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Who would have thought that it was the "facehugger" that helped Hollywood win back the market in mainland China.

"Alien: Reaper," which was rated R in North America and had the warning "Underage viewers are advised to choose with caution" on the introduction poster, was released in China without any cuts.

Although some parents took their 8-year-old children to watch the movie and left the theater because they were scared and believed that they were left with sequelae, they demanded compensation from the cinema.

But the film's box office in mainland China can be described as unstoppable -

Instead of falling on Sunday, the box office rose throughout the day and approached 80 million yuan. The box office on the first weekend was among the top three imported films this year, second only to "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" and "How Do You Want to Live?"

The film’s cumulative box office in mainland China has now reached 195 million yuan, and Maoyan’s box office forecast has increased from over 200 million yuan to 700 million yuan.

The new Hollywood film, which had been sluggish in the mainland market for quite some time, finally unexpectedly surpassed "Rebirth" and films such as "Catch the Dolls" and "Life in the Dark" which have been released for several weeks, and topped the mainland box office list.

What’s even more impressive is that “Death Row” has also been a huge hit in its home market of North America.

This sci-fi thriller with a total investment of 80 million US dollars took in 41.5 million US dollars (about 290 million RMB) in the first three days of its North American weekend and ranked first in the weekend box office.It achieved the second best opening in the entire series, second only to "Prometheus".

Thanks to the strong performance of its simultaneous release in North America and mainland China, the film has grossed $108.2 million, or 775 million yuan, worldwide.

Along with the box office, the film’s reputation is also soaring.

The film has a Douban score of 7.7, surpassing "Catch the Dolls" with 7.4 and "Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century" with 7.6, ranking first among the summer blockbusters.

In North America, the film's IMDB public rating is 7.5 points, while Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" and "Contract" are 7.0 and 6.4 respectively. Combined with the news that "Mr. Ridley watched the film and was very satisfied", the film has won the reputation in both China and the United States.

When Ray was the producer and the director was changed to Fede Alvarez, the director of "The Evil Dead" and "Don't Breathe", the film took the "hold your breath" approach, without any philosophical thinking, just a simple and brutal space battle royale.

The film not only reproduced the classic elements in a conscientious manner, but also contributed to the audience the most exciting science fiction thriller in more than a decade. The Chinese and American markets finally opened their doors to the "facehugger" at the same time.

Are monster movies popular all over the world, or are Hollywood blockbusters really popular again? Today, let's talk about the movie "Alien: Revenge".

1. Three “surprises”

The biggest surprise of the movie is that it brings back the closed spaceship narrative of Alien 1, turning it into a thorough space thriller.

The story timeline follows "Alien 1", and the story is introduced by the alien that was not completely dead but was rushed into space by the heroine in the finale of the first film.

In order to escape from the deadly Capital Factory, a group of six people who were determined to die in space had to go to an abandoned space station to scavenge. As a result, they were attacked by facehuggers and aliens and began their space escape.

This setting is obviously a return to the perfect combination of science fiction setting and B-level horror movie in "Alien 1".

The horror environment of "claustrophobic space" and the narrative mode of "who can survive to the end" are a bit simple and lack innovation. But for ordinary passers-by, the simplicity of the film just avoids the excessive grandeur of the two science fiction epics that Mr. Lei personally participated in before.

Grand means complex, but this year's audience just wants simple, mindless excitement. Simple and crude, returning to classics, is the first surprise this movie gives to the audience.

The second biggest surprise was the rediscovery of horror imagination.

As a leading master among the new generation of horror film directors in Hollywood, director Fed Alvarez is obviously more than capable in creating horror elements.

With a total investment of 80 million US dollars, which is rare in Hollywood blockbusters, the director's design of the lighting atmosphere and sound effects in different environments and scenes is wonderful, especially the sound effects. When the cyborg Andy led the team through the cabin full of facehuggers, the silence made the audience dare not breathe.

The film also did not forget the biggest horror attraction, the alien. The human alien in "Death Row" was mutated from a human embryo, so it has a human skull and spine, but an abnormally hunchbacked skeleton. It is the ugliest alien in history, and the audience gasps when they see it.

The film also features three very imaginative horror scenes.

One is that after Navarro was "born" by the facehugger, she used an X-ray machine to irradiate her chest cavity and found that the alien baby was already inside her body and eventually broke out of her chest.

Secondly, in order for the team to get through a room full of facehuggers, they must keep the room temperature at the constant level of the human body to avoid the attention of the aliens. However, once they sweat out of fear and the body temperature changes instantly, the aliens will pounce on them immediately.

The rhythm control of this scene can be said to be the best in Hollywood thrillers in recent years.

Finally, of course, there is the famous scene in the last ten minutes of the film.

In the final series of chases, in order to use the space environment to kill the aliens, the heroine adopted the "Mission Impossible"-style action movie tactics, which was to turn off the gravity generator, allowing the space where the corridor was located to lose gravity, while hunting the aliens at the same time.

When the alien's blood floats in the air, the heroine and the cyborg need to rely on weightlessness to pass through the alien's blood. This scene is extremely thrilling and romantic at the same time.

In a word, the film creates a very strong horror atmosphere with relatively little cost, and it provides a sensory stimulation that can only be felt on the big screen.

The third surprise of the movie is a perfect tribute to the classics.

The film begins with the heroine Lane (Carrie Spaeny) walking out of the foggy elevator with a gun in hand, appearing like a heroine, holding a machine gun to "shoot aliens".

The audience will automatically think of the female warrior Ripley in "Alien 2" who rushed back with a machine gun to save her "daughter".

The part about learning to use a rifle is exactly the same as in "Alien 2".

In order to please old fans, the film even gave fans a "resurrection easter egg", using special effects to allow Ian Holm, who died four years ago, to reappear on the big screen through CG, restoring the cyborg "Ash" from the first film.

Even the character's personality has not changed. After the heroine installed the "Ash" chip in Andy, the latter became ruthless and turned into "Ash"'s personality until the heroine removed the extra chips and changed Andy back to normal.

Of course, the most fundamental tribute is the setting of the Alien: it has no humanity, kills everyone it sees, most attacks are ineffective against it, it is a perfect organism and a killing machine.

Although the last 2-meter-tall humanoid alien is somewhat controversial, this ugliest alien in history is also another tribute to the Alien series.

2. Three “regrets”

The above are three highlights of "Taken" that the audiences like more, but in addition to the doubts of some parents of children about the film being too scary, the film also has three obvious word-of-mouth controversies.

The biggest controversy is the film’s biggest advantage: simplicity and crudeness.

Before this, Ridley Scott restarted the Alien prequel, and both "Prometheus" and "Covenant" turned to deep mythology and philosophical speculation, and even used the Alien story to think about the origin of all things.

However, "Taken" completely abandoned the setting of a space epic and gave up on making breakthroughs in theme and genre. It just restored the factory settings and the conventional clearance mode. In terms of speculation, it is not even as good as "Alien 1" in 1979, about cyborgs worshiping aliens and betraying humans.

For example, the leading male character Andy, the black guy in the film, is really likable, but in terms of the depth of the character, he cannot be compared with David who played Wagner's "Enter Valhalla" in "The Covenant".

The second controversial point of the film is that its sci-fi horror techniques are extremely old-fashioned, returning to the Hollywood space opera horror aesthetics of the 1970s and 1980s, but the horror effect varies from person to person.

Some audience members were so engrossed in watching the show that they dared not even breathe.

But viewers who have watched too many Hollywood horror movies may find the first half of the film boring, and the second half slightly innovative but overall unremarkable, relying entirely on startling sound effects to create a horror atmosphere. Only the last ten minutes are worth watching. Since the understanding of science fiction horror is still stuck in 40 years ago, it is better not to shoot it.

The third controversial point of the movie is the clichéd plot.

For audiences who want to see a "brainless special effects thriller", the special effects and scenes of this film can meet expectations;

But for audiences who hope to see new content and new stories, the plot of this film is still the old routine of Hollywood horror films and lacks novelty.

Especially when compared with the director's famous work "Don't Breathe", which tells the story of a blind old man hunting three young thieves in a house, isn't "Taken" just like replacing the old man with an alien and a facehugger, and replacing the young thieves with the six protagonists?

This "new wine in old bottles" story is nothing more than being moved to space and performed again. In the scheduling of action scenes, there is inevitably a familiar feeling of chase and escape.

Some people feel happy, while others feel unhappy.

3. Among Hollywood movies, are only monster movies popular in both China and the United States?

Having said that, we are back to the topic of "Are Hollywood movies good or not?" which can always spark heated discussions.

The market for Hollywood blockbusters in the mainland is naturally different now than it used to be.

Since opening up the mainland market in the 1990s, Hollywood blockbusters have cultivated a fixed audience base in the mainland, making the Chinese market the world's second largest box office for Hollywood blockbusters.

But after 2000, with the exhaustion of film creativity, Hollywood entered the era of "mass-produced series films", and the advantages of movie special effects continued to decline.

Especially when domestic special effects blockbusters such as "The Wandering Earth" came out, Hollywood blockbusters' special effects were no longer enough to attract audiences.

In recent years, as Marvel and DC movies have been in a slump in the mainland market, the "Fast and Furious" series is no longer popular, and old IPs such as "Indiana Jones" have successively lost box office sales.

Throughout 2024, there was only one Hollywood blockbuster that made it into the top ten box office in mainland China: "Godzilla vs. Kong 2."

During the entire summer season, the best-selling Hollywood blockbuster "Deadpool vs. Wolverine" only grossed 417 million yuan, and the North American hit "Twister" only grossed a little over 20 million yuan.

Obviously, it’s not that Hollywood blockbusters are popular again, but that mainland audiences simply prefer monster movies.

Whether it is Jurassic dinosaurs, Godzilla, King Kong or Alien, among Hollywood blockbusters, this is the only type that cannot be replaced by domestic special effects blockbusters.

Especially as a space science fiction horror thriller, "Taken" is a rare masterpiece in recent years.

This is the real reason why mainland audiences are flocking to the film.

Don’t forget, Lao Lei’s previous film “The Contract” only grossed 311 million yuan in mainland China.

It’s not that Hollywood blockbusters are popular again, nor that Alien is popular again, but that Hollywood sci-fi thrillers have always been popular, and audiences are finally seeing them on the big screen.

4. "Taken" was a huge hit, is there hope for Ray's Alien 3?

For an old fan of "Alien" born in the 1980s like me, "Taken" is definitely worth watching. After all, the film is full of tributes to the Alien series.

But for ordinary audiences who don't have too many sentiments, "Taken" is just another Hollywood sci-fi thriller of above-standard, which is enough to kill time.

The only people who are not suitable to watch this movie are children under 12 years old and those who are allergic to horror movies.

But no matter how much Chinese parents doubt it, it cannot stop the film from selling well around the world.

Looking back at the evolution of the alien, "Alien 2" directed by James Cameron became a science fiction hero film of "mechs vs. aliens", which started a trend of female heroes in Hollywood.

Alien 3, directed by the young David Fincher, is unique. Alien 4 is directed by the same director as Amélie, and the film has a dark fairy tale feel.

The creative support of these outstanding directors has made the "Alien" series flourish.

It was not until "Alien vs. Predator" that the two Alien prequels directed by Ray also gained good reputation.

However, the mediocre global box office of "Contract" made its old studio Fox a little hesitant.

When Disney acquired Fox, "Taken" was originally intended to be released online, but it was the excellent word-of-mouth from the film's internal previews that earned it the opportunity to be released in theaters.

As it turned out, Disney made the right bet.

The horror genres are all about small wins for big gains. "Taken" originally prepared for Disney's streaming media had an investment of only 80 million US dollars. In contrast, the loss-making "Captain Marvel 2" cost 274 million US dollars. If you were Disney, you would not continue to shoot the film.

What's more, in many dimensions, "Alien" has ushered in a new era. The "horror resonance" aroused by the helplessness and despair in the silent universe is still unique.

In this sense, "Taken" is certainly the stepping stone for Ray's third Alien prequel.

Finally, let me tell you a joke from the Internet: "Which scene in Alien: Taken Flight do you think is the most oppressive?"

Netizens commented that "the heroine was told by the company that her working hours did not meet the requirements and she would have to do hard labor for a few more years."

In the final trailer of Taken, there is a creepy song called "You Are My Lucky Start". Audiences familiar with Alien must have heard this song.

That was the song that Priy sang to himself to cheer himself up when facing the aliens hiding in the dark.

The global hit "Taken" seems to have become the lucky star of the Alien series, Ridley Scott and Hollywood science fiction thrillers, but the future of Hollywood blockbusters is still like the heroine who enters the hibernation capsule at the end of the film and starts her space journey again.

No one knows the future.