Disney’s ‘Alien’ Book for Preschoolers Sparks Backlash

A children’s book based on the successful Alien film franchise is being released by Disney next year—but people online have criticized the idea for being inappropriate.

Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror movie Alien saw the crew of a spacecraft, Nostromo, intercept a distress signal from a planet and set out to investigate it. However, to their horror, the crew members are attacked by an alien that later invades their ship. This movie then led to a franchise, with five other films having since been released—and now it is being turned into a children’s book, with help from Little Golden Books and Penguin Random House.

The book is being advertised as a light-hearted reimagining of the film with illustrations of Ripley—the protagonist of the film series played by Sigourney Weaver—and the Nostromo crew as they introduce the alphabet from A to Z.

The description on the Penguin Random House website reads: “Follow Ripley and the rest of the Nostromo crew on a space adventure that introduces the alphabet from A to Z. With fun illustrations, this light-hearted reimagining of the iconic movie Alien will delight fans young and old, as well as Little Golden Book collectors through the universe.”

To be released on July 9, 2024, the book title is A Is for Alien: An ABC Book. On Amazon, the appropriate age group has been listed as “Children ages 2 to 5, fans of the ALIEN films, and Little Golden Book collectors of all ages.” People can preorder it now, with it costing $5.99 for either the Kindle or the hardback version.

When the entertainment news account @DiscussingFilm shared the information to its X account, formerly Twitter, people took to the comment section to share their disgust. Newsweek reached out to Penguin Random House and Disney for comment via email Friday.

“Disney is the king of not having any original ideas. They did this with Star Wars and Percy Jackson and ok the other live action films,” one unimpressed person wrote.

“Disney loves ruining everything don’t they,” posted another.

“It’s just wild that anyone would consider doing this,” a third person commented.

A fourth added: “Not a great idea because it might make kids want to see the movies.”

However, not everyone was unhappy with the idea, as others shared how impressed they were. “Very smart move @Disney,” wrote one.

“This is the kind of stuff the world needs. Disney is undefeated,” added another.

When Little Golden Books launched in 1942, it revolutionized children’s publishing by making high-quality picture books. Today, the imprint includes an array of storybooks featuring all of the most popular licenses, including Disney, Nickelodeon, Barbie and Sesame Street. Other movie franchises have received the Little Golden Book treatment in the past, including Star Wars, Ghostbusters and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The home of the Alien franchise, 20th Century Studios, was acquired by Disney in 2019, and the film will celebrate its 45th anniversary next year. As well as the Little Golden Book, fans will also get Alien: Romulus, the first cinematic entry since 2017’s Alien: Covenant, to be released on August 16, 2024.

Disney has faced a fair amount of backlash recently, with people accusing the company of becoming too “woke” with some of its recent projects.

It was also revealed that the company is losing its popularity among Donald Trump supporters, according to an exclusive poll conducted for Newsweek.

On December 8, Redfield and Wilton Strategies asked 1,500 eligible U.S. voters about Disney, with participants asked: “To what extent, if at all, do you think the quality of Disney films have gotten better or worse in recent years?”

Forty-six percent of Trump voters said Disney movies have gotten “worse” or “much worse”— compared to just 16 percent of Joe Biden’s supporters.

When asked for their thoughts on the company as a whole, 38 percent of Trump fans had an “unfavorable” or “very unfavorable” view of Disney, while only 12 percent of Biden voters felt the same.