Back in February, it was announced that Prey director Dan Trachtenberg would become the first filmmaker to take the helm of two films in the Predator franchise, as he was moving ahead with a new Predator film titled Badlands, working from a screenplay by Prey screenwriter Patrick Aison (based on a story crafted by Trachtenberg himself). That movie started filming in New Zealand earlier this year, with Super 8‘s Elle Fanning in the lead – and earlier this week, it was revealed that Disney / 20th Century Studios will be giving Predator: Badlands a theatrical release on November 7, 2025. Now, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell let it slip that we’re actually getting two additions to the Predator franchise in 2025! They’re also plotting an Alien: Romulus sequel with that film’s director, Fede Alvarez – and they’re “probably” going to make another Alien vs. Predator movie.
Asbell told The Hollywood Reporter that when 20th Century Studios figures out their future slate, the Avatar, Planet of the Apes, Alien, and Predator franchises are their top priorities. Once they have those plans sorted, then they can start considering which original films they’d also like to add to their schedule. The future of Alien was the first one he was directly asked about, and he replied, “We’re working on a sequel idea now. We haven’t quite closed our deal with Fede [Alvarez], but we are going to, and he has an idea that we’re working on. The two survivors, Rain and Andy, played by Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, were real highlights of the film. And so I always think of it like, ‘Wow, where do people want to see them go next?’ We know there’s going to be aliens. We know there’s going to be great horror set pieces. But I fell in love with both of them and I want to see what their story is.“
Since this interview was conducted before the Predator: Badlands release date announcement, Asbell was asked if the next Predator movie would get a theatrical release (since Prey was a streaming release). He answered, “Yes and no.” Then, to clarify, he said, “Yes, a Predator movie will have a theatrical. I’ll tell you very simply. After Prey became a success, Dan [Trachtenberg] came back and said he didn’t want to do Prey 2. And we’re like, ‘What do you want to do?’ And he rattled off a bunch of ideas that were really crazy but really cool. We’ve actually done two of them. Two are coming out next year. One I can’t talk about yet, but the other one is the live-action Predator film with Elle Fanning that just wrapped in New Zealand. That’ll be out theatrically sometime next year. … It’s titled Badlands and it is an absolutely bonkers idea. It is a sci-fi thing, but it’s not what everybody thinks it is. And I mean, it’s awesome. It is so nuts. But in Dan, we trust. There’s a second Predator movie that we have different plans for. Dan has actually directed both. There’s a secret Predator movie that will come out before the theatrical one but I can’t say anything about yet.” So Dan Trachtenberg is not only the first director to make two Predator movies, he has actually directed three Predator movies!
He was then asked if we’ll eventually see another Alien vs. Predator. He said, “Probably. It wouldn’t be in the way you think. That’s the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called Alien vs. Predator or anything like the original movies. 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 and those characters will combine…perhaps. But we haven’t gotten to that point. And we’re not just going to bang it out.” That’s interesting to hear, because Fede Alvarez recently brought up the idea of him and Trachtenberg teaming up to make an Alien vs. Predator movie together.
What do you think of 20th Century Studios’ plans for these franchises? Are you excited to hear that we’re getting two new Predator movies next year? Are you glad that Fede Alvarez is coming back for an Alien: Romulus sequel? And do you want to see another Alien vs. Predator? Let us know by leaving a comment below.