I'm usually not too thrilled about sequels / prequels being made for classics. However, District 9 was pretty much perfect, and Elysium was still far ahead of most of Hollywood's sludge of the past decade. I also get the impression this guy really appreciates and admires the first two films and has a lot of passion for this project. The fact that he kept it from Fox until he had a solid and fleshed out story, some serious artwork and Sigourney's nod...just makes a lot of sense to me.
After the Prometheus disaster, i'm excited to see this guy taking a shot at creating something great for this franchise.