Weyland-Yutani
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Weyland-Yutani is a fictional corporation in the motion picture Alien and its sequels, often referred to simply as "The Company". It is one of the corporations that runs the human colonies outside the solar system through the Extrasolar Colonization Administration, has a seat in the Interstellar Commerce Commission's Company Review Board, and also has a large presence on Earth.
Weyland-Yutani is consistently portrayed as exhibiting the worst aspects of corporate profiteering, 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. The corporation has consistently ordered its employees and agents to attempt to obtain living xenomorphs so that they can be exploited as a biological weapon, without regard for their obtainers' lives.
Weyland-Yutani is a modern example of the longstanding trope of the evil megacorporation in science fiction.
Alien
The compound word "Weylan-Yutani" appears on the display screen during the ship awakening sequence and 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").
Aliens
When James Cameron was assigned to write and direct the sequel, the role and significance of Weyland-Yutani increased greatly, becoming an indispensable element in Alien lore. The original Weyland-Yutani logo was an Egyptian winged-sun emblem; it was modified to its current corporo-industrial interlocked W/Y for Aliens.
It can be viewed in various places, most prominently on the front of a big-wheel tricycle in a scene from the director's cut.
Alien³
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 (Weyland). The second part is the Japanese name Yutani written with two kanji, which literally means "hot-water valley" in English. The corporation's name also appears in a newspaper headline where the last four kanji read kabushiki kaisha which means "joint stock corporation," and the company logo can be seen stenciled across the shirts, prison jackets and caps worn by various characters in the film, including Ripley.
Alien Resurrection
In the Special Edition release of Alien Resurrection, the character of Dr. Wren (played by J.E. Freeman) states Weyland-Yutani had been bought out decades before the start of the film. Consequently an interstellar military force called "United Systems Military" now controls all the weapons and R&D interests previously held by Weyland-Yutani.
Alien vs. Predator
In Alien vs. Predator, the founder of this company (then known as Weyland Industries) is shown to be Charles Bishop Weyland. He is played by Lance Henriksen, the actor who played the android Bishop in Aliens and Alien³. In Alien³, Bishop II says the android Bishop was modeled after him. In the novelization of Alien³ (released before Alien vs. Predator), it is said that the Bishop android was created by a Weyland-Yutani employee named Michael Bishop.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
In the finale of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, the man who called himself Colonel Stevens meets with a character named Ms Yutani, offering her a Predator gun recovered from the survivors of the explosion in Gunnison, Colorado.
Origins of name
The name "Weylan-Yutani" was created by Ron Cobb, one of the designers of the Nostromo and its crew's uniforms.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Alien was its subtle satirical content. Science fiction films offer golden opportunities to throw in little scraps of information that suggest enormous changes in the world. There's a certain potency in those kinds of remarks. Weylan Yutani for instance is almost a joke, but not quite. I wanted to imply that poor old England is back on its feet and has united with the Japanese, who have taken over the building of spaceships the same way they have now with cars and supertankers. In coming up with a strange company name I thought of British Leyland and Toyota, but we couldn't use "Leyland-Toyota" in the film. Changing one letter gave me "Weylan," and "Yutani" was a Japanese neighbor of mine.
— Ron Cobb, "The Authorized Portfolio of Crew Insignias from The United States Commercial Spaceship Nostromo Designs and Realizations" by John Mollo and Ron Cobb
The original spelling of the Company's name was Weylan Yutani (note that there was no D in the name). At no time in Alien nor in the portfolio was the name of the Company spelled with a D. This was changed to "Weyland-Yutani" in Aliens.
