is a
Fictional Corporation that forms an essential part of the setting of the ''
Alien '' movie, and its sequels. It is one of the '''Interstellar Commerce Commission''' (ICC) corporations that runs the human colonies outside the
Solar System through the '''Extrasolar Colonization Administration''', has a seat in the '''Company Review Board''', and also has a large presence on
Earth .
The specifics of Weyland-Yutani's origins as a fictional construct are unclear: We know that the compound word "Weylan-Yutani" may be viewed at the bottom left of a badly vibrating display screen during the planetoid landing sequence in ''Alien''. It was also printed on the prop beer cans in the film, where it is partially visible in some scenes ("Original and Genuine Weylan-Yutani Aspen Beer - Extra Strong - Aspen Colorado").
When The original ''Weylan-Yutani'' logo was an Egyptian winged-sun emblem; it was modified to its current corporo-industrial interlocked W/Y for ''Aliens''.
In ''Alien³'', Weyland-Yutani's name appears on screen several times written in
Japanese . It appears once on a box of supplies as ウェイランド湯谷. The first six
Kana of this are part of the Japanese
Syllabary Katakana which is used to spell foreign words, and here they spell ''weirando''. The second part is the Japanese name Yutani written with two
Kanji . The corporation's name also appears in a newspaper headline as ウェイランド湯谷株式会社 where the last four kanji read ''kabushikigaisha'' which means "joint stock corporation."
As an homage to the The Company''' had been long subsumed and forgotten. Weyland-Yutani is also named as a major client of the evil law firm
Wolfram & Hart in Whedon's
Angel TV series.
Weyland-Yutani is consistently portrayed as having the worst aspects of corporate profiteering, and as being willing to sacrifice decency and human life in the pursuit of profit. In various portrayals of the Aliens universe, the corporation has its hands in all aspects of space colonization and research. In '''', the company is notably absent (in the novelization, Dr Wren says that it was bought out by
Wal-Mart a century prior to the film's start). But in almost every other portrayal of human contact with the Aliens from the popular
Video Game s to the original trilogy, they have some involvement. The corporation has consistently ordered its employees and agents to attempt to obtain living
Xenomorphs so that they can be exploited as a bio-weapon.
In ''
Alien Vs. Predator '', the founder of this company (then known as ) is shown to be Charles Bishop Weyland. He is played by
Lance Henriksen , the actor that played the android
Bishop in ''Aliens'' and ''Alien³'', suggesting that the
Android was modelled after him. However, in the novelization of ''Alien³'' (released before ''Alien Vs. Predator''), it is made clear that the Bishop android was created by a Weyland-Yutani employee named Michael Bishop, which the ''Alien Vs. Predator'' filmmakers either chose to ignore or did not consider
Canon . John Yutani, who cofounded the company with Weyland, was originally intended to appear in the film (various actors, such as
Gary Busey and
Peter Weller , were considered for the role) but this was dropped from the final film.
By the time of United Systems Military'''" now controls all the aspects of previous W-Y involvement, including projectile firing weapons (
Pulse Rifles and
Smart Guns ) and all other weapon development contracts.
The old myth is that the name of was introduced by director
Ridley Scott , which was named after his old neighbors which he hated with a passion, so it resulted in him deciding to name the evil "company" after them, but in reality, it was created by
Ron Cobb , one of the designers of the
Nostromo and her crew's uniforms.
Also, in the , a clip at the end shows what might be
Charles Bishop Weyland and a Japanese man (presumably the CEO of Yutani) celebrating the formation of their joint venture.
Weyland-Yutani can be seen as a major inspiration for the
Trope of the evil
Megacorp oration in
Science Fiction . Their stylings can be seen as an influence particularly on
Omni Consumer Products (OCP) from the
RoboCop movies, the
Trioptimum Corporation from the ''
System Shock '' computer game series, the
Union Aerospace Corporation from the ''
Doom '' computer game series, dataDyne from the video game ''
Perfect Dark '', and the
Umbrella Corporation from the ''
Resident Evil '' video game series. There is also a reference to Weyland-Yutani in the fifth season of the television series ''
Angel '', where the legal firm
Wolfram And Hart is described as having ties with
Yoyodyne , Weyland-Yutani and
News Corp . The
Blue Sun corporation in the sci-fi series ''
Firefly '' is another megacorp exhibiting influence from Weyland-Yutani.
