Report: Disney Canned Completed 10-Episode ‘Alien Vs. Predator’ Anime Series Following 20th Century Fox Acquisition
A new report seemingly reveals that Disney canned a completed 10-episode Alien vs. Predator series following their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019.
During a fairly recent episode of Perfect Organism: The Alien Saga Podcast, 20th Century Fox’s former Licensing Director Josh Izzo talked about the Alien vs. Predator anime series reportedly canned by Disney.
Izzo points out that before he pitched the anime series to 20th Century Fox, “Prometheus had already come out [and] Covenant had not,” describing the former film as an “unofficial/wink/official prequel to the Alien franchise,” explaining that “all of those were clipped together in one large story world.”
The former Fox executive notes, “At Fox, at the time, there was nothing that would be considered a franchise or a brand team. There was no one at the role, at Fox, that you would think of as someone that would be the overarching story group that kept all of the various threads together and make sure that all of those things made sense.”
“That person couldn’t be there at that time because they happened to be in Cryo, what have you,” Izzo joked, adding, “That unofficial role kind of became me, as sort of the editorial lore keeper of the Alien franchise , and the Predator franchise, and the AvP franchise. I took on that role.”
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Later in the interview Izzo would reveal some major news, declaring, “One thing that did not happen during Alien Day in 2016 was [that] there is, sitting at Disney now, at [20th Century Fox], 10 episodes of a fully completed Alien vs. Predator anime series that I produced.”
“It’s done. Its in the can. It’s mixed. It’s finished. It was produced and story crafted by Eric Calderon and Dave Baker; two unbelievably crazy talented guys. Dave Bixler was head of Home Entertainment at the time, from a creative perspective, and he championed this for me.”
Izzo recalls reaching out to Jeffrey Godsick, who at the time was head of consumer products, to present his idea for the Alien vs. Predator anime series. “I said, ‘Hey, listen, I want to pitch this idea of a direct-to-DVD Alien and/or Alien-Predator, and/or Predator animation that we, the consumer products division, can sell against. Let us be the masters of our own destiny, rather than waiting for theatrical, whenever a movie decides to come out.'”
“Because at this time [Alien: Covenant] was still nascent and The Predator had not happened yet. So it was kind of, again, the brands weren’t doing anything at the moment. It was still open season for our sci-fi brands, so [Jeffrey Godsick] was like, ‘Yeah, it’s a great idea. Do it.'”
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Izzo even mentions that a number of factors contributed to this completed Alien vs. Predator animated project being pushed back by 20th Century Fox, including Ridley Scott coming back to produce and direct Alien: Covenant, Shane Black pitching The Predator to the studio, and the bad rap the 2004 Alien vs. Predator movie, which made executives frown upon the idea of another project.
Anime director and mechanical designer Shinji Aramaki had also been rumored to been part of the project. Confirmation came from the director himself, who took to social media to address IGN’s report on Izzo’s interview.
“It was completed almost 7 years ago,” Aramaki further confirmed, lamenting, “And unfortunately I don’t know why they didn’t release.”
Izzo himself replied under Aramaki’s post commenting on the unreleased anime series, offering some words of support for his colleague.
“Aramaki-San,” Izzo prefaced, praising, “You and your team did an AMAZING job on this anime! Still one of my favorite projects.”
He then concluded, “I would love for t to come out one day. I hope you’re well and if I come back to Tokyo, I’d love to meet up again,” to which Aramaki replied with, “Thanks for supporting us.”
According to a report from Anime News Network , Aramaki shared more details about the Alien vs. Predator series at his Otakon panel, showing some of his designs from the canned anime and confirming that he was also the series’ director.
Aramaki did not disclose, however, any details regarding the show’s plot — in case it ever gets released by Disney, that is.
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