As much as I’d love to see a new “Alien” movie (heck, who am I kidding, I’d prefer to see a new big Jim-directed “Aliens” movie), I just don’t know if it’s going to happen. This prequel project that Ridley Scott’s onboard has been plagued with nothing but problems since Fox cracked the crusty egg and announced the thing. There have been disagreements between the studio over the script, strife over the escalating budget, a battle over the ‘rating’ (Fox want a watered-down “Alien” movie, Scott wants something more hardcore – just as we do!) and, considering they’ve been on the hunt for a few months for her, difficulty finding a female lead.

Now, says ScriptFlags, the film may have been Fury Road-ed. Yep, pushed back a full twelve months.

”Ridley Scott’s Alien Prequel #1 & #2 have both been pushed back a full twelve months to 2013 & 2014”, claims the site. “There has been no official explanation from Fox or Scott’s camp. This comes two months after their first publicized fallout over budgetary and rating criteria.”

Much like “Fury Road”, the “Alien” prequel was near ready to go and had booked up studio space. Just a couple of weeks ago FX Supervisor Henry South tweeted that production design had officially begun, suggesting a start date was looming.

It had been rumoured that the film would begin lensing in Feb 2011 – with either Olivia Wilde (“TRON : Legacy”) or Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) in the lead role – but considering they’ve yet to sign a lead, let alone respond to these worrying rumours, there’s a fair chance Scriptflags are on the money.