Alien 3 had a turbulent path to the big screen with many rejected script concepts, including one that featured the alien Xenomorphs fusing into a giant, Godzilla-like monster. 1979’s Aliens serves as a touchstone of successful sequels. Alien 3, however, suffered from a troubled production beginning long before its 1992 release that resulted in what is widely considered to be a disappointing departure from the first two installments.
In 1991, 20th Century Fox released what would become a confusing and Alien 3 featuring an Ovomorph egg hovering over Earth with accompanying narration that states, “In 1992, we will discover, on Earth, everyone can hear you scream.” Although the creatures these eggs produce, known as Xenomorphs, never make it to Earth in Alien 3, the idea seems like a natural progression after Aliens reveals the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's plan to turn the creatures into biological weapons and ends with the surviving characters en route to Earth. Unfortunately, the production of Alien 3 saw a revolving door of screenwriters and directors that resulted in principal photography beginning in 1991 without a shooting script and $7 million already on the books. The final film was set on a refinery/prison planet called Fiorina "Fury" 161, but there was an early concept for Alien 3 that saw the Xenomorphs visiting Earth in a very Godzilla-esque plot.
Following the enormous success of Aliens, which reportedly earned over $157 million worldwide, 20th Century Fox approached producers David Giler and Walter Hill of Brandywine Productions to begin development on a third installment. According to the sci-fi publication Cinescape, one of the earliest concepts Giler and Hill considered involved a swarm of Xenomorphs invading Earth, where they fuse together to create a “giant, multi-talented monster” that destroys New York City. The concept is reminiscent of Japanese kaiju films, most notably Godzilla. Kaiju, meaning “strange beast” in Japanese, is a genre featuring giant monsters that typically attack major cities and engage either the military or other creatures in epic battles. Godzilla famously attacks Tokyo in the 1954 film, but Roland Emmerich's 1998 Godzilla sees the giant monster migrate to New York City, providing a glimpse at how the Alien 3 concept may have looked. The Alien producers ultimately abandoned this story in favor of a more traditional Xenomorph depiction, but elements of a Godzilla-like monster reappeared in subsequent Alien 3 scripts.
Renowned fiction writer William Gibson, pioneer of the cyberpunk sci-fi subgenre, submitted the first script for Alien 3 in 1987. It ended in an ominous cliffhanger during which Xenomorph genetic material heads toward earth aboard the spaceship Sulaco. Eric Red, writer of cult horror films The Hitcher and Near Dark, wrote the next draft of Alien 3 in 1989, one that had little to do with Gibson’s story. Red sets the film aboard a space station that houses a settlement complete with wheat fields, farms, and a small town built above a high-tech research facility where scientists are secretly breeding and studying Xenomorphs. The aliens escape and terrorize the small town, culminating in a battle between the townspeople and Xenomorphs that ends with the space station itself becoming “infected” by the alien species and turning into a giant, biochemical Xenomorph.
It appears logical that the Xenomorphs would eventually make their way to Earth following the events of the first two Alien films, something the original trailer for Alien 3 even teases. The abandoned Alien 3 concept of a giant Xenomorph attacking New York City, despite how logical its setting may be, would have taken the franchise in a radical, new direction bordering on a total genre shift. The book may be closed on this concept ever making its way into an Alien movie, but the idea of a giant Xenomorph does provide an interesting opportunity for a crossover film in which the creature battles its kaiju predecessor Godzilla.
