So, it looks like this:
Walter Hill and
David Giler wait for Weaver to be attracted by the artistic value of the cheque, and pre-production starts in early 1993. The
William Gibson script never happens, although the
Vincent Ward one does, and again the
"monks in wooden planet" theme surfaces. Again, Ward departs due to creative differences, and again
David Fincher comes in. But Hill and Weaver like him and prove strong enough to keep the suits off the neophyte's back. The recasting of the characters to prisoners instead of monks never happens, but much of the plot remains the same, and shooting starts in fall 1993, with the release date now knocked back to Summer 1995
Then a bit of synergy starts happening. Hill's "one-man-against-corrupt-system" syndrome again asserts itself in the script, but meets a kindred spirit in Fincher. Instead of pouring this into
"Last Man Standing" (Hill) and
"Se7en" (Fincher), they both pour it into Alien3. Weaver, fully aware of the status of Ripley as feminist icon, is well within her wheelhouse and, with all three working together and less time pressure, the shooting proceeds well.
John Milius,
John Sayles and
Quentin Tarantino are bought in to do a bit of script doctoring (just as they did IOTL on
"Jaws",
"Apollo 13" and
"Crimson Tide"), but the spine of the script remains Ward's.
Charles Dance's doctor is replaced in toto by
Biehn's Hicks, but the character still dies in about the same part of the film. Biehn and Milius are bonded at this point (both right-wing gun nuts), and Milius gives Biehn a three-minute monologue as compensation: it's still quoted to this day.
An ending with Ripley, battered and going in after the last Alien standing is filmed, but the suits want Ripley surviving. Fincher fights for the depressing ending (like he did for "Se7en") and mostly succeeds: the film ends with a smash-cut to black and the final battle is heard in snatches (but not seen) over the credits, with Weaver quoting "'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." (just as
Freeman did in "Se7en")
The film is released in 1995 to mixed reviews: it's critically well considered but audiences (who wanted "Aliens 2") are less so. It grosses about the same as IOTL, and that's that...
... but the film is rapidly reappraised. It becomes a cult classic, then reappraised by the hipsters and the film-school students. Just as "Alien" is seen as the paradigm for haunted-house-horror, and "Aliens" for army-under-siege, "Aliens3" is seen as the ultimate lone-man-against-the-system movie. The elagaic feel lent it by Fincher's direction and
Goldsmith's strings (he's usually known for his boom-booomedy-boom anthems, but as
Capricorn One showed, he can do winsome) is admired. DVD sales are boffo, and the film eventually occupies a similar place to "Blade Runner": a widely admired science-fiction summer actioner that was not a big success on release but maintained a steady wind.
"Geronimo", "Last Man Standing" and "Se7en" are butterflied away by this, but otherwise history continues: "Supernova" still sucks, but "Fight Club", "Benjamin Button", "Social Network" and "Girl/Dragon/Tattoo" suck not.
Reluctant to mess with perfection,
"Alien: Resurrection" never happens, and the franchise is seen as completed.
AvP and
AvP:Requiem still happen, but are seen more as spin-offs than a continuation.