The 1980's was a decade that had it's fair share of big revenue making box office smash hit franchises. Almost every genre had multiple hits on display for the world to go see at their local cineplex. However, there were three that had two franchises a piece which stood out for me personally. The horror fanbase (which was a lot bigger back then) was always amped up whenever they heard about the next installment from the two biggest franchises coming out. A Nightmare on Elm Street along with its star character Freddy Krueger did battle with its main rival Jason Voorhees, and the Friday the 13th series throughout the years for box office bragging rights. This back and forth clash would eventually lead the two homicidal maniacs to battle eachother in the same film which originally took almost two decades to release. Although the meeting was long overdue the diehard fans of both franchises, and their characters were finally satisfied to see these two come together which did them both more justice than their last few solo efforts.
A crossover that became highly irrelevant..........until it happened.
Next we had the Sci-Fi category giving us a crossover confrontation that many really wasn't expecting (unless they read about it online ahead of time) until they saw the first trailer for it. Although the concept and story were originally created then executed in the pages of Dark Horse comic books, people never speculated that a film would star both the Predator and its extraterrestrial rival the Aliens. However, speculations ran rampant about a possible clash after the release of Predator 2. The sequel to the 1987 blockbuster hit had a little "easter egg" for fans of both series when it was blatantly placed in the background of the Predator mothership. A trophy case where the skulls of the Predators prey were all lined up next to eachother with one that stood out more than the rest. It was the skull of an Alien from Ridley Scott's franchise which took everyone by complete surprise considering the two had no previous connections besides the comics. This would be the launching pad for a possible meeting between these two titans.
A match up that no one saw coming...........or wanted.
Unfortunately, just like Krueger and Voorhees it would take years before this project saw the light of day. When the film was completed and brought to the theaters fans of both series had mixed reactions, but it made enough money to warrant a sequel which wasn't as good as the first. This begs the question from fans of the two biggest franchises of the '80's in the action genre. When are we getting a RoboCop Terminator showdown? Another pair of icons that were put together in the pages of Dark Horse comics (they specialize in interesting match ups I guess) before being brought together on the big screen. More so than the other two collaborations this battle between the superhuman cyborg law enforcer, and the cyborg assassin turned protector has been anticipated for many years by both franchises fanbases. The fact that it hasn't happened yet leaves little doubt that we will ever get to see these two power houses do battle on the same stage. Not to mention another sequel and a reboot is coming for each franchise respectively in the next few years further pushing away for a possible "team up" of sorts.
The last piece to the crossover puzzle yet to be placed.
Hopefully sooner rather than later someone will come up with a proper script to make this fantasy match up a reality. If they wait too long people might give up caring anymore especially if the franchises themselves continues to dish out mediocre sequels to their already long series. It almost seems as if the trend to putting all these once top level characters together is to wait until their individual franchises are reduced to mediocre afterthoughts. In that case we should have already recieved a movie with these two a long time ago. If James Cameron or Frank Miller or even both could come up with something I know a project like that could be one of the greatest ever created. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but hopefully not for too long.