query: When was Alien first released?
passage: Alien (film)
Alien was released on May 25, 1979 in the United States and September 6 in the United Kingdom. It was met with critical acclaim and box office success, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects,[8][9] three Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright),[10] and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other nominations.[11] It has been consistently praised in the years since its release, and is considered one of the greatest films of all time. In 2002, Alien was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.[11][12][13] In 2008, it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre, and as the thirty-third greatest film of all time by Empire magazine.[14][15]
passage: Prometheus (2012 film)
Development on a fifth film in the "Alien" franchise was in progress by 2002. Scott considered returning to the series he created with his 1979 science fiction horror film "Alien", to pursue a sequel that would explore the engineered origins of the series's Alien creatures, and the "space jockey"—the extraterrestrial being, who briefly appears in "Alien", as the deceased pilot of a derelict spaceship. "Alien" star Sigourney Weaver also expressed interest in returning to the series. "Aliens" director James Cameron discussed the potential for a sequel with Scott, and began working with another writer on a story for the film. It was then that 20th Century Fox approached Cameron with a script for a crossover film that would pit the series's monsters against the title characters of the "Predator" films; this project became the 2004 science fiction film "Alien vs. Predator". After Fox confirmed that it would pursue the crossover, Cameron stopped working on his own project, believing the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise." In 2006, Cameron confirmed that he would not return to the "Alien" sequel project, believing that the series was Fox's asset, and he was unwilling to deal with the studio's attempts to influence the potential sequel.