Badlands & Prey Double Characteristic Hits Theaters November fifth

Disney’s renewed religion within the Predator franchise is resulting in a belated theatrical launch for the movie that gave new life to the almost 40-year-old sci-fi film collection.

AMC Theaters has introduced they are going to current 2022’s prequel film Prey on November 5 as a part of a particular double-bill with the newest franchise entry Predator: Badlands. Prey was initially launched on Hulu as a streaming-only providing, making it the primary Predator movie to not obtain a theatrical roll-out.

Regardless of being relegated to Hulu, Prey’s back-to-basics sci-fi motion wowed critics, and the film now sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the second-highest-ranked Predator movie on the aggregation web site, behind solely 2025’s animated providing Predator: Killer of Killers. The unique 1987 Predator is taken into account an motion film basic, however scores simply 80% on RT.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McTiernan launched Predator 38 years in the past, however the franchise is now below the stewardship of Prey director Dan Trachtenberg, who additionally helmed Killer of Killers and the upcoming Badlands.

Disney’s acquisition of Fox introduced Predator below their umbrella, however the franchise appeared to be on life-support after 2018’s The Predator grossed an underwhelming $160 million worldwide. $65 million was reportedly spent on Prey, however it was however despatched to streaming, an indication of producers’ doable lack of religion within the movie’s field workplace prospects.

Prey was the most-streamed film the week of its launch in keeping with knowledge from Reelgood, main many to argue it ought to have been given a full theatrical roll-out. Three years later, Predator: Badlands marks the franchise’s return to the large display screen, and Prey will get to go alongside for the trip because of AMC’s particular double-feature.

The second half of that Predator double-bill, Trachtenberg’s Badlands, will not be a sequel to Prey, however as a substitute launches the franchise in a brand new route, one its producer Ben Rosenblatt calls a “huge swing.” Rosenblatt defined his and Trachtenberg’s thought course of on plotting the collection’ future when ScreenRant visited the Badlands set:

“One of many issues that was most necessary to Dan and to me, and what attracted me to Prey, is that it was one thing sudden. It was one thing that individuals hadn’t executed with the franchise earlier than. So in enthusiastic about what to do subsequent, Dan was actually set on, ‘How will we do the following factor and never make it anticipated?’ And I believe it had been at the back of his thoughts, as he kind of looked for what that might be, was, ‘Properly, that is the form of huge swing that nobody’s taken but.'”

That huge swing takes the franchise timeline from Prey’s pre-colonial American setting to an alien planet sooner or later, and for the primary time facilities on a member of the Predators’ species as the principle protagonist. Trailers for Predator: Badlands tease a cross-over with one other Disney-owned property, as parts acquainted from the Alien movies are seen alongside the movie’s new Yautja hero.

Although Prey’s fierce Comanche warrior protagonist Naru will not be touted as being in Predator: Badlands, the animated Predator: Killer of Killers might have hinted at her having a cameo, because it revealed that she had been captured by the Yautja and positioned in suspended animation.

The identical movie teased the potential return of Schwarenegger’s Predator character Dutch alongside Prey’s Naru (Amber Midthunder) and Predator 2’s Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover).