By Ben “Zombie” Bedgood
Alien Day? That’s a thing? YES! Those of us that are diehard fans of the Alien franchise, as well as H.R. Giger, finally have a day to honor our love. 20th Century Fox is helping us kick off this special day with a ton of partners on April 26th. Why April 26th? It’s in honor of LV-426 the fabled planet where Ripley encountered the Alien Queen and her children.
Jeffrey Godsick, President of 20th Century Fox Consumer Products stated: “The Alien franchise holds a special place not only within the universe of Fox but with movie enthusiasts across the galaxy.” Godsick added, “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. 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.”
In honor of this special day, I will be sitting at home with my wife watching 10 hours and 39 minutes of Alien movies, starting with Prometheus, moving on to Alien and running all the way through Alien: Resurrection. Judge me all you want for 3 & 4, I don’t care!
If you don’t own all the movies like I do, or you just want to get out for the day, 20th Century Fox has partnered with The Alamo Drafthouse to re-release Alien and Aliens in a double feature at over 20 locations across the US. With each preorder ticket you will earn yourself a Mondo-designed Alien T-shirt. If you don’t happen to preorder (or you forget), all the showings will also be accompanied by exclusive Alien merchandise from Mondo! To grab your tickets early or to find one of the 20 locations nearest you, visit: http://www.AlamoAliens.com
In the spirit of modern day social media (I would love tweets from Ripley!) there will be a 24-hour Twitter contest. Every 42.6 minutes a new Alien trivia question will be presented via the official Alien Anthology twitter account @AlienAnthology. In advance of the contest kickoff, beginning at 12 AM ET on April 26th, fans will need to pre-register their Twitter handle at Alien Anthology (http://www.AlienAnthology.com).
Each trivia question (35 in a 24-hour cycle) will have various prize packages from 20th Century Fox’s Alien franchise licensing partners. To qualify to win the corresponding prize, participants must “Reply” to the initial “question tweet,” correctly answer the question, and use the #AlienDay426 and #Contest hashtags. A winner (or “winners” when multiple prizes are offered) will be selected for each of the questions.
One of the most anticipated products of the day is sure to be the Reebok Alien Stomper Sneakers. Reebok will be releasing an exact replica of the Alien high-top Stompers worn by Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. They will also be releasing the mid-top version worn by Lance Henrikson as the Android Bishop. Sadly, these will be limited edition to mark Alien Day. The iconic movie sneakers will be available beginning April 26th at http://www.Reebok.com and select Reebok stores worldwide.
For the first officially recognized Alien Day, 20th Century Fox seems to be doing it right! There will be products released by dozens of companies including everything from clothes, to action figures, to digital online content and games – far too many to list them all here. It’s exciting to see an official day set aside to pay homage to one of the most enduring horror sci-fi action franchises of all time. As a lifelong fan I know I am excited for this day as well as Alien: Covenant coming out in August of 2017. I hope you are just as excited as I am and I’ll be on the look out for you all trying to beat me for some Twitter prizes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot0cFGyWXN4
