District 9, The Time Traveler's Wife, and G.I.Joe top the box office

There is always the question about how the term “sci-fi” alienates potential viewers.  In television circles networks are often cautious about how they promote sci-fi series for this very reason.  Think the lack of genre identification in the early days of marketing Lost and more recently Defying Gravity.

So, as a sci-fi fan, it’s hard not to be happy when the top three domestic box office films of the moment are all of the sci-fi genre. On Friday District 9 took no.1 spot with $14.2M, The Time Traveler’s Wife came no. 2 with $7.7M, and third was G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra with $7.2M.

Taking it a step further, two of the top 5 domestic box office film’s of 2009 are also sci-fi (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is no. 1 with $395M and Star Trek is no. 5 with $255M).

Maybe it’s time to rethink that caution.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint in the 1989 'Alien Nation' TV Series

The SyFy Channel is about to reimagine Alien Nation.

Alien Nation was a 1988 sci-fi film that chronicled events after an alien race known as ‘Newcomers’ crash on Earth and attempt to integrate into human civilization.  It followed a cop and his Newcomer partner as they investigate the Newcomer underworld.  The film spawned a spinoff series on Fox and five additional film sequels.

Tim Minear (Dollhouse / Firefly / Angel) is charged with writing the new series whilst Fox 21, the alternative production arm of 20th Century Fox TV, will produce.

“It’s genre mixed with procedural mixed with funny and mixed with big, giant scary,” Minear said. “I love serialized stuff, but this is also a cop franchise. That ‘Starsky and Hutch’/'Lethal Weapon’ buddy cop comedy is absent from TV right now.”

The new series will take place 20 years after the first alien ship crashes on Earth and its occupants are banished as slaves in the Pacific Northwest.  It will be set sometime in the 2020’s at a time when the alien population will have expanded to 3.5 million.

“You can take [the original Alien Nation] a step forward and really do a show that encompasses the clash of civilizations, and the idea of a ghettoized minority,” Minear said, referring to the fact that the aliens will be depicted in a situation similar to the North African ghettos in France. “You can touch on racism, terrorism, assimilation, immigration. And there’s room for satire.”

Apparently the success of Battlestar Galactica was a big factor behind the decision to reinvent Alien Nation although it’s hard not to notice that the timing of this announcement neatly coincides with the recent viral marketing success of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9.  Just like Alien Nation the story behind District 9 is about a group of aliens who end up stranded on Earth and who are forced to live in ghetto like conditions of slavery.

District 9 comparisons aside (and let’s be fair, the original Alien Nation came first), it is the intention of Fox 21 to produce the new series with more of an episodic than overall story-arc perspective.

“It’s absolute perfect timing for this type of show,” Fox 21 Executive Chris Carlisle said. “They’re looking for more grounded sci-fi and close-ended episodes, and at the heart of Alien Nation, it’s a cop movie. It’s grounded. And it has a tremendous amount of dramatic possibilities and humor.”

Source: Variety