Alien is a 1979
science fiction horror film directed by
Ridley Scott and starring
Tom Skerritt,
Sigourney Weaver,
Veronica Cartwright,
Harry Dean Stanton,
John Hurt,
Ian Holm and
Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary
antagonist: a highly aggressive
extraterrestrial creature which stalks and kills the crew of a
spaceship.
Alien garnered both critical acclaim and
box office success, receiving an
Academy Award for Best Visual Effects,
s for
Best Science Fiction Film,
Best Direction for Scott, and
Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright,
and a
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other award nominations.
It has remained highly praised in subsequent decades, being inducted into the
National Film Registry of the
Library of Congress in 2002 for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
and being ranked by the
American Film Institute in 2008 as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre.
The success of
Alien spawned a
media franchise of novels, comic books, video games, and toys, as well as three
sequel and two
prequel films. It also launched Weaver's acting career by providing her with her first lead role, and the story of her character
Ripley's encounters with the titular
Alien creatures became the thematic thread that ran through the sequels
Aliens (1986),
Alien 3 (1992), and
Alien Resurrection (1997).
The subsequent prequels
Alien vs. Predator (2004) and
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) abandoned this theme in favor of a
crossover with the
Predator franchise.
