“In space…no one can hear you scream.”
With that, a legacy was introduced in 1979 with the 20th Century Fox film Alien, a terrifying thriller where a space exploration team was introduced to a sinister xenomorph.
The film has since created a legacy built behind a number of sequels (namely James Cameron’s action packed 1986 film Aliens), comic books, video games and other memorabilia. Next month, Fox will celebrate that legacy in spades with “Alien Day” featuring events that tie-in with the series.
Based on the planet LV-426 (featured in the first movies), Alien Day is set to take place on April 26 and will have a number of social giveaways that tie in with the official Alien Anthology Twitter account. Fans will be able to take part in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge for the series, which will allow them to win prizes every 42.6 minutes on the social channel. Users can reply with the hashtags #AlienDay426 and #Contest for a chance to win.
That’s just the beginning of the hype surrounding Alien Day, as Reebok has announced that it will release a limited run of shoes worn by characters in Aliens, including Ripley’s infamous Alien Stomper hightops and Android Bishop’s mid-tops. The shoes will be available for purchase starting on the 26th at Reebok.com and retail stores.
Other products are being planned for release to celebrate Ripley’s fight against an alien monster. They include: figures produced by NECA based on Aliens characters Lieutenant Vasquez and Newt; a new series of Dark Horse Comics featuring exclusive covers from the Aliens film; a special 30th anniversary hardcover edition of the original Aliens; an Aliens: Out of the Shadows Audible drama featuring Rutger Hauer and Corey Johnson; a special double feature of the original films being shown at Alamo Drafthouse; a trio of new Alien-themed digital pinball tables for the Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball 2 platforms across consoles, PC and mobile devices.
“We noticed that fans of the Alien films were starting to rally around the calendar date of April 26th–given the connection to the planet LV-426,” said Jeffrey Godsik, president of 20th Century Fox Consumer Products. “Quite simply, it gave us the idea to do something special on this day; to officially mark the occasion alongside fans and to build excitement online, in stores and once again, in theaters.”
Fox hopes that the event will catch on similarly to the May the 4th social event for Star Wars, and last year’s Back To the Future day, which was held on October 21–the date Marty McFly and Doc Brown head to in Back To The Future Part II.
Considering the franchise’s fan base, Alien Day is likely to be a big hit, which will be good news for 20th Century Fox as it moves forward on several Alien-related projects, including a sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2012 movie, Prometheus.
