SincePrometheusnow works as part of theAlienfranchise canon, it is clear that it is not too late for theAlien Vs. Predatormovies to be redeemed.Every movie in theAlienfranchisehas its defenders and its critics, whether a given fan thinksAlienis better thanAliensor thatAlien 3is underrated, orAlien: Covenantis overrated. However, whenranking theAlienmovies, there are two franchise installments that almost always come dead last.
The widely-reviledAlien Vs. Predatormovies were both hated by critics and fans, albeit for very different reasons. 2004’sAlien Vs. Predatorhas style to spare and an impressive director inEvent Horizon’s Paul WS Anderson, but the crossover was hamstrung by an inexplicable PG-13 rating that sanitized the movie’s violent action beyond recognition.Alien Vs. Predatorscarcely even felt like anAlienmovie or aPredatormovie, resulting in 2007’s sequelAliens Vs. Predator: Requiemgoing to the other extreme.
If Prometheus Could Be Saved, Then So Can Alien Vs. Predator
The Alien Vs Predator Movies Wasted A Killer Premise
To be fair toAliens Vs. Predator: Requiem, the sequel wasn’t lacking in explicit gore. The problem was that the showdown between the two titans of sci-fi horror cinema had nothing else going for it, and violence alone wasn’t enough to salvage the sequel.Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem’s woeful lightingmeant viewers often had trouble working out what was happening on-screen, meaning no amount of gore could have saved the laughably bad, un-scary effort.
While the back-to-back failures of the two movies might seem like evidence that the monsters simply aren’t supposed to cross paths on-screen again,it is not too late to save theAlien Vs. Predatormovies. In 2024’sAlien: Romulus, director Fede Alvarez cleverly incorporated elements of the lore established in Ridley Scott’s controversial 2012 sequelPrometheus, retroactively making the blockbuster a vital part of the franchise’s story. Thanks toAlien: Romulus, no re-watch of the series would be complete withoutPrometheus, and a betterAlien Vs. Predatormovie could do the same for those ignominious efforts.
Ridley Scott Changed Alien Forever 13 Years Ago, And The Franchise Is Now Much Better As A Result
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus changed the Alien franchise forever, but it was 2024’s Alien: Romulus that set the divisive prequel’s changes in stone.
Admittedly, whileScott’s divisiveAlienprequelPrometheuswasn’t his most popular movie, it did fare better with critics than either of theAlien Vs. Predatormovies. That said, I’ve always thought that theAlien Vs. Predatorseries had a better pitch to begin with.Prometheusjust offered to explain the backstory of theAlienfranchise’s famous monster, the Xenomorph, and even then, it took its sequels,Alien: Covenant, and 2024’sAlien: Romulusto connect the dots fully. In contrast,Alien Vs. Predatorpromised to blend two great individual franchises.
There’s A Problem: Alien Can’t Really Make Alien Vs. Predator Canon
The Alien and Predator Series Can’t Cross Over Anymore
The biggest problem with redeeming theAlien Vs. Predatormovies is the franchise’s timeline, or rather its lack of a cohesive one. Thanks to the events of Scott’s prequels, theAlien Vs. Predatormovies are now a mess in terms of their place in theAlienandPredatortimelines. For one thing,PrometheusandAlien: Covenantboth implied that David might have engineered the Xenomorph, meaning they could not have fought Predators on Earth centuries before David was even created.
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiemset a whole swathe of Xenomorphs loose on Earth, whereas theAlienfranchise itself has never introduced a Xenomorph to the planet.
However, even if viewers discount this issue, there are other plot problems. For one thing,Scott’sPrometheusintroduced a new CEO for Weyland-Yutani, effectively retconning Lance Henriksen’s character fromAlien Vs. Predatorout of existence. For another,Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiemset a whole swathe of Xenomorphs loose on Earth, whereas theAlienfranchise itself has never introduced a Xenomorph to the planet. These problems all complicate anyAlien Vs. Predatormovie’s plans, making it harder to introduce a new crossover to the franchise thanks to their lack of connective tissue.
A New Alien Vs. Predator Movie Ignoring The Previous Ones Is What We Need
A Fresh Take On The Series Could Work Better
In aHollywood Reporterinterview from October 2024, Fox executive Steve Asbell hinted at the possibility of anotherAlien Vs. Predatormovie in the near future. Notably, Absell was careful to couch this promise in some mysterious qualifiers, saying that the crossover could happen but “Not in the way that it will just be called Alien vs. Predator or anything like the original movies.” While this might sound confusing, Absell’s subsequent clarifications signaled a welcome shift in how the properties are viewed by their studios.
Not a lot would be lost by retconningAlien Vs. Predatorand its sequel out of existence, but this move could pave the way for the crossover movie that viewers wanted over twenty years ago.
Per the executive,“If we do this, they’ll be organically created out of these two franchises that we’ve continued with characters that we fall in love with.” This is a promising start, sinceany newAlien Vs. Predatormovie would need to ignore the previous installments to make sense. Not a lot would be lost by retconningAlien Vs. Predatorand its sequel out of existence, but this move could pave the way for the crossover movie that viewers wanted over twenty years ago. Furthermore, the two franchises are now in a perfect place to pull off this new match-up.
There Has Never Been A Better Time For A New Alien Vs. Predator Crossover
Prey and Alien: Romulus Revitalised Their Respective Franchises
Not only wasAlien: Romulusa strong, scary, clever sequel to the series, butPreywas my favoritePredatormoviesince the 1987 original. AfterPrometheusandAlien: Covenantmade theAlienfranchise’s story needlessly complicated, while 2018’sThe Predatorstruggled to keep the franchise feeling interesting,Alien: RomulusandPreyindependently proved that theAlienandPredatormovies remain as relevant as ever. Thus, this is the best time since 1988 for the franchises to cross over.
The primary problem with her originalAlien Vs. Predatormovies is that they never knew what they wanted to be in terms of tone, style, or even rating. This is reflected in the massive differences betweenAlien Vs. Predator’s frozen Antarctic setting, plodding pace, and deathly serious tone, andAliens Vs. Predator: Requiem’s small-town setting, absurdly fast pace, and black comedic gore. The reason neither movie knew what to do is that both franchises were in weak places at the time.
2025
2092
2012
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2017
2104
1979
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1986
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1997
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Alien: ResurrectionandPredator IIfailed to inspire confidence in viewers, so the crossover lacked a cohesive vision. In stark contrast,PreyandAlien: Romulusboth presented similar stripped-down, back-to-basics, suspense-centered stories that succeeded because they knew their tone first and foremost. This means that, much like theAlienfranchise salvagedPrometheus, theAlien Vs Predatormovies can now be redeemed as the two series continue.
