‘Predator: Badlands’ Has Franchise-Best Box Office Opening

‘Predator: Badlands’ Tops the Box Office With Franchise Record Opening

Dan Trachtenberg’s new visit to the Yautja universe stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in the story of a young Predator’s first hunt.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi on the set of 20th Century Studios' 'Predator: Badlands' film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Preview:

‘Predator: Badlands’ has started in impressive fashion at the box office.
It has earned more than $80 million globally.
Other movies didn’t fare as well.

Looks like audiences were more than ready to get back on the hunt.

‘Predator: Badlands,’ the newest movie featuring the titular alien creatures, soared to the top of the box office this past weekend, earning a healthy $40 million at the box office.

Predator: Badlands

"First hunt. Last chance."

PG-13Adventure Action Science Fiction

Review
Score

Release Date: Nov 7, 2025

Run Time: 1 hr 47 min

Budget: $105,000,000

Starring: Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Rohinal Nayaran

The movie, which was budgeted at $105 million (not counting advertising costs), is the most successful launch for the ‘Predator’ franchise, overtaking the previous record holder, 2004’s franchise crossover ‘Alien vs. Predator.’

It’s the latest success in the series for co-writer/director Dan Trachtenberg, who previously made the likes of ‘Prey’ and the animated ‘Predator: Killer of Killers,’ both of which were well received but were released via Hulu.

How did ‘Predator: Badlands’ do elsewhere?

Thia (Elle Fanning) in 20th Century Studios' 'Predator: Badlands' film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The new ‘Predator’ outing was just as successful outside the States, earning another $40 million for an $80 million global opening. That’s a great start, and points to it reaching profitability.

Here’s Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian on the movie’s success:

“ ‘Predator: Badlands’ shows how unpredictable and dynamic the marketplace can be. All it takes is one over-performance to get the industry back on track. This is a great lead in for what promises to be one of the better months of November for the industry.”

What else happened at the box office this weekend?

(L to R) Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in 'Die My Love'. Photo: Kimberley French/Mubi.

Unfortunately for the box office prospects, ‘Badlands’ was one of the few movies to make much of an impact this week, the rest of the new arrivals limited to less wide releases and awards contenders.

Faith-based entry ‘Sarah’s Oil’ fared best, opening in fourth place with $4.5 million. ‘Nuremberg’, a drama about the historic post-World War II trials, did solid business, landing fifth with $4.1 million, though given its higher-profile and starry cast (Russell Crowe and Rami Malek among them) it likely hoped for more.

Still, stars really couldn’t save Lynne Ramsay’s latest, psychodrama ‘Die My Love.’ Despite Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in the lead roles, the story of post-partum depression and dysfunction tanked with audiences, earning $2.8 million for eighth.

And that’s still better than the Sydney Sweeney-starring boxing biopic ‘Christy’, which couldn’t even crack the top 10, stumbling to 11th with $1.3 million. It’s the latest flop opening for the actor and could well lead to chatter that her rising star status is under serious threat (at least for now).