| Predator: Badlands | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Dan Trachtenberg |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Based on | |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jeff Cutter |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Studios |
Release dates |
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Running time | 107 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $105 million[2] |
| Box office | $174 million[3][4] |
Predator: Badlands is a 2025 Americanscience fictionaction film directed byDan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison from a story by Trachtenberg and Aison. It is the seventh installment in thePredator franchise.Elle Fanning andDimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi star in leading roles. In the film, Dek, a youngYautja exiled from his clan, crash-lands on the hostile planet of Genna and must prove himself worthy of the hunt by killing anapex predator. Struggling to survive, he forms an unlikely alliance with Thia, aWeyland-Yutani Corporationandroid, as they face off against Genna's wildlife and Weyland-Yutani's forces.
Predator: Badlands had its premiere at theTCL Chinese Theatre on November 3, 2025, and was released in the United States by20th Century Studios on November 7, 2025. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $174 million worldwide against a $105 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing installment in the series.
Dek is a Yautjarunt from Yautja Prime, who seeks approval from his father, clan leader Njohrr. He vows to hunt the Kalisk, a seemingly unkillable apex predator on the "death planet" Genna. Before he can leave however, Njohrr arrives and orders Dek's brother Kwei to kill him, deeming him too weak for the clan. Kwei defies the order and remotely activates his transport ship to take Dek to Genna. Dek is forced to watch helplessly as Njohrr executes Kwei.
Upon crash-landing on Genna, Dek faces numerous environmental dangers from bothflora andfauna. He reluctantly allies with Thia, a damaged Weyland-Yutani Corporation android, whose team was destroyed while attempting to capture the Kalisk. Thia offers to help Dek track the Kalisk. Later, they are joined by a native creature that Thia names Bud, which marks Dek with its saliva. Meanwhile, Thia's "sister", Tessa, is reactivated and begins tracking Dek’s group. Tessa later encounters Dek's crash-landed ship and takes his weaponry.
After discovering the remains of her team, Thia contacts the Weyland-Yutani team and attempts to repair herself. Dek ignites an oil spill, attracting the Kalisk. The two creatures fight, and though Dek manages to sever its head, the Kalisk regenerates and defeats him; however, it spares his life. The Weyland-Yutani team arrives, captures Dek and the Kalisk, and holds them for study. Tessa begins experimenting on Dek, but Thia intervenes. Seeing Thia's emotions as weakness, Tessa slates her for deactivation.
Thia helps Dek escape. Dek then realizes that Bud is the child of the Kalisk, who had detected its saliva on him, and decides to rescue both Thia and the captured Kalisk. Lacking his advanced weapons, Dek creates organic ones harvested from Genna's environment. He and Bud attack the Weyland-Yutani base and free Thia. Thia helps the Kalisk escape, allowing it to destroy much of the facility. Tessa, now in a mechanical power loadermech and armed with Dek's Yautja plasmacaster, battles the Kalisk but is devoured. Despite this, Tessa kills the Kalisk with cryogenic grenades; when she attempts to kill Thia, Dek destroys her and reclaims his weapon, while Bud tears off her head.
Some time later, Dek returns to Yautja Prime with a fully repaired Thia, and an older, larger Bud. He presents to his father Tessa's skull as a trophy, and demands his father's cloaking device as a reward, but Njohrr denies this. Dek kills his bodyguards and defeats Njohrr in a duel; Njohrr attempts to barter for his life by promising to allow Dek back into the clan, but Dek rejects the offer and has Bud bite off his head, taking his cloak. Dek, Thia, Bud and Njohrr's remaining clansmen prepare for a confrontation when a large ship appears near them, with Dek stating it is his mother.
In February 2024, it was revealed that astandalone film in thePredator franchise titledBadlands was in development, set to be directed byDan Trachtenberg, who previously directed and co-wrote the story ofPrey (2022) andPredator: Killer of Killers (2025), and co-written by Patrick Aison, who wrotePrey.[10] WritersBrian Duffield,Bryan Fuller,Patrick Somerville, and Ben Schwartz are credited for "additional literary material (not on-screen)".[11] The director cited stylistic and thematic influences from the works ofFrank Frazetta andTerrence Malick,Conan the Barbarian,Drax the Destroyer, the filmsShane (1953),Mad Max 2 (1981),The Book of Eli (2010), as well asClint Eastwood Westerns, and the video gameShadow of the Colossus (2005).[7] In June,Elle Fanning was in talks to join the film in adual role,[12] with her casting confirmed in August.[13]
Drawing influence from the franchise'sexpanded universe,Badlands is intended to be a self-contained entry in the series, set on the Predators' home-world and focusing on the culture of their species.[14][15] To this end, a consistent written and verbal language for the Predators was developed for the film by linguist Britton Watkins.[16][17] The film adds the terms "Yautja" and "Yautja Prime" to thePredator film series to refer to the Predator species and their homeworld, respectively.[7] These terms were first introduced in the franchise’s expanded universe, first appearing in the 1994 novelAliens vs. Predator: Prey authored byS.D. Perry andSteve Perry, which itself was a spinoff of theAliens vs. Predator comic book series published byDark Horse Comics.[18] In a departure from previous films, the Predator, Dek, is the protagonist rather than an antagonist.[19] Dek is portrayed bystuntman Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who also learned the Predator language specifically for the role.[15] To create Dek's physical appearance,Studio Gillis designed acreature suit to portray Dek's body, while Dek's face was digitally enhanced usingmotion capture computer animation to convey more subtle emotional expression.[15][7][14]Wētā Workshop also contributed to the film'spractical effects and designs.[7] The fictional Weyland-Yutani Corporation featured in theAlien franchise (and created by screenwriterDan O'Bannon for the 1979 filmAlien) appears in the film.[5]
Principal photography began inNew Zealand by August 27, 2024, under theworking titleBackpack,[13] andwrapped in late October.[20] Jeff Cutter served as the cinematographer, after previously working with Trachtenberg onPrey.[21] Olivier Dumont and Kathy Siegel served as the film's production visual effects supervisor and visual effects producer, respectively, creating the film'scomputer-generated imagery through visual effects vendorsIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM),Wētā FX,Rising Sun Pictures,Trixter, Important Looking Pirates, The Yard VFX, andFramestore.[22][7] According to Trachtenberg, every shot of the film required visual effects work.[7]
In October 2025,Sarah Schachner andBenjamin Wallfisch were revealed to have composed the musical score, having previously worked with Trachtenberg onPrey andPredator: Killer of Killers, respectively.[23]
In June 2025, it was announced thatPredator: Badlands would have a Hall H presentation atSan Diego Comic-Con later that year.[24] It had its UK premiere atBFI IMAX in London on October 28, 2025.[25]
The film had its world premiere at theTCL Chinese Theatre on November 3, 2025,[26] and was theatrically released in the United States on November 7,[27] inRealD 3D andIMAX.[28] Not countingAlien vs. Predator (2004),Predator: Badlands marks the first film in the mainlinePredator series to be given aPG-13 rating by theMotion Picture Association, after its predecessors were all rated R.[29]
Atie-in prequelcomic book, set shortly before the events of the movie, written by Ethan Sacks and illustrated by Elvin Ching, was published on November 12, 2025, byMarvel Comics.[30]
As of November 30, 2025[update],Predator: Badlands has grossed $85 million in the United States and Canada, and $89 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $174 million.[3]
In the United States and Canada,Predator: Badlands was released alongsideDie My Love,Nuremberg,Christy andSarah's Oil, and was initially projected to gross $25-$30 million in its opening weekend.[31] The film made $15.6 million on its first day[32](including $4.8 million from Wednesday and Thursday box office previews[33]), rising estimates to $36-$38 million, a record for thePredator franchise.[34] It would end up debuting to $40 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, overtaking the previous franchise record held byAlien vs. Predator, which made $38 million in 2004.[35] The film collected an additional $40 million from international markets, for a worldwide total debut of $80 million.[35]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 86% of 259 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Director Dan Trachtenberg continues to take thePredator franchise in exciting new directions withBadlands, a rollicking adventure that transforms one of cinema's most iconic brutes into a hero worth rooting for."[36]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[37] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A- on an A+ to F scale, the highest in thePredator franchise to date, and it received a 78% "definite recommend" onPostTrak.[38]
Liz Shannon Miller ofConsequence gave the film an "A-", stating that "Badlands flips the approach and finds something fresh and wonderful and bold as a result — as ifJames Cameron had madeTerminator 2 entirely from theT-800's point of view."[39] Tim Robey of theDaily Telegraph gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, praisingBadlands' ability to "humanise a film in which not a single human features".[40] Not all reviews were positive however, withHindustan Times reviewer Abhimanyu Mathur referring to the movie as a "bland"spin-off that "nobody asked for". Whilst supportive of the choice to focus on the runt of a litter, Mathur described Dek as a "whiny teenager", rather than as an "underdog", awardingBadlands with 2 stars.[41] Luca Fontana ofGalaxus and Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Times also acknowledged Dek's reversed role as the prey, with the Kalisk instead becoming the underdog.[17][42]Écran Large [fr] writer Geoffrey Crété describedBadlands as a big leap from Trachtenberg's previous work in the franchise, describing the planet Genna as a "savage world", that is complemented by "high-quality visual effects". Crété criticized the characterization however, describing them as remaining "the same puppets serving the same eternal stories of identity quest and blended families."[43] Giving the film 2 stars out of 5, Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian similarly criticized the characterization of Dek, putting his humanisation down to "the service of narrative development", concluding that "it ceases to be the Predator".[44]
Elle Fanning was described as a "sprightly breath of fresh air, winsomely cutting through the grit-and-honor stolidity of the Predator mindset" by Richard Lawson ofThe Hollywood Reporter, going on to say that her character "steers the film away from impossible bleakness".[45] Dustin Rowles, reviewing forPajiba, also praised Fanning's performance, referring to her as "the glue holding it all together", remarking on her performance as humorous, intelligent and including "jaw-dropping action scenes involving her detached legs."[46] Matthew Turner ofNerdly gave special mention toBadlands screenwriter Patrick Aison for making Dek sympathetic to the audience before Thia's first appearance.[47]
Meredith Loftus ofOffscreen Central gaveBadlands a B+ rating, stating that "the only aspect that will get any attention this awards season is the visual effects."[48]ScreenCrush writer Matt Singer commended the design of Dek, remarking that "it looks so convincing that the viewer simply accepts it as a living, flesh-and-blood creature."[49] David Crow, reviewing forDen of Geek, credited the performance of Schuster-Koloamatangi for being able to act despite heavyCGI andprosthetics, remarking that Dek "looks unconvincingly alien, but there is a more human tactile performance in those eyes", making a comparison to priorPredator franchise entries.[50]IGN writer Clint Gage scoredBadlands 8 out of 10, complimenting the creature design, comparing them to those seen inAvatar and describing Genna as an "alien death planet populated with ravenous flora and fauna".[51]Variety Magazine writer Peter Debruge compared the plot ofBadlands to a live-action version of the poemJabberwocky by authorLewis Carroll, namingBadlands the strongest entry in thePredator franchise sincethe original.[52]
In an interview in the July 2025SFX magazine, Trachtenberg stated he had three initialPredator films in mind to make:Predator: Killer of Killers,Predator: Badlands, and a third that he intends to direct ifBadlands is successful.[53] Discussions are ongoing with original franchise starArnold Schwarzenegger about reprising his role as Dutch in a future installment.[54] In a January 2023 interview,Prey starAmber Midthunder said the cast of that film was in talks with Trachtenberg for a sequel.[55]
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