Los Angeles, June 5 (UNI) Director Ridley Scott has officially announced his decision to part with his classic sci-fi-horror franchise ‘Alien’, saying the franchise died after the fourth film.

Scott stated that he was disillusioned with the franchise due to the string of poorly received sequels to his classic 1979 film ‘Alien’.

While Scott praised the 1984 sequel ‘Aliens’ by James Cameron, which was also highly acclaimed and has become a classic in recent years, he couldn’t say the same for the rest that followed.

Speaking to Screen Rant, the ‘Gladiator’ director said “It is spreading like wildfire, and not really. I think I felt it was deadened after 4. I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think Jim's was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good.

“And I thought, "F***, that's the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody ‘Star Trek’ or ‘Star Wars’," which I think is phenomenal. At least, I think the first one by George is seminal–it was as seminal as 2001. To me, it was that important in terms of film language and where you go next.”

Talking about how he got started with the first film when he was offered the directorial role, he said “I'm fascinated (by) very good comics and the best in the world was probably Jean Giraud Moebius. Moebius was a French comics man who was just genius.

“I was staring at these, and suddenly I was offered Alien out of the blue. And because designer is in my blood and DNA, I just knew what to do with it.”

While he was the fifth choice to make the film, he said that when offered the role, he said ‘Are you kidding? I have to do this,’ because it borders and verges on heavy metal.

“So that's where I went, and then it died,” he added.

Describing his reasons for starting the ‘Prometheus’ movies – the prequel films to the first movie – he said “A number of years after, I said, I'm going to resurrect this, and wrote ‘Prometheus’ from scratch–a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I sat then hammered out ‘Prometheus’.

“It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more. I said, ‘It needs to fly.’ No one was coming for it, (and) I went once again (and made) ‘Alien Covenant’, and it worked too. Where it's going now, I think I've done enough, and I just hope it goes further.”

While Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ were well received and were successful at the box office, he wasn’t as satisfied. The most recent entry in the franchise, ‘Alien Romulus’ was made without his involvement, and received positive reception.

A TV show titled ‘Alien Earth’ is currently scheduled for release on August 12, with an undated film also in the works. UNI ANV SSP