The Alien Franchise Can Officially Fix Its $100 Million Disaster After New Prequel’s Success

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The Alien series has had its ups and downs over the years, with each movie after the 1996 film Aliens receiving both praise and criticism. However, thanks to the recent success of Alien: Earth on streaming platforms, the franchise is now well-positioned to address what many consider its biggest misstep.

Most fans agree that the low point for the franchise was the pair of Alien vs. Predator movies released in the mid-2000s. While the films had a substantial $100 million budget, they still suffered from fundamental problems that money couldn’t fix.

The first Alien vs. Predator movie, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (known for Event Horizon), didn’t live up to expectations. It took a long time to get to the fight fans wanted, and surprisingly lacked the frightening atmosphere and intense violence that made the earlier Alien and Predator films so popular. The sequel, however, had the opposite issue.

The 2007 film Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem was filled with intense and disturbing violence, some of the most graphic in the series. Despite this, the story felt hurried and didn’t create a sense of real danger, demonstrating that simply showing a lot of gore isn’t enough to make a good Alien or Predator movie.

Alien Vs Predator’s Reboot Needs To Be A Show (Not A Movie)

The idea of pitting the Alien and Predator universes against each other has always been tricky, and previous attempts haven’t quite worked, despite improvements in both franchises. But the new Hulu series, Alien: Earth, shows that the concept still has promise. It’s also established a strong format that could make a continuing series much more successful than a single movie.

Following the fast-paced horror film Alien: Romulus in 2024, Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth – a new series expanding the Alien universe – seemed like a gamble. Previous efforts to explore the Alien backstory in detail, like Ridley Scott’s 2012 film Prometheus, were often confusing, overly complicated, and lacked genuine scares.

Movie Box Office Rotten Tomatoes
Alien (1979) $204 million 93% Critics / 94% Audiences
Aliens (1986) $183 million 94% Critics / 94% Audiences
Alien 3 (1992) $159 million 44% Critics / 46% Audiences
Alien Resurrection (1997) $161 million 55% Critics / 39% Audiences
Alien vs Predator (2004) $177 million 22% Critics / 39% Audiences
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) $130 million 12% Critics / 30% Audiences
Prometheus (2012) $403 million 73% Critics / 68% Audiences
Alien: Covenant (2017) $240 million 65% Critics / 55% Audiences
Alien: Romulus (2024) N/A 82% Critics / 88% Audiences

Despite initial concerns, Alien: Earth proved to be a huge hit with both critics and viewers, quickly becoming one of Hulu’s most popular shows and receiving excellent reviews. Creator Noah Hawley skillfully explored long-standing questions from the Alien universe – like the nature of androids and the rise of the Weyland Yutani Corporation – turning them into compelling, original, and genuinely frightening storylines.

Alien: Earth’s Success Proves The Franchise Works On The Small Screen

The positive reception to Alien: Earth demonstrates that a series based on Alien vs Predator could be successful—even more so than the movies. The two existing films always had trouble explaining why Xenomorphs and Predators were fighting on Earth, either spending too much time setting it up or ignoring the question altogether, as seen in Aliens vs Predator: Requiem.

An Alien vs. Predator series, done in the style of Alien: Earth, could build its story gradually without losing the audience. Plus, because there aren’t currently any Predator shows available on streaming services, now is a particularly good time to create one.

The Predator movies have become critically acclaimed again recently. While the attempts to restart the series with Predators and The Predator weren’t well-received, 2022’s Prey – a prequel – was a hit with critics and is considered the best Predator film since the original movie in 1987.

The series has continued to be successful, with the 2025 animated anthology film Predator: Killer of Killers and the series Predator: Badlands. While Predator: Killer of Killers was a bold attempt, Predator: Badlands demonstrated that a central Predator character could work well within the franchise, and its story further connected the universes of Alien and Predator.

The Predator Franchise Still Has No Streaming Shows

Even though the Predator movies have done well, the franchise hasn’t yet gotten its own streaming series like Alien: Earth. A crossover show with Alien would be a fantastic way to finally bring Predator to television.

Because streaming series are typically longer, these franchises can now deliver the big monster battle fans want without interrupting the action to explain everything. Viewers are used to streaming shows unfolding gradually, especially with shows that build suspense by revealing details slowly.

The lengthy setup and complex backstory wouldn’t matter as much. Plus, with longer episodes, character deaths would feel more meaningful and less gratuitously dark, avoiding the feeling of emptiness seen in movies like Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem.

The Alien franchise works well on smaller screens, as seen with Alien: Earth. An Alien vs. Predator show could build on the recent success of the Predator series, finally bringing that decades-old sci-fi world to television.

Shows like Ash vs Evil Dead and SyFy’s Chucky have successfully brought beloved ‘80s franchises to television, earning positive reviews. With the recent release of Alien: Earth, it’s clear that an Alien vs Predator series would be a great next step. Plus, it could even help improve the reputation of some of the weaker Alien projects.

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2026-04-08 21:01