Predator: Badlands soared to an impressive $40m (£30m) opening over the weekend, exceeding expectations and offering a glimmer of hope amidst a challenging autumn box office.
The sci-fi action film’s strong performance follows what was the worst box office weekend of 2025, facing minimal competition from other new releases. It beat the $38.3m launch of 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, even before accounting for inflation.
Written and directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Predator: Badlands also secured an additional $40m overseas. With a production budget of $105m (£79m), it stands as the most expensive instalment in the series, which began with the original Predator in 1987.
The eighth film in the franchise introduces a novel twist, following a young, outcast predator (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who encounters an android researcher (Elle Fanning) on a remote planet, leading them on an unexpected journey. Critics have responded positively, with the film earning an 85 per cent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore from audiences.
The success of Predator: Badlands comes at a critical time for the film industry. Earlier in the week, AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, reported a substantial $298.2m (£226m) quarterly loss, partly attributed to a lacklustre summer season. The autumn period has proven even tougher, with last month marking the lowest-grossing October in nearly three decades.
While Predator: Badlands thrived, many other new releases struggled to find an audience despite significant star power.
Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, opened with $2.8 million from 1,983 theatres. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, the film for which Mubi reportedly paid 24 million after its Cannes debut, received a poor "D+" CinemaScore. Similarly, Christy, featuring Sydney Sweeney as professional boxer Christy Martin, debuted with $1.3m (£76,000) across 2,011 locations.
However, some smaller releases found modest success.
Sony Pictures Classics’ post-World War II drama, Nuremberg, starring Rami Malek and Russell Crowe, took in $4.1m (£3m) from 2,410 locations.
It was slightly edged by Sarah’s Oil. The film, starring Naya Desir-Johnson as a young Black girl discovering oil on her Oklahoma land allotment in the early 1900s, garnered a rare "A+" CinemaScore and earned $4.5m (£3.4m) from 2,410 locations.
Among the awards hopefuls, Neon’s Sentimental Value made a strong impression. The Cannes prize-winner, directed by Norwegian-Danish filmmaker Joachim Trier and featuring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning in her second film of the weekend, opened in just four cinemas but achieved an impressive $200,000, giving it a $50,000 per-screen average. – the third best of the year.
The strong debut of Predator: Badlands sealed the Walt Disney Co.’s fourth straight year of $4 billion in worldwide ticket sales. It also broke a short streak of disappointments for the studio, including Tron: Ares and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. With potentially two of the biggest box-office hits of the year still to come in Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash, Disney is poised to surpass $5 billion.
