Fans of the Alien and Predator franchises are being spoiled in the coming years, and 20th Century Studios is potentially about to try and put the two sci-fi titans back on screen together in another Alien Vs Predator movie. The news of this potential mash-up comes on the same day it was revealed that an Alien: Romulus sequel is in development and a second new Predator movie is on the way.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Studios’ boss Steve Asbell opened up about several of their biggest IPs and exactly where they will be heading in the future. Surprisingly, this included a tease about the Alien and Predator franchises once again colliding with a brand-new movie. While this one is not a sure thing, it seems that it has been openly discussed and, according to Asbell, is “probable.” He explained:
“It wouldn’t be in the way you think. That’s the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called Alien vs. Predator or anything like the original movies. If we do this, they’ll be organically created out of these two franchises that we’ve continued with characters that we fall in love with and those characters will combine…perhaps. But we haven’t gotten to that point. And we’re not just going to bang it out.”
While fans were doubtful that new Alien and Predator movies would ever be possible following Disney’s purchase of Fox and its many iconic franchises, 2022’s Prey and this year’s Alien: Romulus have not only proved to be successful but have completely revived both franchises with two of their highest rated entries. Whether that means a new Alien vs. Predator movie can both happen and actually be successful, we’ll have to wait and see.
Alien vs. Predator Movies Have Struggled to Deliver
In 2004, it seemed like a monster mash many years in the making was about to make fanboy dreams come true. However, Alien vs. Predator made several big mistakes that proved to be unforgivable for both audiences and critics. Possibly the most critical error the Paul W.S. Anderson movie made was to turn the two R-rated franchises into a PG-13 movie that tried its hardest to do everything it thought fans would want, and instead ended up delivering very little. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored a dismal 22% on the Tomatometer and only a slightly better 39% Popcornmeter rating, but it did manage to pull in $177 million on the back of its $60 million budget.
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The moderate success of the movie led to the direct follow-up Alien vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007. Picking up on the events of its predecessor, the film brought an R-rating back to the franchise, but still failed to please anyone. Pushing the envelope by featuring the Predator/Alien hybrid teased in the 2004 movie, but being hindered by bad editing, lighting and other technical issues, the film landed even worse reviews (12% Tomatometer/30% Popcornmeter), and grossed just $130 million. Subsequent plans for another sequel were understandably scrapped.
Now, against all odds, Disney could be the ones to ultimately deliver an Alien vs. Predator movie that actually performs well – if they can find the right story. With both franchises branching out in a similar way to Legendary’s MonsterVerse, who knows where we could see the sci-fi sagas end up in the coming years?