An Oscar-winning director, Xenomorphs, and music? You heard that right. South Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho, fresh off the release of his latest film, the sci-fi comedy Mickey 17, has expressed his desire to helm an Alien film from the science-fiction horror franchise.
In a recent interview, Bong revealed that he once entertained the idea of directing a film set in the Alien universe. But with a catch. Despite not being particularly drawn to big-budget blockbuster franchise films, the Oscar-winning director said, “I’m not drawn to franchise films, but I did think at one point that I would like to do an Alien film […] An Alien musical.”
Five years ago, at the 92nd Academy Awards, Bong was the king of the film industry when he won Best Director for the critically acclaimed 2019 thriller-comedy Parasite. The film made history as the first non-English language film to win Best Picture at the prestigious awards ceremony. Among the other accolades Bong and the film received that night were Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film.
After Parasite, fans and cinephiles were eager to know what the director was going to do next. Bong could’ve helmed a big-budget Hollywood project, with director fancasts circling the internet about him taking on the Star Wars and James Bond franchises. However, he turned his attention to adapting the 2022 science-fiction novel, Mickey7 into a $115 million picture for Warner Bros. Mickey 17 saw Bong team up with Robert Pattinson, one of the most versatile actors of his generation, for a sci-fi comedy that sees Pattinson as an expendable space colonist being killed off repeatedly.
However, Bong said in his guesting at The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he said he would never make a musical, saying, “I can’t stand the minute they start to sing.” With the failure of 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux, not every film, story, or intellectual property (IP) needs to be a musical. Although Bong has expressed his dislike for making musicals, the wit and humor present in his past films suggest an Alien musical might not be such a wild idea.