What is Alien Day? How to celebrate the annual film event

Today marks the day when film fans around the world to celebrate a film franchise that has stood the test of time - Alien.

The film series has been so popular over recent years that an entire day each year has been dedicated to celebrating its success.

World Alien Day is marked every year on April 26, and originally started in 2016.

Here is everything we know:

What is Alien Day?

The day hails the film franchise of Alien, which has since gone on to be adapted into books and games. The first film was released in 1979 and spanned the charts with sequels over the next 40 years.

Scene from the film Alien in 1979 (Handout)

World Alien Day first happened in 2016 as a celebration and the date of April 26 was decided upon as it had significance — 4/26 (the way Americans write the date) was picked as it refers to the designation of the moon in the first-ever Alien film in 1979 by Ridley Scott. LV-426 was the name of the moon where the xenomorphs were discovered in that movie.

How was Alien Day started?

In 2016, the production company and distributor of the Alien movies, 20th Century Fox, became involved with sponsoring events for the day after a group of die-hard fans had celebrated April 24 the year before, in 2015. It then became an annual event. One of the events that year was a trivia challenge that lasted 24 hours, where Alien trivia questions were posted on the Twitter site from midnight to midnight, with prizes including memorabilia from the film.

How can I celebrate Alien Day?

You can celebrate the day any way you want! Film buffs say their main aim of continuing the annual celebration is to keep the film alive in fans’ minds and spread the word about how good the franchise is. Sci-fi fans all over the world encourage people to watch an Alien film, host an Alien movie marathon featuring all six films in the franchise, read Alien books or reviews, or play the Alien video game.

And, if you mention the film on Twitter, don’t forget the hashtag.

How many Alien films are there?

There are eight films in the series, together with the Predator crossover and prequels, with a ninth in development (Alien: Romulus). Why not watch them in chronological order, rather than by release date?

• AVP: Alien vs Predator (2004)

• Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)

• Prometheus (2012)

• Alien: Covenant (2017)

• Alien (1979)

• Aliens (1986)

• Alien 3 (1992)

• Alien Resurrection (1997)