Badlands dominated the box office

For the first time in seven years, a Predator has taken its place at the top of the box office. That’s because Disney and 20th Century Studios released director Dan Trachtenberg’s “Predator: Badlands” in theaters this past weekend. It turns out that audiences were happier than expected to show up to one of these films on the big screen, as it exceeded everyone’s expectations.

“Badlands” opened to $40 million domestically, easily taking the top spot on the charts. Heading into the weekend, estimates for “Badlands” were hovering closer to the mid-$20 million range. Likewise, the film also raked in $40 million overseas for a worldwide debut of $80 million. Again, it was expected to open to around $30 million internationally, so it outperformed globally. It’s rare to see a film explode so significantly beyond its follow-up, but that’s precisely what happened here.

That means “Badlands” now holds the biggest debut ever for a “Predator” film at the box office, surpassing 2004’s “Alien vs. Predator,” which opened to $38.2 million on its way to $177.4 million worldwide. This time, the franchise didn’t need the help of the presence of Xenomorphs. Yes, “Badlands” is tied to the “Alien” franchise, but it wasn’t sold as a big crossover. Instead, he stood on his own two feet.

So what happened here? How did Disney bring this property back to the big screen so successfully? We’re going to go over the main reasons why “Predator: Badlands” saw considerable box office success on its opening weekend. Let’s go.

The main reason “Predator: Badlands” has outperformed is audience reception. Yes, the critics really liked the film, with Jeremy Mathai of /Film calling it “by far the funniest, most heartfelt and most daring ‘Predator’ movie of all” in his review. But the key here is that the public was in very poor agreement.

“Badlands” currently holds an 85% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the highest-rated “Predator” films of all time (although it is behind “Prey” and “Predator: Killer of Killers”). But what’s even more impressive is that it also holds a stellar 95% audience rating, which is hard to come by in the blockbuster movie business. It even got an A-CinemaScore, which is another record for the “Predator” franchise.

Bottom line: People love this movie, which has resulted in significant word of mouth and, as a result, more tickets sold. This is good because the film has a budget of $105 million and needs legs to profit in theaters. The encouraging news is that it’s not far off the $42 million domestic debut of “Alien: Romulus” last year, a film that had a bigger release overseas with a $108 million global start. As long as “The Running Man” doesn’t eat this movie’s lunch this coming weekend, things are looking good at first.

October 2025 was the worst October at the box office in almost 30 years. Movies have failed or disappointed left and right. As a result, there were few major holdovers that kept “Predator: Badlands” from doing its job. If anything, there was pent-up demand for a film worth seeing from some audience members. This helped a lot.

It also helped that the weekend’s other new releases weren’t hampered. “Regretting You” ($7.1 million) landed at number two in its third weekend, while “Black Phone 2” ($5.3 million) landed at number three in its fourth frame. Only after those two did two new films manage to rank, with drama “Sarah’s Oil” ($4.4 million) coming in at fourth place and World War II drama “Nuremberg” ($3.8 million) rounding out the top five.

Other newcomers include “Die, My Love” ($2.6 million) and Sydney Sweeney’s boxing film “Christy” ($1.3 million), which absolutely tanked in its debut. So overall, none of the other newcomers did big business nor were they aimed at the same audience. The biggest threat to this film’s eventual success remains “The Running Man,” which is aimed at a similar audience. Even so, neither film is so big that the two can’t coexist.

One advantage this film has over many other American films currently playing in theaters is that science fiction and monster films tend to travel well overseas. Even superhero films have struggled at the international box office lately, with other countries increasingly favoring local products, particularly China. But to every rule, there is an exception.

For example, “Alien: Romulus” grossed $350.8 million worldwide, including $110 million in China. “Predator” isn’t as big as “Alien,” but it still bodes well. We can also look at “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” which grossed $572 million worldwide, with almost $376 million, or roughly 66% of that money, coming from international markets.

In 2025, regardless of the degree to which we consider “Jurassic World Rebirth” a monster movie, we’re looking at $868.6 million worldwide, with $529 million coming from outside North America. Even going back to 2021 (when theaters were only beginning to reopen after COVID-19 lockdowns), “Godzilla vs. Kong” was one of the first hits to gross $467.8 million worldwide. Again, $367.3 million of that came from abroad.

There are many other examples, but most importantly, this film is well-positioned to perform on a global scale and won’t need to rely on outsized revenue from an uncertain domestic market to make its hay. It remains to be seen whether the film will be able to reach more or less than $300 million worldwide and get closer to profitability in theaters. Yet, in this respect, the inclination of the hill he climbs is reduced. It’s the right kind of film for a global audience.

From a creative standpoint, part of the reason this film seems to resonate is that it offers something entirely new. The first “Predator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was released in 1987 and introduced the idea of ​​”Man versus the most talented hunter in the galaxy.” The problem with films like 2018’s “The Predator” is that it felt like the franchise was going in circles with nowhere to go, leading to diminishing returns.

With “Badlands,” the property took a bold leap into the future and gave us something we’ve never seen before, making an actual Predator the main character. Yes, there’s a bit of an “Alien” crossover, but it doesn’t take center stage. This is still a “Predator” movie through and through, and it gave longtime fans something new to chew on. In an age where too many franchise films can feel safe, the sheer audacity of this film resonated with people.

“Badlands” is also the first PG-13 “Predator” movie, but not because it’s light on the carnage. It is rather because (minor spoiler alert) there are no humans in the film. This makes grading an asset rather than a hindrance. Indeed, Trachtenberg didn’t compromise what the franchise is about to get that PG-13 rating, and in doing so, opened it up to an even wider audience. It paid off.

Trachtenberg’s role in the success of this film simply cannot be overstated. He previously directed 2022’s “Prey,” which itself was a radical reimagining of the franchise that took audiences back centuries and focused on a Yautja fighting a Comanche warrior. The only problem with “Prey” was that it was sent directly to Hulu rather than playing in theaters first.

Trachtenberg went on to co-direct this year’s animated anthology film, “Predator: Killer of Killers,” which also received some of the best reviews in franchise history. This helped increase that property’s batting average, giving people good reason to believe that “Badlands” would be worth a trip to the theater. This is all the more impressive since the last two entries were transferred directly to streaming. People didn’t ignore it because “we have ‘Predator’ at home.”

Additionally, because Trachtenberg has shepherded this franchise with such a steady hand over the past few years, it has retained its theatrical value despite being relegated to the realm of direct-to-streaming fare. This is incredibly difficult to achieve. This man has a real vision for what to do with this world and of course, it would have made much more sense to make a sequel to “Prey”. But Disney’s support of Trachtenberg’s bold approach proved to be the magic sauce here.

“Predator: Badlands” is currently in theaters.