After spending the better part of several decades on the pop-cultural backburner, the Predator franchise is returning to bona fide blockbuster status with its latest installment, Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands, as the film’s new trailer makes abundantly clear.
The final result is a trailer that sells Predator: Badlands' unique qualities and then some. The sequel looks to capitalize on both the popularity of the franchise and the audience’s appreciation of Prey to go all in, double down, and deliver a bona fide blockbuster experience from Dan Trachtenberg.
Predator: Badlands hits theaters on Friday, Nov. 7. Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi star in the film.
Predator: Badlands trailer
The new trailer sells the film as an event that is both immense and intimate in its storytelling. It makes a point of showcasing the kind of big-budget sci-fi extravaganza audiences can expect to see unfolding on the IMAX screen, while also positioning viewers directly with the central protagonist, who just happens to be a Yautja, of the film in palpable ways.
From the opening shot of the trailer with literally puts audiences directly with this character, to the subtitled dialogue of the Yautja (a first for the movie franchise), to the trailer’s title cards referring to the audience itself with lines like “On this world, you are the prey, unless you become the ultimate predator.”
Featuring tons of large-scale, grandiose sci-fi action, gonzo new design, non-stop action, and even more emphasis on its IMAX elements, the new trailer for Predator: Badlands is both riotously entertaining and obscenely effective at selling this as a must-see in theaters event.
In the years since John McTiernan’s original, iconic Predator hit theaters in 1987, the franchise it inspired has had a bit of a bumpy road. The film was followed up by Predator 2 in 1990, but the sequel was met with decidedly more negative response from fans and critics alike, putting any further plans on ice for the time being.
In the early 2000s, it got some life breathed back into in by the idea of Alien vs. Predator cinematic crossover, but it was short-lived. While the first film performed well enough at the box office, audiences were largely sour on it, the consequences of which were fully demonstrated when the sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem full-tilt flopped.
A few years later, Robert Rodriguez opted to produce an attempt at rebooting the franchise with 2010’s Predators, but that proved to be a non-starter, as did Shane Black’s The Predator in 2018. As a result, when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, the brand had little reason to put a tremendous amount of faith in further Predator projects.
They ultimately opted to greenlight Prey, a prequel from acclaimed filmmaker Trachtenberg, with the condition that it go straight to their streaming service, Hulu. However, in unlikely fashion, Prey earned the best reviews of the franchise’s history and became a streaming sensation amongst fans and general audiences alike.
Now, Trachtenberg is cashing in all of that goodwill with a new film that strives to broaden the scale and scope of this universe in every conceivable way: Predator: Badlands.
Watch Predator: Badlands in theaters starting on Nov. 7!