OVERALL: Draw

The US "Alien Quadrilogy" boxset has both versions of the film, an English DTS soundtrack and the best extras, including the audio commentary on both versions, a separate access to deleted and extended scenes and the "Deleted Footage Marker" feature (these features are missing on R2/R4 boxsets).

The following extras for "Alien" from "The Alien Legacy" boxsets have not been ported to the Quadrilogy sets:
- Audio commentary by director Ridley Scott,
- Isolated music score,
- Alternate music score,
- Outtakes,
- Easter eggs regarding Alien's lifecycle, Nostromo flight plan and the crew,
- "The Alien Legacy" documentary

For audio. the Chinese release has a DTS-ES soundtrack, but only has one cut of the film and no extras..

General note :
The "Alien Evolution" documentary on disc nine of the "Alien Quadrilogy Boxset" is shortened and re-edited from the original Channel 4 broadcast (UK television) : it extends the interviews focusing on "Alien" (to cover the time), but is eliminating all interviews of "Aliens", "Alien 3", "Alien: Resurrection" and Mark Kermode (other than narration at the start of the documentary).
Special thanks for Rewind user DannyS for confirming this information.

Information on differences between the theatrical cut and director's cut can be found at Movie-Censorship.

CUTS:

• R1 20th Anniversary Edition - Fullscreen America- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (116:32 NTSC)
• R1 20th Anniversary Edition - Widescreen America- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (116:32 NTSC)
• R1 Alien Quadrilogy America- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (116:29 NTSC) and the Director's cut (115:42 NTSC)
• R1 Director's Cut America- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (116:29 NTSC) and the Director's cut (115:42 NTSC)
• R1 The Alien Legacy - 20th Anniversary Edition America- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (116:32 NTSC)
• R2 France- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut France- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 The Alien Legacy France- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Germany- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Alien Quadrilogy Germany- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut Special Edition Germany- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 The Alien Legacy Germany- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Holland- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Alien Quadrilogy Holland- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut Holland- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 Italy- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut Italy- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 Alien Quadrilogy Japan- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version and the Director's cut
• R2 Ultimate Edition Japan- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version and the Director's cut
• R2 Scandinavia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Alien Quadrilogy Scandinavia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut Scandinavia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 The Alien Legacy Scandinavia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Spain- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut Spain- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 United Kingdom- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R2 Alien Quadrilogy United Kingdom- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 Director's Cut Special Edition United Kingdom- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R2 The Alien Legacy United Kingdom- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R4 Australia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R4 Alien Quadrilogy Australia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R4 Director's Cut Australia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - contains both the Theatrical version (111:50 PAL) and the Director's cut (111:05 PAL)
• R4 The Alien Legacy Australia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Theatrical version (111:53 PAL)
• R6 China- Excel Media - No cuts - Theatrical version (116:26 NTSC)

Do you own a release not listed? Then please visit our forums and let us know!

Comparison added by Craig on 14/07/01
Comparison last updated by James-Masaki_Ryan on 25/06/21

UPDATE LOG:

25/01/13: Addition of "Alien Quadrilogy" boxsets (previously available in a separate entry) and overall update.
21/01/13: Addition of "The Alien Legacy" boxsets (previously available in a separate entry) and overall update.
14/12/13: Addition of R1 Fullscreen edition.
24/10/20: Added US Legacy.
25/06/21: Added Germany Quad, Scandinavia single, Scandinavia Legacy, updated PAL runtimes.