Disney’s Predator: Badlands Marks a New Era for Crossovers

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Dan Trachtenberg’s 2022 film, Prey, revitalized the Predator franchise. The film’s exclusive release on Hulu made it the platform’s most-streamed movie that year and paved the way for two additional projects from Trachtenberg: an animated Hulu exclusive titled Predator: Killer of Killers, and a theatrical release, Predator: Badlands. All three films were critically and commercially successful, with Predator: Badlands earning over four times its $40 million production budget at the box office.

The movie Predator: Badlands has been a huge hit, not only in theaters but also on Hulu, becoming the platform’s most-watched film this month. It quickly racked up over nine million views in its first five days. With the success of Predator: Badlands and Alien: Earth, and the way these two franchises are starting to connect, Disney may be focusing less on introducing new stories and more on building a large, interconnected sci-fi universe.

Disney Connected the Predator and Alien Franchises Again, and It Worked

I have to admit, when the trailer for Predator: Badlands dropped, the biggest buzz among fans wasn’t about the Predator itself, but a quick flash of the Weyland-Yutani logo reflected in Elle Fanning’s android character’s eyes. It instantly got people talking, because that company hasn’t had a proper cinematic connection since the Alien vs. Predator movies from the early 2000s – films that made a lot of money, but weren’t exactly critical darlings.

The way Predator: Badlands introduced Weyland-Yutani androids and the character of “Mother” was clever. It subtly connected the Predator and Alien universes, rather than immediately forcing a conflict between the Yautja and Xenomorphs. This gradual approach not only creates a shared world that can blend the strengths of both franchises, but also builds anticipation for a truly satisfying showdown between the two iconic species.

Creating characters with strong personalities, like Dek and Thia from Badlands, helps audiences connect with each movie on its own and builds excitement for when those characters eventually team up. This approach mirrors how Disney built the Marvel Cinematic Universe, releasing individual films before bringing all the heroes together for larger, more impactful releases.

Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney isn’t limited to success in movie theaters anymore. Just as they did with streaming shows like WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Disney can now use its popular streaming service to connect its Alien and Predator content – including shows and exclusives like Predator: Badlands – with what’s released in theaters.

Predator: Badlands Has Opened Up an Entire New Opportunity for Disney Crossovers

The idea of combining Predator with other franchises isn’t recent. Even before the Predator 2 movie briefly showed a Xenomorph skull in 1990, crossovers were happening. In fact, the first Predator comic came out almost ten months before that movie moment. Since then, particularly in the comics, Predator has teamed up with a lot of popular universes, like Transformers, Justice League America, and more recently, Marvel.

While it would be very challenging for Disney to combine its live-action or animated properties with established universes like Marvel or DC, their recent approach allows for crossovers with other well-known franchises, particularly those from comics. Good possibilities include Archie, The Terminator, or, most realistically, Judge Dredd.

Disney’s decision to keep the next Predator movie R-rated, along with their willingness to explore connections between different franchises, could be a significant shift with potential benefits for both profits and audience engagement. A good example of a film that suffered despite critical praise is 2012’s Dredd. While it received positive reviews – earning an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – it didn’t perform well at the box office and therefore didn’t reach a wide audience.

As a huge cinema fan, I truly believe that drawing inspiration from existing stories and blending in other popular franchises could be exactly what the Judge Dredd series needs to come back to life. It would also help expand this fresh Predator universe they’re building. And Disney has so many options – they can acquire rights to new properties or cleverly use what they already own. Whether they choose established crossovers or invent brand new ones, I think this approach could unlock a really long and successful run of combined universes. It’s an exciting possibility!

The Predator films are available to stream on Hulu.

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2026-02-21 04:08