A Fan Of The Franchise

Over the Thanksgiving box office weekend of 2025, starting on Wednesday the 26th and ending on Sunday the 30th, Predator: Badlands got ran up under their bed by a pair of “kid friendly” movies. Those movies just so happen to be sequels. It took four weeks for the seventh theater release movie of the franchise to break the hundred million marker domestically. The only one to do so thus far. With almost two handfuls of films that reality seem unbelievable regardless to how it’s looked upon. The top five in any box office weekend is positive accomplishment but it shouldn’t have taken a month after the fact for team Predator to hit this particular milestone.

1. Zootopia 2,” $96.8 million.
2. “Wicked: For Good,” $62.8 million.
3. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” $7 million.
4. “Predator: Badlands,” $4.8 million.
5. “The Running Man,” $3.7 million.
6. “Eternity,” $3.2 million.
7. “Rental Family,” $2.1 million.
8. “Hamnet,” $880,000.
9. “Sisu: Road to Revenge,” $810,000
10. “Nuremberg,” $749,325 

Kid friendly isn’t a documentation that you can tag onto this franchise that’s been around closing in on forty years and apparently has more to go. However there is one out of the nine, not including the animated installment, that has youngin playing a major role in it. To date I’ve had the pleasure to see all expect the two that were released this year (2025).

Unlike other franchises that have had lengthy runs to go with Blockbuster success like Star Wars or anything Marvel just to name a few, Predator has not seen such fanfare. Even so, each installment of the Predator their creative storyline has brought different scenarios from the humans to turning the tide from being the hunted too becoming the hunter: military in the jungle, cops in the urban city, 3rd and 4th movies both concentrated on two monsters going at one another while the humans are caught in the middle, humans fighting on an alien planet, and Indians roaming the prairies in teepees. They’ve really putt their thinking caps to the test.

With the third & fourth films they really went outside the box—Jason vs Freddy outside the box—and it give the franchise a whole new spin. Did it need that type of transformation; no. However, they did take a backwards slide instead of building forward progress with the second film. In the lead role they had what I would concerned at the time an A-list actor of color. And that’s another enticement that’s throughout the franchise, how diverse the casting has been. Although the fifth and sixth didn’t produce any major shockwaves at the box office: 51 million domestic gross average vs 65 million budget average, strides were made. For a first they were no longer on earth but unwilling participants transported to a distant alien planet and in the sixth film where a young male boy had a supporting role. The seventh and ninth, both going straight to streaming platform, I don’t know how those numbers are calculated to form a conclusion of successfulness. I’ve seen a 25 minute recap of Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated installment that is one of two that went straight to streaming, as well as Predator: Badlands and will get to them in just a bit. Now the other straight to streaming service, number seven, went back several hundred years to the teepees lining the American landscape. And it also featured a female playing the lead role. At the time the Predator was making itself known she was maneuvering her way through the forest, her and her dog, in practice mode for what it looked like hunting.

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My Personal Ranking Best Too Last
Rank	Movie	Year	Worldwide Gross
1)	Predator	1987	$59,742,555
2)	Alien vs Predator	2004	$177,427,090
3)	Predators	2010	$127,233,108
4)	Hulu’s Prey	2022	Streaming (Hulu)
5)	Predator 2	1990	$30,669,955
6)	Alien vs Predator: Requiem	2007	$130,290,885
7)	The Predator	2018	$160,542,134
—	Predator: Badlands	2025	$174,432,424
—	Hulu’s Predator: Killer of Killers	2025	Streaming (Hulu)

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1. Predator
2. Hulu’s Prey
3. Hulu’s Predator: Killer of Killers
4. Predators
5. Predator: Badlands
6. Alien versus Predator
7. Predator 2
8. The Predator
9. Alien vs Predator: Requiem

With me only seeing seven of the nine I can’t completely size up the ranking but I’ll work with what is on the table. First off in the number one slot they have the original installment from 1987 and so do I. Now, here is where the shit is about to be fragranced throughout but it shall not stay that way for long. The second and third on my list are Alien vs Predator and Predators whereas they’re riding with the two steaming joints. I’m going to give Prey, which is second, a femininity pass.

The writer of the article is a female and the lead in Prey is a female, so that isn’t a surprise. Also, not just any female but one of Indian decent. She has one of those last names (“go, Amber Midthunder, go”!) . A female sticking her neck out for another female; have fun. Furthermore, with the Indian heritage folk taking the front seat on this drive the sites were very entertaining. I have Prey in fourth place. That animated film must be really good? Let’s jump to the last two slots on the list. We both have the same two movies but in different orders. For me it’s Alien vs Predator: Requiem and lastly The Predator. If she has kids I wonder how they feel about that—having the only film where a kid plays a significant role so low.

The twenty-five minute synopsis for Predator: Badlands was very impressive. Without any complaints, I would stand in line for hours for a ticket to inhale the rest. You have a young Predator not yet in any ranks other then the trash thoughts of his father willing to prove himself at any cost. He ultimately gets his wish to fight the best of the best as far as predatory hunters is concerned. And with the way the world turns he didn’t accomplish his goal without some much needed help. The focus point here unlike the other movies is the predator. Not the humans but the Predator is on hostile land fighting for survival as he is the prey.

Predator: Killer of Killers didn’t get the same reaction after its twenty-five minute synopsis. Inside the plot contained three different tales heading to a crash ending. You have one representing Vikings, Japanese, and a fighter pilot of the World War II era. The Viking and Japanese tale surround themselves in family issues as the Predator finds them. However, for the young fighter pilot it’s some raw & harsh on the job training. Eventually three characters, one from each story, are all stuck under a ranking predator’s foot. Skipping to the most hair raising part of the movie, which happens to come at the very end, you will find that Indian warrior princess, (that’s what I’ve name her) now, caught up to speed she might have won the battle but with receiving the new update it looks like she’s losing the war. It’s a surprise that definitely keeps a fan with their eyes open!

Unlike other Hollywood blockbuster franchises they haven’t actually cross that particular threshold. The potential is there, definitely, for the franchise to experience a type of success they’ve never came in contact with. They could use a concept from passed movies and with the right cast easy formalized for a huge Hollywood Blockbuster. And they wouldn’t need the crossover version, consisting of the aliens, to make it happen. For example let’s use the 2010 film where instead of a predator coming to earth seeking out and worthy opponent (s) professional killers from around the globe were transported to a foreign planet to do battle. The cast had your, “haven’t I seen you around town somewhere” cast (not your household names). Could they have done better, of course. There was one big name Lawrence Fishburne but it wasn’t a starting role. Now, if you had the equivalent star power of the original or better, the same game plan but a better script, on your hand would definitely be a potential Hollywood Blockbuster. We are talking about at least half a billion in worldwide receipts. You had Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Duke, Jesse, I ain’t got time to bleed, Ventura; former governor and big time wrestler, and Carl Withers of the Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movies.

I’m not at the edge of my seat waiting for more of the Predator franchise because there’s more important happens going on in my life at the moment. But I will say that it’s intriguing to know its not prohibited of another film being released. In both of the last two Predator films the endings really left the fans worrying. Has the time finally arrive for the much anticipated addition of a female predator?

In 1991 The Silence of The Lambs did, $130,742,922 domestically, $142,000,000 internationally, for a total of $272,742,922 worldwide. Ten years later in 2001 the sequel Hannibal was released: $165,092,268 domestically, $186,600,000 internationally, for a total of $351,692,267 worldwide. You had Anthony Hopkins aside Jodie Foster and in the second edition there was Hopkins and Julianne Moore. It’s not hating! The professional word for it is controversy.

CITE

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr3225915141

https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Predator#tab=summary

https://apnews.com/article/zootopia-box-office-wicked-5735e7bde6a7cf75f1998381011fa9e1

ALL 9 PREDATOR MOVIES RANKED, FROM ‘BADLANDS’ TO ‘KILLER OF KILLERS’ TO THE ‘ALIEN’ CROSSOVERS

“WHOEVER WINS, WE LOSE” THE POSTER FOR “ALIEN VS. PREDATOR” FAMOUSLY SAID. BUT YOU’RE VERY MUCH A WINNER IF YOU LET THIS RANKING GUIDE YOUR VIEWING!

BY ALISON FOREMAN
November 9, 2025 6:00 pm
https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/predator-movies-ranked/

https://youtube.com/@fullmovierecapss?si=CnIXK0yGdeRKQdrk

https://youtube.com/@foxus7?si=QGtkgBR_NmjDJg6b

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0212985/credits/?ref_=bo_tt_tab#tabs

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0102926/?ref_=bo_se_r_1