I quite liked all the Alien Quadrilogy
I really liked #2 the best though. Got bored at times with 1,3 & 4, but overall liked them. Cannot remember if I have seen either of the AVP ones - I'll probably watch them sometime...
Anyway, to the point. Hollywood would want to build upon the so-called 'touch points' of the franchise (forget AVP - that's a different franchise), so it's likely it'll be set in Nostromo-era outer space, with humans as the protagonists.
Also, they would have The Company there - so we can have big spaceships as either a set or as plot device. That would also help us to empathise with the victims (who doesn't know of a faceless, soulless company willing to do anything to get what it wants?)
But, would they use LV426? I think that the execs would find it good to include the set with the dead alien 'navigator' in it: (http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/1979_alien_006.html) That guy was huge!
It has opportunity in that it already had humans on there, and that we don't really know that much about their history (LV426 could have been quite populous for a time, but restricted to a particular area geographically. By the time Alien came around, the tech to colonise out to where the alien ship was is present, but interest in the planet itself has waned. Or something)
But it presents issues in that my explanation above is messy, and why make it that messy? I'm sure Hollywood has its best scriptwriting minds on that very subject RIGHT NOW.
So, using yet another spaceship (again, a touch point for the series) is more likely. But that just makes it into a Alien 'Shared World' movie. Not necessarily a prequel. Unless they put in it the date or something - but even then , I don't think just having it chronologically earlier than Alien would make it a prequel. It has to have an obvious connection IMNSHO.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. And if it's anything like the last time I posted a message to El Reg, I'll be the last person to post anyway, as everyone will have lost interest by now...
As an aside I think that John Square Posted Tuesday 4th August 2009 08:01 GMT was a good post on this. Thanks John.