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Prometheus is a 2012 science fiction horror film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott, with the screenplay co-written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof. It is the fifth installment in the Alien franchise. The film features an ensemble cast including Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron. Set in the late 21st century, the film centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as it follows a star map discovered among the artifacts of several ancient Earth cultures. Seeking the origins of humanity, the crew arrives on a distant world and discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human species. Scott and director James Cameron developed ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien. In 2002, the development of Alien vs. Predator took precedence, and the project remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. Spaihts wrote a script for a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, Lindelof joined the project to rewrite Spaihts's script, and he and Scott developed a story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to the original series. According to Scott, although the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA," and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas. Prometheus entered production in April 2010, with extensive design phases during which the technology and creatures that the film required were developed. Principal photography began in March 2011, with an estimated $120–130 million budget. The film was shot using 3D cameras throughout, almost entirely on practical sets, and on location in England, Iceland, Scotland, Jordan and Spain. It was promoted with a marketing campaign that included viral activities on the web. Three videos featuring the film's leading actors in character, which expanded on elements of the fictional universe, were released and met with a generally positive reception and awards. Prometheus was released on June 1, 2012, in the United Kingdom and on June 8, 2012, in North America. The film earned generally positive reviews, receiving praise for the designs, production values and cast performances, but was criticized for its uneven script and unresolved plot points. The film grossed over $403 million worldwide. A sequel, Alien: Covenant, was released in May 2017, fully tying the film to the Alien franchise. Plot As a spacecraft departs a planet, a humanoid alien drinks a liquid, causing its body to dissolve. Its remains cascade into a waterfall and the alien's DNA falls apart and recombines. In 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map in Scotland that matches others from several unconnected ancient cultures. They interpret this as an invitation from humanity's forerunners, the "Engineers". Peter Weyland, the elderly CEO of Weyland Corporation, funds an expedition, aboard the scientific vessel Prometheus, to follow the map to the distant moon LV-223. The ship's crew travels in suspended animation while the android David monitors their voyage. They arrive in December 2093. The Prometheus lands on the barren, mountainous surface near a large, artificial structure, which the team explores. Inside, they find stone cylinders, a monolithic statue of a humanoid head, and the decapitated corpse of a large alien, thought to be an Engineer; Shaw recovers its head. The crew finds other bodies, leading them to surmise that the species is extinct. Crew members Millburn and Fifield grow uncomfortable with the discoveries and attempt to return to Prometheus, but get lost in the structure. The expedition is cut short when a storm forces the crew to return to the ship. David secretly takes a cylinder with him, while the remaining ones begin leaking a dark liquid. In the ship's lab, the Engineer's DNA is found to match that of humans. David investigates the cylinder and the liquid inside. He intentionally taints a drink with the liquid and gives it to the unsuspecting Holloway, who had stated he would do anything for answers. Shortly after, Shaw and Holloway have sex. Inside the structure, a snake-like creature kills Millburn and sprays a corrosive fluid that melts Fifield's helmet. Fifield falls face first into a puddle of dark liquid. When the crew returns, they find Millburn's corpse. David separately discovers a control room containing a surviving Engineer in stasis and a holographic star map highlighting Earth. Meanwhile, Holloway sickens rapidly. He is rushed back to Prometheus, but mission director Meredith Vickers refuses to let him aboard. At his urging, she burns him to death with a flamethrower. Later, a medical scan reveals that Shaw, despite being previously infertile, is now in advanced pregnancy. Fearing the worst, she uses an automated surgery table to extract a squid-like creature from her abdomen. Shaw then discovers that Weyland has been in stasis aboard Prometheus. He explains that he wants to ask the Engineers how not to die from old age. Vickers addresses him as "Father". A monstrous, mutated Fifield returns to the Prometheus and kills several people before being killed. The captain of Prometheus, Janek, speculates that the structure was an Engineer military base that lost control of a virulent biological weapon, the dark liquid. The structure also houses a spacecraft. Weyland and the team return to the structure, accompanied by Shaw. David wakes the Engineer from stasis and speaks to him in Proto-Indo-European to try to explain what Weyland wants. The Engineer responds by decapitating David and killing Weyland and his team, before reactivating the spacecraft. Shaw flees and warns Janek that the Engineer is planning to release the liquid on Earth, convincing him to stop the spacecraft. Janek and the remaining crew sacrifice themselves by ramming the Prometheus into the alien craft, ejecting the lifeboat in the process. The Engineer's disabled spacecraft crashes onto the ground, causing the death of Vickers. Shaw goes to the lifeboat and finds her alien offspring is alive and has grown to gigantic size. The Engineer forces open the lifeboat's airlock and attacks Shaw, who releases her alien offspring onto him. It thrusts an ovipositor down the Engineer's throat, subduing him. Shaw recovers David's remains and, with his help, launches another Engineer spacecraft. She intends to reach the Engineers' homeworld in an attempt to understand why they wanted to destroy humanity. In the lifeboat left on the planet, an alien creature bursts out of the Engineer's chest. Cast Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw: Rapace described Shaw, an archaeologist, as a believer in God with a very strong faith, and said that, "In the middle of the movie, things happen and she changes into more of a warrior. And in the end, she's such a sur.... Discover the Paul Butterworth popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Paul Butterworth books.