Although Alien grossed over $100 million, the sci-fi horror was initially labeled a flop by its studio—although not for long. Released in 1979, director Ridley Scott’s Alien was a huge success upon release. The story followed Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley and her fellow crewmates on the Nostromo as they attempted to escape the legendary Xenomorph, kick-starting the careers of two sci-fi icons in the process. Weaver went on to become a genre legend while the titular monster would star in three Alien sequels, two Predator spin-offs and a pair of Alien prequels.
However, the positive reviews received by Alien and its box office returns were not enough for the movie to avoid becoming a flop. According to Fox, the studio that released Alien, the movie managed to lose money despite its modest budget and thus did not warrant a sequel. Inevitably, this claim was looked into and proven false, although the reasoning behind it may surprise some readers.
While Alien’s sequel Aliens did arrive in 1986, the production of the follow-up was stalled for years by a protracted legal fight with Fox. In a particularly audacious instance of Hollywood accounting, Fox claimed Alien lost the studio $2 million despite the movie grossing just over $100 million on a budget of $11 million. The egregious claim prompted production company Brandywine to sue Fox, causing the studio to adjust their claim to a more modest $4 million profit, before finally agreeing to fund a sequel in 1983. Fox’s creative accounting was designed to let the studio claim back as much of the budget as possible while not having to declare all the profits, but the claim was a bit too over-the-top for many commentators to believe given the obvious success of Alien.
Nonetheless, the production of James Cameron’s Aliens was slowed down by production company Brandywine Productions needing to battle Fox in court to prove Scott’s movie deserved a sequel. While it was fine for Fox to claim Alien was a flop, the careers of producers Walter Hill, David Giler, and Gordon Carroll would have been damaged by the claim and their ability to capitalize on Alien’s success would have been limited had Fox continued to claim it flopped. Aware they had a potential franchise on their hands, Hill and company sued Fox over their profit sharing and within a few years, the studio relented and backed a sequel.
Despite later sequels Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection being largely disliked by the franchise's fandom, they were both even more financially successful than the original movie. Alien 3 earned $160 million on a budget of $60 million while Alien: Resurrection made around the same sum on a budget of $70 million, although neither could compare to the success of Aliens. Produced on a budget of around $18 million, Cameron’s Aliens earned a whopping $180 million, a sum that even the studio behind Alien could not turn into a negative number.
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