Alien vs predator

***Alien vs. Predator*** (also known as ***AVP: Alien vs. Predator***) is a 2004 science fiction action film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen and Ewen Bremner. It is the first film installment of the *Alien vs. Predator* franchise, adapting a crossover bringing together the eponymous creatures of the *Alien* and *Predator* series, a concept which originated in a 1989 comic book. Anderson wrote the story together with the creators of the *Alien* franchise, Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, and Anderson and Shane Salerno adapted the story into a screenplay. Their writing was influenced by Aztec mythology, the comic book series, and the writings of Erich von Däniken. In the film, scientists are caught in the crossfire of an ancient battle between Aliens and Predators as they attempt to escape a bygone pyramid.

*Alien vs. Predator* was theatrically released on 12 August 2004 to negative reviews, and grossed $177.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $60 million. A sequel, *Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem*, was released in 2007.

## plot

In 2004, a satellite detects a mysterious heat bloom beneath Bouvetøya, an island about 1,000 mi (1,600 km) off the coast of Antarctica. Wealthy industrialist Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) discovers through thermal imaging that there is a pyramid buried 2,000 ft (610 m) beneath the ice. He attempts to claim it for his multinational communications company, Weyland Industries, a subsidiary of the Weyland Corporation, and assembles a team of experts to investigate. The team includes archaeologists, linguistic experts, drillers, mercenaries, and a guide named Alexa "Lex" Woods (Sanaa Lathan).

As a Predator ship reaches Earth's orbit, it fires an energy beam aimed at the pyramid site. When the team arrives at the abandoned whaling station above the heat source, they find a perfectly circular, unnatural tunnel running directly beneath the ice towards the pyramid. Weyland shows the team satellite images showing that the passage was not there 24 hours ago. The exploration team descend the tunnel and locate the mysterious pyramid and begin to explore it, soon finding evidence of a prehistoric civilization and what appears to be a sacrificial chamber filled with human skeletons. Inexplicably, all the skeletons appear to have ruptured rib cages.

Meanwhile, three Predators – Scar, Celtic and Chopper – arrive and kill the remaining team members on the surface. They make their way down to the pyramid and arrive just as the team unwittingly activates the structure and are trapped within it. The Alien Queen awakes from cryogenic stasis and begins to produce eggs. When the eggs hatch, several facehuggers attach themselves to humans trapped in the sacrificial chamber. Chestbursters emerge from the humans and quickly grow into adult Xenomorphs. Conflict erupts between the Predators, Xenomorphs, and humans, resulting in several deaths. Celtic and Chopper are killed by a Xenomorph, and Weyland buys Lex and Italian archaeologist Sebastian De Rosa (Raoul Bova) enough time to escape from Scar, giving his life in the process. The two witness Scar kill a facehugger and a Xenomorph with a shuriken before unmasking and marking himself with the blood of the facehugger. After Lex and Sebastian leave, another facehugger attaches itself to Scar due to him not wearing his mask.

Through translation of the pyramid's hieroglyphs, Lex and Sebastian learn that the Predators have been visiting Earth for thousands of years. It was they who taught early human civilizations how to build pyramids, and were worshipped as gods. Every 100 years they visit Earth to take part in a rite of passage by which several humans sacrifice themselves as hosts for the Xenomorphs, creating the "ultimate prey" for the Predators to hunt. As a fail-safe, if overwhelmed, the Predators would activate a self-destruct device to eliminate the Xenomorphs and themselves. The two deduce that this is why the current Predators are at the pyramid, and that the heat bloom was a ruse to attract humans to the site for the sole purpose of making new Xenomorphs to hunt.

Lex and Sebastian decide that the Predators must be allowed to succeed in their hunt so that the Xenomorphs do not escape to the surface. Sebastian is captured by a Xenomorph, leaving only Lex and Scar to fight the Xenomorph. Scar uses parts of a dead Xenomorph to fashion weapons for Lex and the two form an alliance. The Xenomorph Queen, using her own acidic blood, is freed from her restraints and, along with the other Xenomorphs, begins pursuing Lex and Scar. Just as they are about to escape, Scar detaches and uses a bomb in his wrist module to destroy the pyramid and the remaining Xenomorphs and eggs. Lex and Scar reach the surface, however the Xenomorph Queen has survived and continues chasing them. They defeat the Queen by hooking her chains to the whaling post's water tank and pushing it over a cliff, dragging her to the ocean floor. Scar, however, had been impaled by the Xenomorph Queen's tail and succumbs to his wounds, dying.

A Predator ship uncloaks and several Predators appear. They retrieve their fallen comrade and an elite Predator presents Lex with one of their spear weapons as a gift. The other Predators recognize her skill as a warrior by the symbol that Scar burned on her cheek before he died, using alien blood. The Predators' spaceship flies off, leaving Lex behind. Lex walks over to a snowcat and leaves the area. The Predators leave Scar's body on a plinth in front of a window on the ship. Moments later, a Predalien with Alien and Predator traits erupts from Scar's chest, leading into the events of *Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem*.