Aliens is a 1986 science fiction/action film starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton. A sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), Aliens is set 57 years after the first film and is regarded by many as a benchmark for the action and science fiction genres. In Aliens, Weaver's character Ellen Ripley returns to the planet where she first encountered the hostile Alien, this time accompanied by a unit of Colonial Marines.

Directed by James Cameron, Aliens is an action-adventure film which is in stark contrast to the sci-fi horror of the original Alien. Following the success of The Terminator, which helped establish Cameron as a major action director, Twentieth Century Fox greenlit Aliens with a budget of approximately $18 million. Like its predecessor, it was filmed in England at Pinewood Studios, and a decommissioned power plant.

Aliens earned $131 million internationally during its 1986 theatrical release, making it the highest-grossing Alien film in the domestic box office with $86 million. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Sigourney Weaver for Best Actress, which was considered a benchmark at the time when the Academy gave little recognition to the sci-fi genre. It won in the categories of Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. The film's success led to the sequels Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection.

The only survivor of the Nostromo, Ripley is discovered in deep sleep half a century later by a salvage ship. When she is taken back to Earth, she learns that a human colony was founded on the same planet where the aliens were first found. After contact with the colony is lost, she finds herself sent back to the planet along with a team of warriors bent on destroying the alien menace forever, and saving any survivors -- if any remain. Written by Graeme Roy

Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the sole survivor of the alien attack on the mining ship Nostromo, awakens half a century later when she is found by a salvage ship. The welcome given to her by the "Company" officials is far from warm, since they refuse to believe her discovery of alien existence and strip her off her flight officer's license. Ripley also discovers, much to her horror, that the planet LV-426 where her crew had encountered an alien species for the first time, is now colonized by the company. But when all contact from the planet is lost Ripley is called back into action again as an advisor to a team of tough space marines with lots of firepower. To get rid of her recurrent nightmares about the alien creature, Ripley prepares for a final battle with the monsters - and this time, there are hundreds of them out there. Written by Soumitra

The sequel to Alien is a non-stop, high-tech, war movie, with Space Marines. Ripley is found in deep space by a salvage ship, 57 years after narrowly escaping with her life - and her cat - at the end of Alien. She then discovers The Company have colonised the planet where the alien was first encountered. When contact with the colony is lost, The Company send a team of Space Marines, with Ripley as an "advisor", to find out what has happened. Written by Colin Tinto

57 years after her ordeal with an extraterrestrial creature, Ellen Ripley is rescued by a deep salvage team during her hypersleep. When she discovers that transmissions from a colony that has since settled on the alien planet suddenly stop, Ripley is offered a chance to team up with a group of marines to descend on the planet and investigate the alien presence. Determined to end the memories of the alien creature, Ripley agrees to the offer and is once again thrown back into her living nightmare. Written by Kerwin Tsang

More than a half-century after the events of 'Alien', Warrant Officer Ripley - the sole survivor of the Nostromo - is discovered adrift in the shuttle she used to escape. By now, the Company - Ripley's employer - has colonized the planet where the alien was found. Intent on covering up its illegal actions of years before, the Company strips Ripley of her flight officer's license. But when transmissions from the colony stop without warning, she is called into action again - this time with a group of Space Marines. Now the alien menace is hundreds of times larger, more insidious, and all but invincible. The sole survivor of the Nostromo re-enters a world of sudden, unspeakable horror - one that attacks without warning again and again and again. Written by Derek O'Cain