Any two sufficiently similar pop culture icons will eventually invite audiences to ask the age-old question; who would win in a fight? There are long-running franchises built out of comparing the weapons, armor, and skills of beloved characters in battles to the death. Most examples aren't officially licensed, but every once in a while, the IP holders will play along. Aliens vs. Predator is a perfect idea with terrible execution.
The Predator and Alien franchises have always been connected in subtle ways. Aliens director James Cameron gave designer Stan Winston the idea for the mandibles on the Yautja's face. The first overt reference came in Predator 2, in which a Xenomorph's skull could be seen on the hunter's ship. The first Alien vs. Predator story appeared in comics in 1989. The first pitch for a cinematic take on the material came in 1994 but was rejected, leading to almost a decade of development hell. Eventually, it made it to the screen.
How many Alien vs. Predator movies are there?
Two Alien vs. Predator films made it to the big screen. The first, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, came out in 2004 with controversial director Paul W. S. Anderson at the helm. The film follows a small group of experts hired by a reclusive billionaire to explore a hidden pyramid. Their mission is complicated when they encounter an invisible hunter with advanced technology. They find themselves trapped in the pyramid as they discover its purpose. The structure is crawling with Xenomorphs, once held as a supply of prey for the mighty Yautja predators. Humans become fodder for this age-old rivalry. As the battle gets out of hand, the heroes will have to find an unlikely ally and learn the ways of the hunter to survive.
Three years later, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem took a different approach. During the first entry, a facehugger clasped onto a Yautja, creating a monstrous hybrid called the Predalien. It sports the strength of a Yautja and the acidic blood of a Xenomorph. The Predalien escapes containment and wreaks havoc on Earth, releasing a small army of Xenomorphs into a small Colorado town. A veteran Predator is summoned to clean out the infestation by any means necessary. The human heroes are the assorted denizens of the small town who struggle to aid the Predator and ward off the invasion.
Why don't the Alien vs. Predator movies work?
Both AvP films made their money back at the box office. The 2004 original is the second highest-grossing film in the Alien or Predator franchises after Prometheus. The sequel was made on a sharply reduced budget and made much less profit. Critics savaged both AvP films. AvP has its defenders and for good reason. It's brainless, unoriginal, silly, and even a bit cynical, but Anderson has fun with the premise. It doesn't capture what fans love about either franchise, but it feels like the brutal smackdown viewers would expect from an extremely high-production-value fan film. Requiem is an unmitigated disaster. It's too dull to be funny, too dumb to be enjoyable, and frequently too dark to be visible. It sacrifices the few virtues of the first film to save a few bucks, leaving behind enhanced iterations of its faults. The disastrous second iteration seems to have killed studio interest in a third entry, despite the script leaving the possibility for one. It's a shame to see such a promising concept fall flat through such shoddy execution.
How to make a better Alien vs. Predator movie
The obvious method would be to adapt Dark Horse's Alien vs. Predator comic book series. The original run from the 90s told the story of Machiko Noguchi, a human woman who learns the ways of the Yautja and eventually leaves her corporate job to join the hunt. Those comics aren't perfect, but they handle their source material with respect and weave a clever narrative in an intriguing setting. If the studios aren't interested in adapting the comics, they need only learn its lessons. The draw of an AvP movie can't only be the two title creatures. It'll be fighting against accusations of cynical IP-focused storytelling no matter what it does. A sharp, original sci-fi story making use of the unique attributes of the Xenomorph and Yautja is all an AvP film needs to succeed.
Alien vs. Predator is a simple concept that has generated one fun bad movie and one awful slog. Both franchises have continued to grow in their own ways. It's hard to know whether fans will ever see another big screen bout for these iconic space horror antagonists. A series of original novels on the subject began hitting shelves in 2016, and the latest iteration, Aliens vs. Predators: Rift War, dropped last year. There may not be a good Alien vs. Predator movie on the market today, but their rivalry will never end, so there's no way of knowing when they'll be back for another round.