Badlands’ Scores a Franchise-Best Box Office Open

When it comes to the box office, that Predator do hunt.

The big movie of the past weekend, Predator: Badlands, opened to $80 million worldwide, half of which came from North America. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it performed well above initial $25-$30 million domestic projections, and has the highest-grossing open of the franchise, beating out the $38.4 million of 2004’s Alien vs. Predator. It’s also a big winner globally, beating the $48.9 million open of the 2018 Predator reboot.

Speaking of the 2018 film, Badlands is the first theatrical Predator movie since that maligned film. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who helmed 2022’s Hulu exclusive Prey and the streamer’s animated anthology flick Killer of Killers from June, the new film stars Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek. The titular hunter, who’s much shorter than other Predators seen across prior films, crash lands on an alien planet and looks to prove his worth by hunting a legendary beast and teams with Elle Fanning’s damaged synthetic Thia to help him out.

Marketing for Predator: Badlands has repeatedly emphasized the two as a buddy pair, and the goodwill built up with Prey and Killers has also stirred interest in it. Fortunately, it’s all paid off: reviews and word of mouth have been pretty strong, said analyst Luiz Fernando, and it also seems to have renewed interest in the franchise—just as well, since Trachtenberg’s hoping to do more with it. We’ll see how it does the rest of the month, which is packed with big flicks like The Running Man and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t this Friday, November 14, and Wicked For Good on November 21.

Loved Predator: Badlands, hated it? Where’s it rank in the franchise for you? Let us know in the comments below.

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