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The first film in the Predator franchise in the wake of Disney taking over 20th Century Fox, Prey went direct-to-Hulu back in 2022, but the Alien franchise’s first film under the Disney umbrella is getting a big theatrical release this weekend. But that wasn’t always the case.

As you may recall, Alien: Romulus was originally announced as a Hulu movie, and director Fede Alvarez explains what changed – and when it changed – in a new chat with Variety.

It was back in 2021 that Alien: Romulus was planning a Hulu debut, which Alvarez says was “a reaction to theaters being completely gone” at the time, deep in the heart of the pandemic.

“That decision was not made at the point where theaters were healthy,” Alvarez explains to Variety. “[But] it was always going to be an ambitious movie for [a streaming] platform.”

He continues, “I remember making an announcement to everybody that this movie was going in theaters, and there was a big cheer. I was like, wow, even the gaffer cares that this goes into theaters!”

The pivot to theatrical for Alien: Romulus looks to have been a smart one on the part of 20th Century Studios, as the film opened to $6.5 million in Thursday previews last night.

The Hollywood Reporter notes, “Romulus bit off a strong $6.5 million in Thursday previews, putting the highly anticipated August event on course to open to a better-than-expected $40 million-plus in another win for the Disney film empire and the summer box office overall.”

In Alien: Romulus, “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Cailee Spaeny (The Craft: Legacy, Pacific Rim Uprising) leads the cast alongside Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu.

Fede Alvarez co-wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues (Evil Dead). Ridley Scott is on board as producer for the film, the first movie in the franchise to be released by Disney.

Alien: Romulus is based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.