ALIENS

 

Aliens is a 1986 American science fiction action film written and directed by James Cameron, produced by gale Anne Hurd and starring Sigourney Weaver Sigourney. The second instalment in the Alien franchise, it follows Ellen Ripley (Weaver) as she returns to the moon where her crew encountered the hostile Alien creature, this time accompanied by a unit of space marines. Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, William Hope, Al Matthews and Bill Paxton play additional roles.

Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill of Brandywine Productions, who produced the first Alien (1979) and its later sequels, served as executive producers. They were immediately interested in a sequel to Alien, but the new management at 20th Century Fox postponed plans until 1983. Brandywine picked Cameron to write after reading his script for The Terminator (1984); when that film became a hit, Fox greenlit Aliens with Cameron as director and a budget of $18 million. It was filmed in England at Pinewood Studios and a decommissioned power plant in Action London.

Aliens was released on July 18, 1986, and grossed $180 million worldwide. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver, winning Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. It won eight Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Weaver, Best Supporting Actor for Paxton, Best Supporting Actress for Goldstein, and Best Direction and Best Writing for Cameron), and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Empire magazine voted it the "Greatest Film Sequel of All Time". Aliens was the seventh-highest-grossing film of 1986 in North America. Alien 3 was released in 1992, with Weaver reprising her role as Ripley and Henriksen as Bishop.