Alien vs. Predator (film)
Alien vs. Predator (stylized as AVP: Alien vs. Predator) is a 2004 science fiction action horror film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner, Colin Salmon, and Tommy Flanagan. It is the first film installment of the Alien vs. Predator franchise, the fifth film in the Alien franchise and third film of the 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 written by Randy Stradley and Chris Warner. Anderson wrote the story, with the creators of the Alien franchise, Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett receiving additional story credit due to the incorporation of elements from the Alien series, 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
Paul W. S. Anderson
- Paul W. S. Anderson
- Dan O'Bannon
- Ronald Shusett
David Johnson
Alexander Berner
- 12 August 2004 (International)
- 13 August 2004 (United States)
100 minutes
English
$177.4 million[7]
Alien vs. Predator was theatrically released on 12 August 2004. It received generally negative reviews and grossed $177.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $60–70 million. A direct sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, was released in 2007.
Plot[edit]
A Predator ship arrives on Earth and uses a heating device to melt a hole in Antarctic ice. Meanwhile, a satellite detects the heat bloom beneath Bouvetøya, an island about 1,000 mi (1,600 km) off the coast of Antarctica. Wealthy industrialist Charles Weyland discovers through thermal imaging that there is a pyramid buried 2,000 ft (610 m) beneath the ice. He assembles a team of experts to investigate, including archaeologists, linguists, mercenaries, and a mountaineering guide named Lex Woods. Terminally ill, Weyland desires to claim the discovery in his name.
When the team arrives at the abandoned whaling station, they find a newly made tunnel running directly from the ice’s surface toward the pyramid beneath. The team descends the tunnel and begins to explore the pyramid, soon finding evidence of an ancient civilization and what appears to be a sacrificial chamber filled with human skeletons that all 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 is trapped within it. The Xenomorph Queen awakens 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. The humans take possession of the Predator's blasters, and conflict erupts between the Predators, Xenomorphs, and humans. Celtic and Chopper are killed by a Xenomorph, and Weyland buys Lex and Italian archaeologist Sebastian De Rosa enough time to escape from Scar, giving his life in the process. The two witness Scar kill a facehugger and a Xenomorph before unmasking and marking himself with the acidic blood of the facehugger. After Lex and Sebastian leave, another facehugger attacks Scar.
Through translation of the pyramid's hieroglyphs, Lex and Sebastian learn that the Predators have been visiting Earth for millennia. They taught the early human civilization how to build pyramids and were worshipped as gods. Once a century, 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. They deduce that the Predators lured them into the pyramid to use as a sacrifice.
Lex and Sebastian decide that the Predators must be allowed to succeed so that the Xenomorphs do not escape to the surface. Sebastian is captured by a Xenomorph, and Lex returns the blaster to Scar. They are attacked by a Xenomorph, and Lex manages to kill it. Impressed, Scar uses parts of a dead Xenomorph to fashion weapons for Lex, and the two form an alliance. Lex finds Sebastian, who has become the host of a Xenomorph. She mercy kills him, but the Xenomorph Queen is freed from her restraints and, along with the other Xenomorphs, begins pursuing Lex and Scar. Scar detaches and uses a bomb in his wrist module to destroy the pyramid and the remaining Xenomorphs and their eggs. Lex and Scar reach the surface, and Scar uses acidic Xenomorph blood to mark Lex with the Xenomorph hunter symbol. However, the Xenomorph Queen reappears and attacks. They defeat the Queen by hooking her chains to a water tank and pushing her over a cliff so that she sinks to the ocean floor under the tank's weight. Scar is fatally wounded.
A Predator spaceship appears, and its crew retrieves its fallen comrade. An elder Predator presents Lex with a spear as a gift as the spaceship departs. Lex walks over to a snowcat and leaves the area. On the Predator spaceship, Scar's body lies at rest when a Predalien chestburster erupts from his chest.
Production[edit]
Fifth Alien film and sequel[edit]
Before 20th Century Fox gave Alien vs. Predator the greenlight, Aliens writer/director James Cameron had been working on a story for a fifth Alien film. Alien director Ridley Scott had talked with Cameron, stating "I think it would be a lot of fun, but the most important thing is to get the story right."[9] In a 2002 interview, Scott's concept for a story was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created"; this project eventually became Scott's film Prometheus (2012). On learning that Fox intended to pursue Alien vs. Predator, Cameron believed the film would "kill the validity of the franchise" and ceased work on his story, "To me, that was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other...Milking it."[10] After viewing Alien vs. Predator, Cameron remarked that "it was actually pretty good. I think of the five Alien films, I'd rate it third. I actually liked it. I actually liked it a lot."[10] Conversely, Ridley Scott had no interest in the Alien vs. Predator films. When asked in May 2012 if he had watched them, Scott laughed, "No. I couldn't do that. I couldn't quite take that step."[11] Director Neill Blomkamp would eventually go on to pitch his sequel to Aliens.[12] However, Scott stated in 2017 that the project has been cancelled.[13]
Development[edit]
The concept of Alien vs. Predator originated from the Aliens versus Predator comic book in 1989 and subsequent novelisations and novels. It was also hinted at when an Alien skull appeared in a trophy case aboard the Predator ship in Predator 2.[14] Shortly after the release of Predator 2, Predator co-writer Jim Thomas discussed the possibilities of a Predator franchise and commented on the prospect of a crossover film, stating, "I think Predator vs. Alien is a good idea that will probably never happen".[15] Screenwriter Peter Briggs created the original spec screenplay in 1990–1991, which was based on the first comic series.[14] In 1991, he successfully pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox, who owned the film franchises, although the company did not move forward with the project until 2002; a video game produced by Capcom as a tie-in to the unmade film saw independent release in 1994.[16] The project was delayed chiefly because the studio was working on Alien Resurrection.[17] A draft penned by James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox described as "pretty much word-for-word like the Dark Horse comic book" was rejected by producer John Davis, who hoped to give the film an original approach by setting it on Earth.[18]
As there were six producers between the film franchises, Predator producer John Davis had difficulty securing the rights as the producers were worried about a film featuring the two creatures. Paul W. S. Anderson pitched Davis a story he worked on for eight years, adapting the Machiko Noguchi series, and showed him concept art created by Randy Bowen.[19] Impressed with Anderson's idea, Davis thought the story was like Jaws in that it "just drew you in, it drew you in".[20] Anderson started to work on the film after completing the script for Resident Evil: Apocalypse, with Shane Salerno co-writing. Salerno spent six months writing the shooting script, finished its development, and stayed on for revisions throughout the film's production.[21] Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett received story credit on the film based on elements from their work on the original Alien.[22][23]
Release[edit]
Home media[edit]
Alien vs. Predator was released on VHS, DVD, and PSP UMD Movies in North America on 25 January 2005.[43] The DVD contained two audio commentaries. The first featured Paul W. S. Anderson, Lance Henriksen, and Sanaa Lathan, while the second included special effects supervisor John Bruno and ADI founders Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff. A 25-minute "Making of" featurette and a Dark Horse AVP comic cover gallery were included in the special features along with three deleted scenes from the film. On release, Alien vs. Predator debuted at number 1 on the Top DVD Sales and Top Video Rental charts in North America.[44][45]
A two-disc "Extreme Edition" was released on 7 March 2005, featuring behind the scenes footage of the conception, pre-production, production, post-production, and licensing of the film. An "Unrated Edition" was released on 22 November 2005, containing the same special features as the Extreme Edition as well as an extra eight minutes of footage in the film. John J. Puccio of DVD Town remarked that the extra footage contained "a few more shots of blood, gore, guts, and slime to spice things up...and tiny bits of connecting matter to help us follow the story line better, but none of it amounts to much."[46]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Alien vs. Predator was released in North America on 13 August 2004 in 3,395 theatres. The film grossed $38.2 million over its opening weekend for an average of $11,278 per theatre, and was number one at the box office. The film spent 16 weeks in cinemas and made $80,282,231 in North America.[47] It grossed $9 million in the United Kingdom, $16 million in Japan, and $8 million in Germany and totalled $97,144,859 at the international box office. This brought the film's worldwide gross to $177,427,090, making it the second highest-grossing film in either the Predator or Alien franchises, behind Prometheus, which grossed over $403 million worldwide.[48] It ranks third behind Aliens and Prometheus at the domestic box office.[49]
Critical response[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 22% of 146 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Gore without scares and cardboard cut-out characters make this clash of the monsters a dull sit."[50] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[51] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[52]
Rick Kisonak of Film Threat praised the film stating, "For a big dumb production about a movie monster smackdown, Alien vs. Predator is a surprisingly good time".[53] Ian Grey of the Orlando Weekly felt, "Anderson clearly relished making this wonderful, utterly silly film; his heart shows in every drip of slime."[54] Staci Layne Wilson of Horror.com called it "a pretty movie to look at with its grandiose sets and top notch creature FX, but it's a lot like Anderson's previous works in that it's all facade and no foundation."[55] Gary Dowell of The Dallas Morning News called the film, "a transparent attempt to jumpstart two run-down franchises".[56] Ed Halter of The Village Voice described the film's lighting for fight sequences as, "black-on-black-in-blackness",[57] while Ty Burr of The Boston Globe felt the lighting "left the audience in the dark".[58]