Predator: Badlands is nearing a record-breaking box office opening weekend in its franchise history.
The third film in 20th Century Studios' and Disney's reboot of the Predator franchise directed by Dan Trachtenberg is on track to gross £28 million ($37-$38.5 million) on its first weekend in theatres.
It is now set to become the highest earning weekend of the film franchise.
Surpassing Expectations
The film was expected to earn around £18 million ($25 million) in its opening weekend, which means it has gained the audiences' approval.
Its momentum has also surpassed Disney's October sci-fi offering Tron: Ares, another franchise installment. Debuting to £11 million ($15 million) in its first screening on Friday, it's clear that the marketing and word-of-mouth is working so far.
Audiences also gave it a CinemaScore of A-, the highest CinemaScore for any standalone Predator film. The previous highs were the original 1987 installment and the 1990 sequel which both earned a B+.
The only other films in the franchise to score an A- are the two mashups with Alien.
Alien vs. Predator debuted to £29 million ($38.4 million) in 2004, which is the highest opening weekend overall for the now nine films of the franchise.
Trachtenberg's Success
10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg was tapped to be at the helm of the reboot and has proved dividends so far in three films.
Badlands is the first of three to be screened in theatres, after 2021's Prey and June's Predator: Killer of Killers both landed on streaming platform Hulu. He paired up with Prey writer Patrick Aison to create the soon-to-be record breaking third installment.
James Cameron's Approval
Not only did Trachtenberg win the audience's vote, but he also got Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron's as well.
Cameron, who also directed Predator sister franchise Aliens, told Trachtenberg in a dinner meeting that he thought whatever he's doing was 'going to work' after the latter explained it in his editing room.
'The blessing of that guy — who has taken on some pretty impossible odds and pulled them off — was absolutely incredible,' Trachtenberg shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
But it wasn't initially what Cameron had thought of the film. It wasn't after seeing one of the final cuts a couple of months after their meeting that he confessed to Trachtenberg that he thought it was going to work.
'He saw the movie a couple months back, and he said, "I have to be honest with you. When I first heard what you were doing, I did not think it was going to work. But holy crap, you pulled it off,"' Trachtenberg recalled.
'He either did not remember that first conversation that meant a whole lot to me, or he really does know what someone in my position needs to hear to get things done. I think it's more the latter,' he added.
This Weekend's Top Five
Following Badlands as the top earners of this weekend's US box office is romance feature Regretting You with £29.4 million ($38.7 million) in its third week. At third is Black Phone 2 with £53.1 million ($70 million) on its fourth week, followed by Sarah's Oil debuting at £3.3 million ($4.4 million) and Nuremberg with a £2.8 million ($3.8 million) opening weekend.
