JCB machines take a bow in latest Alien movie

Skid steers loaders, Loadall telescopic handlers and JS excavators were supplied to 20th Century Fox for the making of the new Alien Covenant film which hits UK cinema screens on Friday.

Starring alongside Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston, the machines are wrapped in stunning gold – the idea of British film director and producer Ridley Scott who wanted to give them a futuristic look.

JCB worldwide marketing director Michael Plummer said: “This is the biggest product placement exercise in JCB’s history and involved more than £1 million worth of machines. Ridley Scott’s idea to wrap the machines in gold delivered a stunning result and is certainly an eye-catching addition to a film which will be seen by millions of people around the world.”

The machines – which appear in the film's finale – were supplied with the help of JCB dealer Construction Equipment Australia to the movie set in Sydney, Australia. Six JCB generators were also provided for the film makers to use.

The equipment is used in the so-called ‘terraforming bay’, the area which alters the environment to make it capable of supporting terrestrial life. Alien Covenant is set almost 100 years in the future and is the sixth Alien franchise film to be made.

The Loadall telescopic handlers were made at JCB World HQ in Rocester and the JS tracked excavators at JCB Heavy Products in Uttoxeter. The cabs for all the machines were made at the JCB factory in Rugeley.

The generators were made at JCB's plant at Hixon, near Stafford.

JCB has been making its diggers in Staffordshire for over 70 years and were given their distinctive yellow paintwork by founder Joseph Cyril Bamford – after whom JCB is named – in 1951. The company has been headed by his son Anthony, now Lord Bamford, since 1975.

This isn't the diggers' first movie appearance. In 2005 they were used in the film adaptation of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,