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Whether you felt the fan service in Alien: Romulus was too much or not enough to sink Fede Alvarez’s spinoff, the audience reception – as expressed by Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore – seems to indicate the Alien franchise hasn’t been this well-regarded and healthy in decades. Where does 20th Century Studios go from here – especially when Prey’s success in 2022 remains to be followed? Maybe a return to Alien vs. Predator is overdue.
A direct follow-up to Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator prequel is reportedly in active development, yet the next step for that franchise is moving to a future setting with Badlands. Elle Fanning is set to lead that movie, and it seems that 20th Century Studios is fast-tracking the project. Looking at Alien: Romulus’ box office performance so far (on a mid-sized $80 million production budget), we can guess the Predator refresh that landed on Hulu two years ago would’ve done fine in cinemas on its slimmer $65 million price tag. Furthermore, its critical reception was even stronger than Romulus’ and fan sentiment surrounding it was largely positive.
We don't need to change continuity
The two original Alien vs. Predator flicks, which admittedly weren’t good, are totally ignored by the Alien series despite Paul W.S. Anderson and the Strause Brothers’ many attempts to tie them to the larger mythos. In fact, once Ridley Scott’s two prequels were released, the xenomorphs’ past on Earth was seemingly annihilated. Alien: Romulus, meanwhile, tries to bring the entire Alien franchise together and largely finds success. But what about Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, the FX series coming next year that is set before the events of the movies?
After Fede Alvarez’s diplomatic installment, chances are that Hawley’s take on the xenomorph – which, don’t get me wrong, I’m really excited about – will be yet another wild ride that creates more continuity questions. At this point, that’s almost a feature of the Alien franchise. But, do we really care if every filmmaker is allowed to flex their muscles in this sci-fi sandbox, giving each entry a different flavor?
This is part of the reason why an Alien vs. Predator reboot wouldn’t muck things up after Prey and Alien: Romulus’ success. Both movie series have always been a bit, uh... creatively chaotic. Alien: Romulus could still get a direct sequel; while Prey 2 and Badlands are almost certainly following the tried-and-tested formula of throwing a predator into cool settings. While the latter series has actively acknowledged xenomorphs (let’s not forget those direct AvP callbacks in 2018’s The Predator), the Alien movies have been doing their own thing. In any case, both have entries that caused friction with the rest.
Could a reboot actually work?
Yes, I believe there’s an opportunity for a big, ambitious refresh of Alien vs. Predator that goes beyond franchise-building and financial appeal. Dark Horse’s AvP comics were largely awesome. Most of the AvP games ranged from cool to fantastic. There’s so much material to draw inspiration from, and 20th Century Studios’ current commitment to well-budgeted sci-fi features with quality production signals it might be the perfect time to try to get it done.
Alvarez himself recently admitted he doesn’t reject the idea of a new Alien vs. Predator movie, yet his answer was merely playful. It did, however, cause the first serious online discussion on the matter in years as far as I can tell, and 20th Century Studios’ Steve Asbell’s (president, production) radar should have caught some of that buzz. I think neither Alvarez nor Trachtenberg are actively looking at AvP at the moment, but I do have one wild theory that could pan out if something is brewed at the studio.
We don’t know anything about Badlands’ premise beyond the fact it’s set in the future. Why not jump straight into an Amber Midthunder-led Prey sequel? Is Badlands truly a standalone in the same vein if Prey 2 is happening afterwards? There could be more to the superficially innocent pitch, especially if we remember that the original plan was to secretly shoot and market Prey as something else before revealing it was a Predator flick (something that obviously didn’t work out). Could Badlands actually be a soft-launch of sorts for an Alien vs. Predator reboot, even if it’s a Predator flick through and through?
Looking at Predator 2’s huge tease in 1990 and The Predator bringing some of that playfulness back in 2018, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Trachtenberg’s next movie tries to set up a (future) proper crossover that lands closer to the source material. The streets are asking for it, and Legendary’s MonsterVerse might be the perfect blueprint the creatives should look at if xenomorphs and Yautja are destined to face off again on the big screen.
Alien: Romulus is in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to the Alien: Romulus ending explained and our breakdown of the best Alien movies.
