'Alien: Covenant' release date, news and updates: Movie gets new poster and earlier release date

There is a lot of anticipation for Ridley Scott's next addition to the "Alien" franchise, "Alien: Covenant." The good news for fans is that the movie is going to have an earlier release date. It also comes with an ominous poster to reveal the change in schedule.

The poster shows a drooling Xenomorph with the ominous caption, "Run." The synopsis for the movie is as follows: "Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the 'synthetic' David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition."

According to reports, the movie was originally intended for release in October 2017. Later on, it was pushed a couple of months earlier to August. With the release of the new poster, fans of the "Alien" franchise have now confirmed that they will encounter the classic movie monster in May.

This movie will serve as a sequel to 2012's "Prometheus," which was considered to be a prequel to the original "Alien" movie which was released back in 1979. Though that movie underwent changes to make it seem like a separate franchise from the original "Alien," it looks like this sequel will be coming back to the iconic monster that made the franchise a huge hit.

The cast of "Covenant" will see the return of "Prometheus" alumni. Aside from Fassbender, Noomi Rapace is said to be reprising her role as Elizabeth Shaw. Guy Pierce is also coming back to play Peter Weyland. New faces in the franchise include Danny McBride, Demian Bichir, Billy Crudup and Katherine Waterson.

"Alien: Covenant" is set for release on May 19, 2017.