Dan Trachtenberg is the hero of the hour as his new movie, Predator: Badlands, is ending the drought at the domestic box office. The movie topped Friday’s chart with a huge $15.6 million, heading for a record domestic opening in the $36 million to $38.5 million range (prerelease tracking had it opening to $25 million for the entire weekend).
The 20th Century and Disney pic is coming well ahead of expectations, thanks to glowing reviews and audience reaction. It is the only Predator film, including the two Alien mash-ups, to earn an A- CinemaScore, while its PostTrak exits are through the roof, including five out of five stars.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Badlands, which he co-conceived with his Prey writer Patrick Aison, blazes a new trail for the now nine-film franchise that began with John McTiernan’s 1987 classic, Predator. The franchise, from producer John Davis, landed at Disney following the Fox merger.
Badlands is guaranteed to score the top opening of the standalone Predator movies, and also has a shot at taking the crown from AVP: Alien vs. Predator, which debuted to $38.4 million in 2004, not adjusted for inflation, to become the top-grossing title in the sci-fi franchise.
Trachtenberg has always surprised, beginning with 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and followed by 2021’s Prey, which streamed on Netflix, and June’s Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated anthology airing on Disney-owned Hulu in June 2025. In this case, he’s made a villainous Predator named Dek, played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, into the protagonist who pairs with Elle Fanning’s Weyland-Yutani synthetic known as Thia. Dek has been discarded by his Yautja clan, and in a last-ditch effort to prove himself, he flies his brother Kwei’s ship to Genna, the most dangerous planet in the universe, to go on an unsanctioned hunt for its most mythical beast. That’s where he meets Thia.
Badlands is guaranteed to score the top opening of the standalone Predator movies, and also has a shot at taking the crown from AVP: Alien vs. Predator, which debuted to $38.4 million in 2004, not adjusted for inflation, to become the top-grossing title in the sci-fi franchise.
Another surprise is the stealth-like performance of Regretting You, the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover book. Now in its third weekend, the female-skewing movie is suddenly making headlines for its staying power. Paramount is estimating it will fall a scant 7 percent to $7.3 million to come in No. 2 despite the entry of a number of new films and finish the weekend with a domestic tally of $38.8 million.
Recently departed Paramount worldwide president of marketing and distribution Mark Weinstock was the driving force behind convincing the prior regime at the studio to distribute the romance, which was financed and produced by Constantin films. He’s also largely responsible for the marketing campaign.
More to come.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
