Despite both properties being owned by the same studio and residing in an industry where franchises are of the utmost importance, it took a remarkable 25 years for Alien vs. Predator to make it to the big screen. When it did, it would be fair to say the wait absolutely wasn’t worth it.
The iconic sci-fi creatures first squared off in a 1989 comic book series, which was then followed by novelizations. Predator 2 dropped the first real hint that a live-action version was on the table with an Easter Egg of a Xenomorph skull, but there were still a handful of video games and further printed media to follow before Paul W.S. Anderson’s action-packed sci-fi blockbuster arrived in the summer of 2004.
It may have earned a stellar $177 million at the box office, but a 22 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and 39 percent audience approval rating leads us to believe that its commercial success was based more on novelty and nostalgia than the actual merits of the film itself, especially when a bloodless PG-13 rating immediately neutered one of the most-anticipated aspects of AvP.
That being said, Anderson’s effort is a damn sight better than the wretched Requiem, which managed to establish itself as one of the worst sequels, reboots, and crossovers ever made all at once. There’s not a lot to recommend about Alien vs. Predator, then, but that’s of no notice to streaming subscribers, with FlixPatrol revealing the turgid waste of time to be one of the most-watched movies on Rakuten this week.
