While the next film in the saga Predator is being filmed, the pretty success ofAlien : Romulus at the box office could give ideas to Disney, behind the two franchises.
When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019 for the tidy sum of $71 billion, it acquired two cult movie monsters: the yautjas of Predatorand the xenomorphs ofAlien. And in a few years, everyone will have had the right to a return to the forefront, with Prey in 2022, and Alien : Romulus in 2024. But there is a big difference between the two.
Contrary to Alien : Romulus, Prey was not entitled to a cinema release. He arrived streaming on Disney+August 5, 2022. And it’s all the more interesting since the seventh film Alien was supposed to follow the same path, before the studio changed its mind. An inspired choice since Romulus is a great box office success in 2024.
While the next film in the saga Predatortitled Predator : Badlandsis being filmed, a question now arises: will it have entitled to a cinema outing, thanks to his alien friend? To the saga Predator Will she be “saved” from streaming thanks to her xenos friends?
ALIEN ROMULUS ALMOST ENDED UP IN STREAMING
When Alien : Romulus was made official in March 2022, it was intended for streaming. Why? To offer more freedom in the film especially in terms of violence, according to 20th Century boss Steve Asbell, who spoke about it at The Hollywood Reporter. Except that the studio finally changed his mind, from the start of filming in March 2023.
Fede Álvarez explained to The Hollywood Reporter in March 2024:
“Right when we started shooting, the studio was like, ‘Fuck it, we’re going to release this in theaters.'”
In August 2024, the director gave more details on the initial choice of streaming:
“The decision was not made at a time when movie theaters were doing well. But it was always thought of as an ambitious film for a platform.”
With a budget of $80 million, Alien : Romulus cost a little more than Prey (65 million). This is nothing compared to the indecent blockbusters of Netflix (200 million for Red Notice et The Gray Man150 million for Six Underground et Agent Stone), but it’s more expensive than some big-budget horror movies released in theaters ($50-60 million for Life et Underwater).
In other words: the studio believed in it at least to validate such a budget.
ALIEN: ROMULUS REMINDS THE VALUE OF CINEMA
And it’s a nice coup for 20th Century Studios (the name of what remains of the Fox studio since it was swallowed up by Disney) since this cinema release is a success. Alien : Romulus approaching 300 million at the global box office, mainly thanks to the international market.
It is particularly successful in China, where it has already grossed more than 93 million dollars, or double ofAlien : Covenant which was nevertheless released in a censored version to satisfy the local authorities (goodbye to the homo-egotistical kiss Walter and David).
With almost 300 million, Alien : Romulus is certainly still far from Prometheus (over 400 million in 2012), but it has largely exceeded Alien Covenant (240 million in 2017). And above all, with 80 million, this seventh episode has cost much less than the prequels (between 100 and 130 million each).
Add to that a much softer critical and public reception than with the adventures led by Michael Fassbender, and you have a positive assessment for this return ofAlien at the cinema. So Disney has succeeded.
PREDATOR BACK IN THE CINEMA, FINALLY?
Predator is the other jewel in the crown of Disney monsters. Although the idea of Prey germinated at the time of The Predator (2018), at 20th Century Fox, it is indeed in the Disney galaxy that the project was realized. When it was officially announced in 2019 under the mysterious title of Skullsnobody knew it was a movie Predator. But Disney had just bought Fox, so Mickey was definitely in charge.
It is Disney who decided to make it a streaming movie. Director Dan Trachtenberg explained in August 2022 at Variety:
“Once Disney bought Fox, that’s when we had the discussion about releasing it on Hulu. We made the movie with the intention of making it a huge cinematic experience. I’ve worked a lot in television, where you’re always locked into the format you have to work with. That wasn’t the case here.”
Following the streaming release, 20th Century Studios celebrated the success of Prey – obviously fuzzy, like pretty much all SVoD data. And in February 2024, the studio announced a new movie Predator, Badlandsagain directed by Dan Trachtenberg. Elle Fanning will be the heroine of this independent adventure, which will therefore not be not a sequel per se Prey.
It just so happens that the filming of Badlands started on August 27, 2024a few days after the release ofAlien : Romulus at the cinema. It’s hard not to think that the studio is drooling over the box office figures of the xenos, imagining reproducing the success with the Predators.
Certainly, Predators have never been as strong as Aliens at the box office. The first Predator remains a golden success (nearly 100 million at the box office, for a budget of 18 million), but much lower than that ofAlien, the eighth passenger (nearly 190 million, for a budget of 10 million). And in 2018, The Predator was even a disaster, with less than 160 million collected on a budget of around 90 million – it is surely much more, given the nightmare production.
Nevertheless, The horror vein in cinema is precious, and Disney knows it. In 2018, The Bogeyman had grossed over 80 million at the box office, for a budget of 35 million… while it was initially planned for a streaming release. The same goes for Barbarous in 2022, released in theaters in the United States where it reached 45 million (in France, it was released on Disney+).
So that makes many reasons to imagine that the next Predator has a real place on the screens, whether out of cynicism (MONEY) or respect (PRE-DA-TOR). The answer will be in the coming months, no doubt.
