In 1979, director Ridley Scott revolutionized the sci-fi genre with his landmark film Alien. The movie’s realistic future mixed with Swiss artist H.R. Giger’s grotesque alien design, terrified viewers. Using Scott and Giger’s work as a foundation, James Cameron created the action-packed sequel Aliens in 1986. Although Cameron’s film concentrated less on horror, he introduced equally grounded and imaginative technology to the same universe.

Sadly the franchise declined with the following sequels, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. However this weekend, Ridley Scott hopes to revitalize science...

Michael Fassbender has never forgiven his parents for letting him watch Alien as a child, because the creepy movie left him "disturbed".

The actor, who stars in Alien-inspired film Prometheus, was so frightened by the 1979 sci-fi horror movie he grew convinced his body could be infiltrated by extraterrestrial beings and his life would come to a gruesome end.

He tells the Chicago Sun-Times, "My parents allowed me to see it for some reason, which was odd because they were very strict. For some reason, they had no problem with their child seeing creatures bursting out of the chests of human ...

A new extended trailer has been released for Prometheus, and it has revealed the aliens the crew face when they touch down on an unnamed planet.

Part of the reveal is the reason why these astronauts landed on the planet; it appears a pictogram has been discovered at numerous locations that is actually a star map... or an invitation. The data on the planet could lead humanity to the story of its origins.

The crew comes into contact with a cobra-like appendage that fells one of the scientists. It's then that they realize they could have found something that could end their existence.

If ...

Ridley Scott is launching a new online contest to send 10 budding moviemakers to this year's Venice Film Festival.

The Alien director has joined forces with video-sharing website YouTube.com to launch the campaign, asking fans to create their own 15-minute films and post them on the site.

The final 10 films, which will be voted for by the public, will all be screened at the Italian film festival, while the overall winner will also receive a $500,000 grant to create a movie with Scott.

The legendary director says, "Short film-making is exactly where I started my career 50 years ago. So...

Ridley Scott's Prometheus was originally going to tie into the Aliens series before its story grew into something completely different. The trailer, released recently, shows the influence from the Aliens series - but it doesn't show any monsters just yet. Watch it below!

Prometheus stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Charlize Theron, and Ben Foster. The movie is due out next summer.

Ridley Scott, the creative genius behind legendary Hollywood classics including "Alien," "Blade Runner" and "Gladiator," comes to SCIENCE this November with the world premiere eight-part series, "Prophets of Science Fiction".

An auteur of science fiction himself, Scott goes from behind the camera to on-air guide to explore the relationship between genre and the constantly-evolving worlds of science and technology. From Jules Verne and Isaac Asimov to George Lucas and Phillip K. Dick, the dreams of storytellers often become the inspiration for researchers seeking mankind’s next transforma...

Sigourney Weaver has assured fans she "will be back" to star in the planned sequels to sci-fi epic Avatar, despite director James Cameron killing off her character in the 2009 blockbuster.

The Alien star portrays botanist Grace Augustine in the futuristic 3D movie, which has become the highest-grossing film of all time and the only release in history to break the $2 billion mark.

Cameron is currently writing a follow-up to the box office smash and Weaver insists Augustine will be resurrected for the forthcoming installments.

Speaking to movie blog ComingSoon.net, Weaver claims Cameron...

Sigourney Weaver is hoping for a consultative role on the upcoming Alien prequel because she wants to make sure the film stays true to the franchise she helped build.

Director Ridley Scott is bringing the sci-fi series back to the big screen in a new movie, which is set before Weaver's iconic character, Ellen Ripley, first encountered the scary space creatures in the 1979 original. Scott is not planning to include Weaver in the new picture, but the actress hopes she will be able to find a role behind-the-scenes.

She tells Shock Till You Drop, "If they needed help with the story, I could...

Vampires ruled at the 2010 Scream Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday night with "Twilight's" Kristen Stewart and the cast of TV drama "True Blood" winning big prizes at the city's Greek Theater.

Stewart picked up the Best Fantasy Actress honour at the event, held to applaud all things sci-fi, and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" was named Best Fantasy Movie. It was also a big night for "True Blood," which picked up Best TV Show from number one fan Marilyn Manson.

The drama also claimed the Holy Sh--! Scene of the Year accolade for its much-publicized head-twisting sex encounter, while "True Bl...

This weekend, Angelina Jolie stars in “Salt,” a fast-paced, espionage thriller with an intelligent script and plenty of car chases and explosions. Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who is accused of being a Russian spy. The movie has a very intelligent, twist-filled script, written by Kurt Wimmer, that will keep audiences glued in their seats.

Jolie wasn’t the first choice for the lead role, however. Originally, in 2007, Tom Cruise was set to star! Wimmer’s first draft of the script followed Edwin A. Salt as he tried to prove his innocence of being a sleeper spy. When Cruise left the pr...

The Black Eyed Peas performed at Madison Square Garden last night in New York, and Fergie looked like a stripped down "Terminator" machine in her skin-tight latex costume. will.i.am joined the fun by donning an eery black mask.

Want to see more of the Peas' crazy costumes? The group plans to screen one of their concerts live in movie theaters across the U.S. Fans who don't have tickets to their current tour will be able watch the band's gig in Los Angeles on March 30 live on the big screen.

Meanwhile, Fergie is planning to explore her passion for rock music on her next solo album - she's ...

George Lucas and Martin Scorsese have paid tribute to beloved British producer Gareth Wigan, who died on Saturday aged 78.

Wigan was credited with steering the success of the first Star Wars in 1977, after serving as a production executive on the sci-fi movie.

He subsequently worked on other films including All That Jazz in 1979 and Alien in the same year, before he was appointed co-vice chairman of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group in the 1990s.

And his death in Los Angeles after a brief illness has shocked Star Wars creator Lucas, who will "always be grateful" for Wiga...

To be clear, we abhor the countless seemingly arbitrary lists of "scary" films that have littered the internet and many a magazine. If you are tired of trying to search these lists looking for films that don't have Halloween or 13th in the title, you will appreciate our list. Horror films, for the most part, are supposed to move the audience. They are not created for awards shows, and typically the ones that haunt us are the ones which are considered to be "bad" films. The most obvious issue with these previous lists it that they do not give an accurate explanation of how they define th...

Erin Brockovich has been voted the greatest movie heroine of all time. The single mom lawyer, played by Julia Roberts in the 2000 drama based on a real-life story, fights to gain compensation for victims of contaminated drinking water - and Brockovich has come out as moviegoers' favorite fighting woman.

FBI agent Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster in The Silence Of The Lambs, came in second place, with Angelina Jolie's sexy fighter Lara Croft in Tomb Raider voted third.

In fourth place was Ellen Ripley in Alien, portrayed by Sigourney Weaver, while Linda Hamilton's character Sa...

A few weeks ago I got to see 15 minutes of James Cameron's "Avatar" on the IMAX in 3D, and it was some of the best CGI ever seen on the big screen. For years Cameron has promised a big comeback and at least visually this movie looks like it will truly deliver when it comes out in December. And yet ... what little they revealed of the plot felt contrived, and the dialogue was stiff. A soldier sneaking undercover in another society and then falling in love with this new culture and trying to make peace between the two nations. Viewers have seen that before, but what makes "Avatar" different h...

Dakota Fanning is tipped to star in a sequel to The Wizard Of Oz, according to reports. The 15 year old star of Charlotte's Web and War Of The Worlds is set to take the lead in a follow-up to the classic 1939 movie that shot Judy Garland to fame.

The film's producer, Basil Iwanyk, says, "It will be set in the present day and feature Dorothy's granddaughter."

The original film - based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" - won a number of awards including the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Co-producer Todd McFarlane adds, "You've still got Doro...

Ridley Scott is heading back to the future - he is teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio to transform cult novel "Brave New World" for the big screen.

The Alien auteur has reportedly signed to helm the new movie, an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's acclaimed 1931 book, which is set in 2540 AD.

DiCaprio, who is expected to take the lead role in the picture, already owns the film rights to the novel through his Appian Way production company.

The book focuses on a futuristic society which holds technological advances in higher esteem than natural ones - including reproduction.

Accordi...

The subject of space is a difficult one in terms of selecting films. Qualifying elements are somewhat subjective. Does the film have to take place in space? Must it include aliens? Does a mere reference to space, or different planets, make it a "space" film? In short, is it merely a subgenre of science fiction? Space and science fiction, while not mutually exclusive, can occur without the other.

In celebration of the release of one of the newest and most promising space films, Moon, check out a brief list of our favorite space films. What you will find below is a mix of films t...

The Predator sci-fi movie franchise is heading back to its roots - by rebooting the original Arnold Schwarzenegger film. The hit 1987 movie was brought back for a second time three years later in Predator 2, with Danny Glover in the starring role.

But the movie monster was borrowed by the Alien franchise in 2004's Aliens vs Predator - combining the deadly creatures from both 1980s films. The mix-up was brought back in 2007 for Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

And now director Robert Rodriguez has announced the series is set to continue with a new solo outing for the dreadlock-sport...

Alien star Sigourney Weaver has been named the ultimate action hero in a new poll - beating Hollywood hard men Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone to the title.

The actress' role as Ellen Ripley in the sci-fi franchise was voted number one by film fans, just days after making it onto Entertainment Weekly magazine's Top 20 Heroes Poll.

Movie star-turned-California governor Schwarzenegger landed in second place in the survey conducted by British cable channel Sky Movies, while Stallone and Chuck Norris came third and fourth, respectively.

Matt Damon, Jean-Claude Van...

Sigourney Weaver hopes her first TV movie will help gay teens come out to their parents.

In Prayers for Bobby, the Alien star plays the real-life mother of tragic gay youth Bobby Griffith, who committed suicide in the 1970s after his religious parents spent years trying to 'cure' him. Weaver claims Leroy Aaron's book of the same name, from which her new film was adapted, has become a tool some gay youngsters use to help their parents come to terms with their child's sexuality - and she hopes her movie also helps.

She tells TV Guide magazine, "Prayers For Bobby is the book kids g...

Brad Pitt's enigmatic Fight Club antihero Tyler Durden has been crowned the Greatest Movie Character of All Time.

Pitt's turn as Durden beat Star Wars' Darth Vader into second place to top the poll by Empire magazine. Third spot was taken by Heath Ledger's The Joker in Batman movie The Dark Knight, while Star Wars' Han Solo came fourth, and serial killer Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs was in fifth place.

The top ten was rounded out by Indiana Jones, The Dude from The Big Lebowski, Pirates of the Caribbean's Jack Sparrow, Ellen Ripley from the Alien movies, and The...

Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver is training to become a pilot - making her flying debut just weeks after a terrifying incident on board a commercial jet.

The Alien star was due to start taking courses when she was involved in an emergency on a flight.

She recalls, "There was a big sound at the back of the plane. Something must have popped open I guess and all the oxygen masks dropped down. We had to dive about 10,000 feet so our brains wouldn't pop but the stewardesses were such terrible actors. They were running up and down saying things like, 'How's your water?' when it was...

Today is Halloween. No introduction necessary. Check out our list of five of the most overrated and underrated horror movies of all time:

UNDERRATED

5. "Scream" (1996)

Ah, the classic case of so overrated it became underrated. Actually, it's more that this movie was so good and influential that its hallmarks have become so deeply ingrained in moviedom that we can't imagine a time that existed before it. It didn't invent the slasher genre, it just brought it to a new level, adding humor and bringing a spot of intelligence to its leads. It was also a perfect parody of ...

When it comes to body parts that can explode, your head is ripe for the picking. Not only is it large and filled with goo, it perches atop of your shoulders begging for something to come along and smash it. Movie makers have known this fact for a long time. Nothing quite gets an audience going like a well placed exploding head. David Cronenberg's Scanners probably has the most oft-referenced scene, as it's one of the few mainstream horror films to give us a detailed and goopy exploding melon. Belloq's fate in Raiders of the Lost Ark even goes to show that Oscar winning directors aren't abov...

It is officially summer time. What a better season for celebrities to expose more skin than usual? Hold on, we take that back. Celebrities are always showing off skin. It's a 365 day job; however, while some are willing to show off their assets others are not always as keen. Or, if they do show off anything, it would have been best if they hadn't at all.

Summer Dos

At the 2008 World Ocean Day event on June 4, Amber Valletta was all legs in a simple black pencil skirt with a head turning side split. We love how she kept it feminine with a lovely lace deep v-neckline top. Ke...

After last week's disappointing episode, Torchwood makes a triumphant return to form in the episode "Reset," which may not be the funniest episode this season, but it sure was the best. Torchwood working as a team, an alien mystery to solve, and one hell of a cliffhanger. Oh, and a little guest star in the form of Ms. Martha Jones, or should I say, Doctor Jones? (Freema Ageyman).

So we open with a medical mystery where unrelated murders are taking place, only nobody knows how exactly the victims are getting murdered, as there are no murder weapons and no apparent cause of death. Torchw...

The Academy Awards are just one big popularity contest, right? Everyone has an agenda, everything is fixed, its Hollywood's Prom and this year Michael Clayton is just the Prom King.

Some of it's true and some isn't, and most of the movies nominated this year are rightfully so. That just doesn't reconcile that so many great movies fall through the cracks each year, for whatever reason, and don't get their just deserts.

They're overlooked, they're under-appreciated, and they're forgotten. They may not be the very greatest ever made, but they still deserve to get let in on the celeb...

Movies are entertainment. We're supposed to suspend our disbelief so we can be entertained and so we don't bog ourselves down in the specifics. In some movies we can do just that - believe - and we can go with the flow. Others provide circumstances that are just too preposterous to take at face value.

Following are some of those movies and characters that I couldn't just forget about and found myself picking apart afterwards. I initially enjoyed each and every one of them, but on further viewing, they were just too much to accept.

Kill Bill Volume 2

There were a lot of scenes i...

NEW YORK (AP) - She won't be singing, but Sigourney Weaver will be surrounded by some of the world's opera greats when she joins mezzo-soprano Susan Graham to host the Opera News awards.

The movie star and opera fan will help deliver the third annual Opera News awards on Jan. 24 during a gala evening at Manhattan's Pierre hotel, Opera News magazine announced. The five winners will be present for spoken and video tributes.

Pianist Van Cliburn will present the honor to soprano Leontyne Price. Also receiving the award for their contributions to opera are baritone Thomas Hampson, cond...