Prometheus is a 2012 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron.
Set in the late 21st century, the story centers on the crew of the spacecraft Prometheus as they follow a star map discovered among the remnants of several ancient Earth civilizations. Led to a distant world and an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, the crew seeks the origins of humanity, but instead discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.
The film began development in the early 2000s as a fifth entry in the Alien franchise, with both Scott and director James Cameron developing ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien. James Cameron eventually left the project to focus in his sci-fi film Avatar.
By late 2010, Ridley Scott brought Lindelof onto the project to rewrite Spaihts' script, and together they developed a separate story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, though the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas.
Prometheus was released on June 1, 2012, in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe and June 8, 2012 in the United States and Canada. It was released on August 24, 2012 in Japan.
