"Alien" will be getting a revival on the big screen thanks to Twentieth Century Fox. The film has been given the green light and will be directed by Ridley Scott.  Jon Spaihts will be penning the script to the film, which will be a prequel. 

This will be the fifth film in the Alien franchise (not including Alien vs. Predator films).

The 1979 original was about a crew on a commercial space ship that is sent to help out a ship that is sending a distress signal.  The crew realizes too late that the signal was meant as a warning. Chaos and death ensue upon their ship.

Jon Spaihts also has a few other films in the works. He has been hired by Fox to write "The Darkest Hour", by Disney to write "Children of Mars" and hired by Sony to write "St. George and the Dragon".