20th century studios
Predator: Badlandsa restart of the Predator film franchise, is new to theaters. What are the chances that the science fiction adventure will get a sequel?
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the filmmaker behind the film Predator precursor Prey and the animated film Predator: killer of killers — Predator Badlands Premiering Friday in theaters nationwide.
According to the film’s official synopsis: Predator: Badlands “Set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), cast out from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.”
Predator: Badlands is received with mostly positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes critics, who collectively gave the film an 85% “new” rating based on 188 reviews.
The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads: “Director Dan Trachtenberg remains the Predator franchise in exciting new directions with Badlandsa riveting adventure that transforms one of cinema’s most iconic brutes into a hero worth rooting for.”
The film also received a 96% “fresh” rating RTs Popcorn meter based on more than 1,000 verified user reviews.
As the film industry has proven time and time again, a strong critical response and even audience enthusiasm do not guarantee that a given film – unless, of course, it is part of a predetermined plan in a superhero universe – will get a sequel.
Regarding Predator: BadlandsHowever, there are early indications that point in a positive direction when it comes to a possible sequel to the film.
What needs to happen before ‘Predator: Badlands’ gets a sequel?
The most important factor that will go into deciding whether to have one Predator: Badlands 2 it’s about how successful Predator: Badlands will be at the cash register.
The good news for the future of the franchise is that Predator: Badlands is projected by Term to earn $37 million in its opening weekend domestically, which is the second-best opening for a film in a nine-film franchise, including two Alien vs. Predator movies. In fact, it was the first AVP film that earned more in its first three days with $38.3 million in North American ticket sales in 2004.
Despite Predator: Badlands’ strong start, there are some big hurdles to overcome in the coming weeks, namely competition from such big releases as The running man And Bad: forever – even if the latter film is not suitable for the sci-fi adventure crowd. No matter what movie Predator: Badlands is disappointing, but the film will need legs to recoup the film’s $105 million production cost (via The numbers) before marketing spend.
One thing weighs heavily Predator: Badlands’ favor is Disney subsidiary 20th Century Studios’ continued support of the Predator franchise. The former 20th Century Fox kicked off the franchise in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hit Predatorand while the next six films in the franchise weren’t huge blockbusters, they weren’t huge bombs either. It should be noted that films seven and eight in the franchise – Prey And Predator: killer of killers – debuted on streaming on Hulu in 2022 and 2025 respectively, so it never played in theaters.
One thing that works in the studio’s favor is that the main draw in most post-Schwarzenegger films is the Predator species itself, allowing the franchise to spread its stories across time and space without tying its story to a specific human character.
That’s a solid foundation to build on when it comes to coming up with ideas for sequels, as the studio did for the sequels AVP films from 2004 and 2007, Predator (2010), Predators (2018), Prey And Predator: killer of killerseven though each of the films featured name actors.
Perhaps even more importantly, by creating different storylines, it gives 20th Century Studios the opportunity to keep the franchise alive through a Predator essentially in the storyline and changing the setting as it did Predator: Badlands hoping it’s something viewers will respond to.
However, if Predator: Badlands continues with the luck it has in its opening weekend, then it’s possible that audiences will see Thea (Elle Fanning) and the Yautja clan’s main predator, Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), again – and in a possible tie-in to another major 20th Century Studios property.
Note: The following section contains spoilers from “Predator: Badlands.”
Elle Fanning plays synthetic players Tessa and Thia in ‘Predator Badlands’.
20th century studios
Do the end credits of Predator: Badlands prompt a sequel?
While credits or post-credits scenes are generally a good indication of whether a story will continue with a sequel to a particular film – and Predator: Badlands does have an end credits scene – the scenes don’t necessarily mean the film is guaranteed a sequel. Again, the movie has to make enough money to justify it.
At least, if Predator: Badlands does not meet expectations, 20th Century Studios can go back to the drawing board and come up with a different angle to captivate the audience for another Predator film.
As for the end credits of Predator: Badlandsthe scene takes place immediately after the title treatment appears on screen at the end of the film, when a giant ship arrives on the Predator planet Yautja Prime.
Without delving too deeply into spoiler territory, the arrival comes just after Dek takes revenge on his father for a heinous act earlier in the film. When Thea asks Dek who is on the ship, he replies that it is his mother, meaning the young Yautja Predator will have some explaining to do to a parent who could potentially be just as evil as his father.
While the scene alone is a brief teaser for the future of the franchise, another teaser is housed in one of the main storylines in the film about Thea’s origins, a synthetic film made by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The company is obviously behind the research, exploration and possible weaponization of Xenomorphs in the Stranger film franchise, and that is exactly Weyland-Yutani’s intention with the dangerous Kalisk creature on the planet Genna in Predator: Badlands.
So besides Thia in the movie, there are many other Weyland-Yutani synthetics (but not humans) hunting the Kalisk in Predator: Badlandsincluding Thia’s twin sister Tessa (also played by Fanning). The problem is that Dek’s mission is also to hunt the Kalisk, which causes a deadly conflict with the synthetics.
With the involvement of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation Predator: Badlandswhat director and co-writer Dan Trachtenberg created with the film is a pseudo-Alien vs. Predator sequel, even though the film doesn’t involve Xenomorphs.
As such, since Thia is present at the end Predator: Badlands with Dek it could be a different signal AVP movie in the making. After all, the Stranger franchise continues with a Alien: Romulus sequel, and it’s highly likely that 20th Century Studios will produce a second season of the synthetic-heavy series Alien: Earth. In short, there is clearly interest among the Disney subsidiary to create more adventures based on Predators sister franchise.
Essentially the Predator character will likely continue in some sort of creative capacity, be it in another Predator movie, a AVP sequel or as a crossover character in a future Stranger project. It’s pretty clear that 20th Century Studios has no plans to give up on either property just yet.
Rated PG-13, Predator: Badlands is new in theaters nationwide.
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