“Predator: Badlands” partial movie poster.
20th Century Studios
Predator: Badlands, a reboot of the Predator film franchise, is new in theaters. What are the chances the sci-fi adventure will get a sequel?
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg — who is the filmmaker behind the Predator prequel Prey and the animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers — Predator Badlands opened in theaters nationwide on Friday.
Per the film’s official summary, Predator: Badlands “is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast 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 being met with mostly positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes critics, who have collectively given the film an 85% “fresh” rating based on 188 reviews.
The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, “Director Dan Trachtenberg continues to take the Predator franchise in exciting new directions with Badlands, a rollicking adventure that transforms one of cinema’s most iconic brutes into a hero worth rooting for.”
The film also received a 96% “fresh” score on RT’s Popcornmeter based on 1,000-plus verified user ratings.
As the movie business has proven time and time again, however, a great critical response and even audience enthusiasm don’t guarantee that any given film — unless, of course, it’s a part of a preordained plan in a superhero universe — will get a sequel.
In regard to Predator: Badlands, however, there are early indications that point in a positive direction when it comes to a potential sequel to the film.
What Needs To Happen For ‘Predator: Badlands’ To Get A Sequel?
The major factor that will go into deciding whether there will be a Predator: Badlands 2 comes down to how successful Predator: Badlands will be at the box office.
The good news for the future of the franchise is that Predator: Badlands is projected by Deadline to earn $37 million in its opening weekend domestically, which is the second-best opening for a film in a nine-picture franchise that includes two Alien vs. Predator movies. In fact, it was the first AVP movie that earned more in its opening three-day frame with $38.3 million in North American ticket sales in 2004.
Despite Predator: Badlands’ strong start, there are some big obstacles to overcome in the coming weeks — namely, competition from such big releases as The Running Man and Wicked: For Good — even if the latter film isn’t going for the sci-fi adventure audience. No matter what film Predator: Badlands is running up against, however, the film will need legs to make back the film’s production cost of $105 million (via The Numbers) before its marketing spend.
One thing weighing heavily in Predator: Badlands’ favor is Disney subsidiary 20th Century Studios’ continuous support of the Predator franchise. The former 20th Century Fox kicked off the franchise in 1987 with the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit Predator, and while the next six films in the franchise weren’t big 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, and thus, never played in theaters.
One thing working in the studio’s favor is that the main draw in most of the post-Schwarzenegger films is the Predator species itself, which has allowed the franchise to spread its stories throughout time and space without hitching its story to a specific human character.
That’s a solid foundation to build upon when it comes to coming up with ideas for sequels, which the studio did for the AVP films in 2004 and 2007, Predator (2010), Predators (2018), Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, even though each of the films feature name actors.
Perhaps more importantly, by creating different storylines, it gives 20th Century Studios an option to keep the franchise alive by keeping a Predator creature in the storyline and changing the setting as it did with Predator: Badlands in the hopes that it’s something that viewers will respond to.
However, if Predator: Badlands continues with the luck it is having during its opening weekend, then it is possible that audiences will see Thea (Elle Fanning) and the main Yautja clan predator, Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), once again — and in a potential tie-in to another major 20th Century Studios property.
Note: The next section includes spoilers from “Predator: Badlands.”
Elle Fanning plays the synthetics Tessa and Thia in “Predator Badlands.”
20th Century Studios
Do The End Credits Of Predator: Badlands Set Up A Sequel?
While end credits or post-credits scenes are generally a good indicator of whether a story will continue on with a sequel to any given film — and Predator: Badlands does have an end credits scene — the scenes don’t necessarily mean the film is guaranteed a sequel. Again, the film needs to make enough money to justify it.
At the very least, if Predator: Badlands fails to meet expectations, 20th Century Studios can go back to the drawing board and start reimagining another angle to hook audiences with for another Predator film.
As for the end credits of Predator: Badlands, the scene takes place immediately after the title treatment pops up on the screen at the conclusion of the film, when a giant ship arrives on the Predator planet of Yautja Prime.
Without getting too deep into spoiler territory, the arrival comes just after Dek exacts 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’s his mother, which means the young Yautja Predator will have some explaining to do to a parent who could possibly be every bit as malelovent as his father.
While the scene alone only presents a brief teaser for the future of the franchise, there’s another teaser housed within one of the principal storylines in the film regarding the origin of Thea, who is a synthetic made by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The corporation, of course, is behind the research, exploration and possible weaponization of Xenomorphs in the Alien movie franchise, and that’s exactly Weyland-Yutani’s intention with the dangerous Kalisk creature on the planet of Genna in Predator: Badlands.
So, in addition to Thia in the film, there are a lot of other Weyland-Yutani synthetics (but no humans) hunting down the Kalisk in Predator: Badlands, including Thia’s twin “sister” Tessa (also played by Fanning). The problem is, Dek’s mission is to hunt down the Kalisk, too, which creates a deadly conflict with the synthetics.
With the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s involvement in Predator: Badlands, what director and co-writer Dan Trachtenberg created with the film is a pseudo-Alien vs. Predator sequel, even though the film doesn’t involve any Xenomorphs.
As such, since Thia is present at the end of Predator: Badlands with Dek, it could signal another AVP film in the making. After all, the Alien franchise is continuing on with an Alien: Romulus sequel, and it’s quite likely 20th Century Studios will produce a second season of the synthetic-heavy series Alien: Earth. In short, there’s clearly interest from the Disney subsidiary to create more adventures based on Predator’s sister franchise.
Essentially, the Predator character will likely continue on in some sort of creative capacity, whether it be in another Predator movie, an AVP sequel or as a crossover character in a future Alien project. It’s fairly clear that 20th Century Studios isn’t about to give up on either property just yet.
Rated PG-13, Predator: Badlands is new in theaters nationwide.