Alien Day celebrates the classic film and this summer's prequel
If you're bursting with excitement over the May 19 release of "Alien: Covenant," director Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi/horror franchise he helped launch in 1979, you can celebrate all things Xenomorph on Alien Day.
On April 26 - or 4/26, a reference to the moon named LV-426 in both Scott's original "Alien" and James Cameron's "Aliens" - 20th Century Fox will host a full day of hype for "Alien: Covenant," a prequel starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston and Danny McBride, beginning with a live-stream broadcast at alienuniverse.com. The noon show will reveal new footage from the film, kick off a behind-the-scenes series, and include a Q&A with stars of the film. The winner of a fan art contest, which you can enter now at alienuniverse.com/missions/fan-art, also will be announced. The winning design will appear on T-shirts packaged with the eventual home release of "Alien: Covenant" at Wal-Mart.
Yet to be announced are April 26 theater screenings of "Alien" and "Aliens"; keep an eye on alienuniverse.com and your local theater listings.
Complete your Oscar collection
All of this year's Oscar nominees for best picture will be available for home viewing by next Tuesday, April 11.
New to DVD and Blu-ray that day will be "Hidden Figures," the biggest hit of the nine-movie field about three African-American mathematicians (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae) who helped launch John Glenn into space, and "Lion," about an Indian man (Dev Patel) living with his adoptive parents in Australia (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) who searches for his birth family.
That day also brings the digital HD premiere of "La La Land," the acclaimed hit musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. The DVD and Blu-ray will follow on April 25.
• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.