‘Predator: Badlands’ Immediately Tops the Streaming Charts

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Look, as a fan of action and sci-fi, I know a lot of us immediately check the rating before diving into a new movie, especially with franchises known for their over-the-top violence. Think about Die Hard, Terminator, RoboCop, The Expendables – they all thrived when they went all-in on the brutality, and suffered when they pulled back. But Predator is proving to be different. Their new Hulu release, Predator: Badlands, is rated PG-13, and honestly, it’s a huge hit – it’s already at the top of the streaming charts, which is a really interesting sign that they’ve found a sweet spot.

Data from FlixPatrol shows that Predator: Badlands launched on Hulu on February 12th and immediately became the most popular title on the platform. It also reached number one on Disney+ in many countries outside the US. This success isn’t unexpected, as the film performed well in theaters, earning $184 million worldwide – making it the highest-grossing Predator movie to date.

Was ‘Predator: Badlands’ Too Tame?

It’s always a challenge for filmmakers when they try to make a less intense version of a famously violent story to get a wider audience. The original Predator movies were known for their graphic action, but Badlands isn’t the first in the series to receive a PG-13 rating—the Alien vs. Predator crossover film earned that rating first. Despite receiving only 21% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, Alien vs. Predator was a financial success, earning $177.4 million worldwide.

While Badlands doesn’t have the same level of graphic human violence as previous films in the series, it’s definitely not suitable for children, despite its PG-13 rating. It avoids explicit language and sexual content, which would earn an R rating, but still features plenty of intense and shocking scenes, including decapitations and eviscerations. The film gets away with this because the setting is in space – the gore comes from alien creatures and robots, which the MPA doesn’t consider as intensely violent as human bloodshed.

Director Dan Trachtenberg isn’t alone in cleverly working around MPA ratings rules. Quentin Tarantino famously filmed the most violent parts of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 in black and white to avoid an NC-17 rating – removing the color red made the violence seem less graphic. Similarly, Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn used green blood for its vampires, also to lessen the impact and avoid a more restrictive rating.

What Comes Next for ‘Predator’?


20th Century Studios

After some disappointments with the 2018 film The Predator, the series has seen a resurgence in popularity. Director Trachtenberg revitalized the franchise with Prey in 2022, a streaming release featuring a battle between a Predator and a Comanche warrior defending her tribe. Prey received some of the best reviews in the series’ history, leading to Trachtenberg directing the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, showcasing Predators fighting warriors across different time periods and cultures, and most recently, Badlands.

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The Predator movies and shows are currently enjoying a surge in popularity, but as of now, there aren’t any official plans for new installments. Given the recent success of Prey and Badlands, it’s clear the franchise isn’t finished, though rumors of sequels to those titles haven’t been officially confirmed.

Just recently, Trachtenberg signed a three-year contract with Paramount Pictures. While he doesn’t have any immediate plans to direct a new Predator film, he’s still actively working on developing future projects.

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2026-02-16 23:09