20th Century Fox has shifted its release calendar over the weekend, moving up Alien: Covenant from October 6, 2017 to August 4, 2017, while giving Shane Black's Predator remake a March 2, 2018 date. The Predator project doesn't have any direct competition in its new date, but Alien: Covenant will face Universal's Pitch Perfect 3 and Open Road Films' Blazing Samurai on August 4, 2017. It remains to be seen if any of the other studios will shift their release schedule accordingly in the wake of these new dates.

The studio pushed an untitled Fox/Marvel movie into the October 7, 2016 slot, while issuing a January 12, 2018 date for another untitled Fox/Marvel project. It's certainly possible that one of these dates could be reserved for Deadpool 2, which the studio recently gave the green light to in the wake of Deadpool's massive box office success. The studio hasn't issued an official date for that sequel yet, so we'll have to wait and see. Also opening on January 12, 2018 is Paramount's Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes and Warner Bros.' Untitled Blade Runner Project.

Finally, 20th Century Fox has moved Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children from Christmas Day 2016 to September 30, 2016, where it will face STX Entertainment's Besties, Lionsgate's Deepwater Horizon, High Top Releasing's Delirium and Relativity's Masterminds. It has also moved Ferdiannd from April 7, 2017 to July 21, 2017, Why Him? to Christmas Day, from November 11, 2016) and taken The Mountain Between Us off of its schedule.

Prometheus star Michael Fassbender returns as the android David, along with franchise newcomers Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir. Ridley Scott teased last month that he's aiming for a hard R rating, which makes sense since all of the previous Alien movies were R except Alien Vs. Predator. While no official plot details have been given yet, we know this will be the first in a new trilogy that will eventually lead up to the original Alien.

Ridley Scott is directing from a script by Jack Paglen, Michael Green and John Logan. It has also been confirmed by the director that Alien: Covenant will feature some sort of connection to Sigourney Weaver's iconic Ellen Ripley character from the original Alien. Some have speculated that we may even see Ripley conceived on the Covenant ship, and that Katherine Waterston's character may actually be Ripley's mother.