Most people agreed that last year’s Alien: Romulus was a return to form for the long-running sci-fi horror franchise, nightmare CG Ian Holm aside. Now, with a follow-up practically confirmed after its box office success, director and co-writer Fede Álvarez is discussing his vision for more stories set in that universe, and whether they could lead to a new Alien vs. Predator event movie.
Even 20th Century Studios head Steve Asbell openly admitted in late 2024 that a new AvP is potentially on the cards, so hearing Álvarez talk about his ideas for a tentative refresh of the iconic crossover born in the realm of comic books (and which later produced a number of quality video games) isn’t too surprising.
His new comments arrived via a Q&A session with the filmmaker after a Collider-hosted special IMAX screening of his Alien interquel. Of course, the sequel that’s now in the works (which may or may not be a direct one) was brought up, but eventually, the conversation moved into the uncharted waters of a potential AvP crossover now that both Alien and Predator are healthier than they were less than 10 years ago.
“I can’t speak for Dan. At some point, once there’s another Alien, and I know he’s working on a sequel to Prey, one day if we feel like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we cannot wait to see,’ I think that’s a movie we could do,” he admitted. Dan Trachtenberg, who’s currently hard at work on this year’s Predator: Badlands, has yet to publicly acknowledge all the buzz that’s surrounding a potential return to the galaxy’s deadliest crossover. On other hand, Álvarez was already toying with the idea around the time Alien: Romulus was released.
“The best AVP will be the one that you don’t know is AVP until the other guy shows up. You think you’re watching a Predator movie, and then they land in some place and there are creatures, and f**king hell, it’s a Xenomorph. That would get me. ‘F**k yeah!’ You’d go crazy. Or vice versa, you’re in an Alien movie, and then suddenly a mysterious creature is there, and you can hear that sound, and you see the cloak, and you go, ‘Is that a f**king Predator?’ And then turns out it is,” he added. Though such an approach would be an incredibly hard thing to pull off in the age of leaks and spoilers (plus studios wanting to be as transparent as possible with the marketing), it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
Steve Asbell already expressed interest in the idea of not putting out a movie that’s just titled ‘Alien vs. Predator: Whatever’ but again, you gotta put butts in seats, especially with Disney footing the bills. So, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which a new Alien vs. Predator would be a cloaked twist in a seemingly normal flick of either franchise.
For all we know, Predator: Badlands could already introduce a small tease (a la Predator 2) pointing in the general direction of an AvP reboot, as Trachtenberg’s second Predator movie won’t be a follow-up to Prey. Instead, it’s set in the future and on an alien planet. Would you like to see that happen?
