probably not as expensive).

What came later, much later, was that the studio hid behind the idea that sequels were not money-makers--and the extra profits (end points) from Alien were not being given to Ridley Scott. He had to sue for his share of the profits and the studio's dumb excuse was that Alien had not made a profit (even though it did very very well and was a very low budget film). Ridley was owed major percentage points. That probably wasn't what kept him from being asked to make Aliens or would have kept him from deciding to make it at the time but who knows?

Answer 2

dunno

Answer 3

Scott had no interest in making a sequel to Alien at the time, and Cameron did.

Answer 4

Ridley Scott directed Alien, which debuted in 1979. Aliens did not come for another 7 years. There could have been any number of reasons Scot did not direct the second film - after all no one planned on a second film while the original was being filmed.

It's very likely that Scott already had obligations to other projects or films during that time, or simply that he was not interested, or that he wanted more money than the producers would offer.

Answer 5

Scott was upset about how the production studio handled Alien (changing scripts, alternate ending, etc)

Answer 6

The Original 1986 was directed by James Cameron, it was the first time James Cameron took over the movie. it was not the orginal was which was 1979. The 1986 movie was all James Cameron.