The Alien and Predator franchises rank among the most iconic sci-fi properties of all time. Both have been rebooted by 20th Century Studios on Disney's watch, with Prey proving to be a huge success on streaming and Alien: Romulus widely viewed as a return to form for the Xenomorphs.
Sequels to both movies are in the works, as is an Alien: Earth TV series from Fargo's Noah Hawley. Looking further to the future, Alien vs. Predator is a logical next step and, if done well, a guaranteed box office hit.
Despite receiving largely negative reviews, the original Alien vs. Predator movie made $177.4 million worldwide in 2004 and the sequel, Aliens vs. Predators: Requiem, earned $130.2 million worldwide three years later. Both were made for less than half of that, meaning they were considered box office hits.
Talking to Collider (via SFFGazette.com), Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez shared his pitch for an Alien vs. Predator reboot. He suggested it be handled in a way that meant moviegoers wouldn't be aware of what they were getting until the aliens crossed paths on screen.
"I can’t speak for [Prey director Dan Trachtenberg]. At some point, once there’s another Alien, and I know he’s working on a sequel to Prey, one day if we feel like, 'Yeah, that’s what we cannot wait to see,' I think that’s a movie we could do," he explained. "The way I would do it, most likely, if it could be done this way ... It’s harder to keep secrets online ... The best AVP will be the one that you don’t know is AVP until the other guy shows up."
"You think you’re watching a Predator movie, and then they land in some place and there are creatures, and f*cking hell, it’s a Xenomorph. That would get me. 'F*** yeah!' You’d go crazy."
"Or vice versa, you’re in an Alien movie, and then suddenly a mysterious creature is there, and you can hear that sound, and you see the cloak, and you go, 'Is that a f*cking Predator?' And then turns out it is," Álvarez continued. "That would be the way to do it, don’t you think? Once you put it in the title, it’s like, 'Spoiler alert.'"
It's a nice thought but keeping something like this under wraps would be next to impossible. Even if the studio did find a way to avoid leaks, you just know at least one critic would spill the beans in a review. Plus, on Disney's part, there's likely more money to be made from promoting a crossover event than relying on the element of surprise.
Badlands is next up for the Predator franchise and all signs point to that and Alien being kept separate for now. There's still a lot of work to be done to fully restore audience faith in the properties and rushing to another "vs." movie might not be the wisest move.
As always, stay tuned for updates as we have them.