Academy Award-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho just casually dropped a concept that has cinephiles everywhere simultaneously raising eyebrows and nodding enthusiastically: an Alien musical. The visionary director behind Parasite and the newly-released Mickey 17 shared this unexpected dream project during a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, catching everyone off guard with his characteristically unconventional thinking. Known for blending genres and subverting audience expectations, Bong has consistently delivered films that defy easy categorization, from the monster movie meets family drama of The Host to the class warfare thriller disguised as dark comedy in his Oscar-winning Parasite. His latest suggestion of marrying the horror and science fiction elements of the Alien franchise with musical theater represents perhaps his most audacious genre-mixing concept yet and demonstrates the boundless creativity that has made him one of contemporary cinema’s most celebrated auteurs.
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“I’m not drawn to franchise films,” Bong said, suggesting his preference for original storytelling. However, he then surprised interviewers by revealing one exception to his rule: “I did think at one point that I would like to do an Alien film. An Alien musical.”
While such a project remains purely hypothetical, the idea comes at an interesting moment for the Alien franchise, which saw a successful return to form with last year’s critically acclaimed Alien: Romulus. The franchise shows no signs of slowing down, with the forthcoming TV series Alien: Earth set to premiere on Hulu and Disney+ later this year, taking place two years before the events of the original 1979 film.
Meanwhile, Bong’s current project, Mickey 17, continues building on his reputation for distinctive storytelling. The film, which hit theaters on March 7, adapts Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7 and stars Robert Pattinson as a space colonist who can regenerate after death, leading to multiple versions of himself confronting one another following a mission gone wrong. The movie is already generating significant acclaim, with some critics even suggesting Pattinson deserves dual Oscar nominations for portraying multiple versions of the same character.
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Despite the existence of a sequel novel titled Antimatter Blues, Bong appears hesitant to commit to adapting it next. When asked about follow-up possibilities by GamesRadar, the director acknowledged interest but was clear about his priorities.
“When I was having a Zoom talk with Ed [Ashton], and he was telling me about it, and you know, he’s such a great, fascinating writer, I would love to take on the challenge but to be honest, I have a plethora of new, weird ideas that I want to tackle, so I would like to move on to those rather than a sequel,” he said. Reports indicate his next live-action project will likely be a horror-action film set on a subway, with an animated feature also in development.
Bong’s wild idea for an Alien musical shows exactly what makes him special as a filmmaker – he tends to mix different types of movies and isn’t afraid to try something completely new. Imagining aliens bursting into song takes the same kind of bold creativity that helped Parasite make history as the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
While the likelihood of Disney (which now owns the Alien franchise through its acquisition of 20th Century Fox) greenlighting a musical interpretation seems remote, the mere concept has sparked imagination among fans. Would it feature chest-bursters performing elaborate dance numbers? Ripley belting power ballads while facing off against the queen? The possibilities are both terrifying and delightful.
For now, audiences can enjoy Bong’s distinctive vision in Mickey 17, which continues his tradition of genre-defying storytelling. But Bong’s offhand comment about an Alien musical reminds us how exciting it could be if big movie studios took more chances by letting creative directors put their unique spin on familiar film series.
Mickey 17 is in theaters now.
