The Alien franchise has been a classic sci-fi staple since its inception in 1979, but director James Cameron never returned to the successful franchise after co-writing and directing Aliens — here's why. Initially developed and brought to the screen by Ridley Scott, the Alien franchise sees warrant officer Ellen Ripley battle it out with a terrifying extraterrestrial species known as Xenomorphs. All in all, the main narrative has seen four feature films, each starring Weaver as Ripley.
Avatar Means James Cameron Won't Come Back To Alien The reason that James Cameron probably won't ever direct another Alien movie is because of his deep ties to the Avatar franchise. Cameron has several successful franchises under his belt, like Terminator. However, Cameron's bread and butter has to be the expansive Avatar series, which has three more sequels planned dating all the way out to 2028. All in all, the Avatar franchise has made a whopping $2.