Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 107 minutes
Release Date: November 7th, 2025 (USA)
Studio: 20th Century Studios
Director(s): Dan Trachtenberg
Writer(s): Patrick Aison / Patrick Aison & Dan Trachtenberg (story) / Jim Thomas & John Thomas (characters)

Bring it home.

We’ve seen it before. The runt of the litter whose father would rather dispose of him than risk the potential disgrace of his failure must prove his worth by surviving the most unsurvivable version of their clan’s coming-of-age tradition. But this time the runt is a Yautja, the task is killing an indestructible alien beast, and the former’s guide through the latter’s harsh terrain is a Weyland-Yuntani synthetic. Dan Trachtenberg isn’t breathing new life into the Predator franchise. He’s wielding what makes it great to breathe new life into a familiar genre trope.

Elle Fanning is great as the excitable torso Thia, desperate to make a friend out of a creature she has studied extensively—and thus becomes all the more fascinated with from the ways in which he bucks the usual trends of his species. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi is a formidable protagonist under all the CGI as Dek, his pragmatic one-track ego allowing for some great humor both at his own and others’ expense once his dry sense of humor is found. And who doesn’t love a violently rowdy adolescent showing off to her new BFF in “Bud”?

The plot progressions in Patrick Aison’s script are exactly what you would expect (especially in context with the Alien and Predator mythology), but every betrayal, rescue, and vengeful pursuit is orchestrated to perfection on an emotional and entertainment level. Loved the tag team fight of Thia’s torso and legs against enemy synthetics. Loved Dek’s utilization of every antagonistic environmental flavor on the planet Genna to his advantage. And it’s one case where the tease of a sequel is actually a welcome development. I would like more.

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(L-R) Thia (Elle Fanning) and Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.