Alien and Predator

Alien and Predator are a series of science fiction franchises owned by 20th Century Fox that focus on a group of extra-terrestrial creatures (the Xenomorphs and Yautjas) who terrorize humanity for their own reasons: one to continue their parasitic matriarchal lifespan and the other who hunts for the thrill of the sports. Sometimes, they end up getting in crossover duels between each other with many of the humans unfortunately getting caught between the crossfire.

## **Summary**

On May 25th 1979, Ridley Scott released one of the most iconic films in his filmography known as *Alien*: a movie about the crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo who receive a distress signal from a derelict planet only to find a mysterious life-form that goes through a series of bizarre life cycles and kills each passsenger one by one. The movie was a smash success with the box office and critics thanks to its perfect blending of “wondrous” science fiction and “suspenseful” horror, along with its protagonist, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), breaking gender norms and stereotypes.  In 1985, James Cameron was chosen to direct a sequel to the movie named Aliens where 57 years after the first movie and being woken from hypersleep, Ellen Ripley returns to the “already colonized” planet where the conflict first happened, but is accompanied by a military unit of space marine soldiers. The movie was met with critical acclaim and was a box office success (even if it didn’t make as much as the first movie). Two more sequels were made with Alien 3 (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997), though they aren’t as well remembered as the first two. Decades later, Ridley Scott would return to the franchise where he released two prequels to the franchise: Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) which had mixed reviews for the most part, but are still financial successes.

On June 12th 1987, a hybrid film of the science fiction, action, and horror genres named *Predator* was released where an elite paramilitary dispatch team originally sent on a mission to save hostages from the guerilla-held territory of Central America find themselves being targeted one after the other by a technologically advanced alien named the Predator. It’s up to the squadron’s leader, Dutch Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), to face off against the “stalking creature” using his own wits and survival instincts. While initially met with mixed-to-negative reviews, it has since been reappraised as a classic of the action genre and was a box office success with $98.3 million.  A sequel was released on November 21st 1990 which takes place ten years after the first film; another one of the Predator hunters lands in Los Angeles where a big crime war is taking place between the city’s police department and the crime-lord kingpin’s men. Soon enough, the Predator kills off people from each faction and its up to Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover). Predator 2 received generally mixed reviews and despite financial success, failed to live up the profits of the first movie as it only grossed $57 million. Two more sequel/reboots would be released with Predators (2010) and The Predator (2018) that were mostly box-office hits with mild reception to say the least.

Several *Alien vs. Predator* comic books, video games, and even toylines were made as far back as the 1990’s, but their first on-screen battle was released to theaters in 2004 by Paul W.S. Anderson where a group of scientists researching an ancient pyramid on the Bouvet Island are caught in the crossfire between the two opposing creatures. It was a financial success, but reviews were highly negative on account of its dialogue, overly-fast pacing, and toned down violence.  A sequel named *Alien vs. Predator: Requiem* where a Predator ship crash-lands in a forest outside of Gunnison, Colorado as a Xenomorph-Yautja hybrid named the Predalien escapes to cause mayhem and havoc. A skilled, veteran known as “Wolf” is dispatched to eliminate the threat while the townspeople prepare for the coming storm of carnage. AVP:R was still a financial success, but got even more bad press due to its unoriginality, incoherent editing, and extremely dark lighting that made it impossible to see the action.

## **Toylines**

Despite their highs and lows, both *Alien* and *Predator* are one of the most influential franchises when it comes to the science fiction-horror genre as they inspired properties like *Metroid, Contra, Dead Space*, and many others. They’ve had plenty of toylines over the years that were once catered towards younger audience, but are now generally marketed as adult collectibles. These links will take you some of the toylines that never got realized or at least ended up much more different than the final product:

* Kenner/Hasbro
* Palisades
* LEGO Collectible Minifigures

## **References**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien\_(film)
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator\_(film)
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien\_vs.\_Predator\_(film)