Alien: Covenant trailer delivers monsters and gore just in time for Christmas

A monster that spurts out of a human body. Another that slithers up the leg of an unknowing but inevitable victim.

These are the gifts that director Ridley Scott is giving fans this Christmas in the first trailer for his new film Alien: Covenant.

In the spirit of giving, the gruesome teaser was released late Christmas Eve by 20th Century Fox.

The anticipated sequel-slash-prequelwill be the sixth installment of the popularfranchise, which began in 1979 with the blockbuster hitAlienstarringSigourneyWeaver.

Alien: Covenantis part of a prequel series to the original filmand thesequel to Prometheus (2012). Ittakes the crew of the Covenant colony ship to a remote planet thought to be paradise but clearly turns into the opposite.

Many films opt to open Christmas Day because the holiday period tends to bring in strong box office numbers,but releasing a trailer at this time particularly a creepy one is an unusualmove. The studio is likely trying to explore a new way to grab attention and spark earlymomentum for the film's release in May of 2017.

More filmmakersareturning the release of a movie trailer into an event in itself. Star Wars, for example, has mastered this form of marketing, with other films following quickly.

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The movie stars 12 Years A Slave's Michael Fassbender, The Drop's Noomi Rapace, and Guy Pearcefrom Iron Man 3 and Memento. All three also starred inPrometheus.