Development has already started on a sequel to “Alien: Romulus” plus a pair of “Predator” movies are coming from 20th Century studios…
The success of “Alien: Romulus” — over $350 million earned at the box office — has 20th Century already planning on a sequel with hopes to close a deal with director Fede Alvarez in the near future.
That’s according to 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell, who confirmed plans for the sequel just recently when discussing what’s coming next from the Disney owned label.
It’s not exactly a surprise that a “Alien: Romulus” sequel would happen considering the reception the original film received with overwhelmingly positive reviews for an “Alien” film for the first time in decades. Asbell confirmed that Alvarez has an idea in mind for a sequel that would continue following the surviving characters from “Alien: Romulus” and it’s just a matter of locking down a deal to get it done.
“We’re working on a sequel idea now,” Asbell told The Hollywood Reporter. “We haven’t quite closed our deal with Fede [Alvarez], but we are going to, and he has an idea that we’re working on. The two survivors, Rain and Andy, played by Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, were real highlights of the film. And so I always think of it like, “Wow, where do people want to see them go next?”
“We know there’s going to be aliens. We know there’s going to be great horror set pieces. But I fell in love with both of them and I want to see what their story is.”
Alvarez had previously teased that he had an idea for a potential sequel so it looks like he’ll get to carry out that vision following the success of “Alien: Romulus.”
Meanwhile, the “Predator” franchise is also preparing for a new film to land in theaters with “Prey” director Dan Trachtenberg preparing to unleash his next film in the franchise called “Predator: Badlands” dropping in 2025.
Most fans believe “Prey” — a remarkably good entry into the “Predator” franchise — should have been released in theaters rather than a streaming only debut on Hulu. Now 20th Century Studios is listening with the release of “Predator: Badlands” but it turns out that’s not the only “Predator” movie coming soon.
“After Prey became a success, Dan [Trachtenberg] came back and said he didn’t want to do Prey 2. And we’re like, “What do you want to do?” Asbell revealed. “And he rattled off a bunch of ideas that were really crazy but really cool. We’ve actually done two of them. Two are coming out next year. One I can’t talk about yet, but the other one is the live-action Predator film with Elle Fanning that just wrapped in New Zealand. That’ll be out theatrically sometime next year.
“There’s a second Predator movie that we have different plans for. Dan has actually directed both. There’s a secret Predator movie that will come out before the theatrical one that I can’t say anything about yet.”
Based on that statement could the second “Predator” film be animated?
Obviously Asbell isn’t giving away any secrets just yet but with “Predator: Badlands” set to debut on November 7, 2025, fans probably won’t have to wait long for the second film to drop with that one expected to debut before the next live-action film from Trachtenberg.
One more interesting nugget — Asbell added there’s a good chance another “Alien vs. Predator” film would happen in the future but it wouldn’t be a continuation of the two previous films, which concluded with “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” in 2007.
“Probably [another “Alien vs. Predator” film],” Asbell said. “It wouldn’t be in the way you think. That’s the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called Alien vs. Predator or anything like the original movies. If we do this, they’ll be organically created out of these two franchises that we’ve continued with characters that we fall in love with and those characters will combine…perhaps. But we haven’t gotten to that point. And we’re not just going to bang it out.”
If “Predator: Badlands” ends up as a successful theatrical release, there’s no telling how far 20th Century Studios might push for future “Predator” spinoffs and we already know there’s more “Alien” stories to come in the near future.
