Predator: Badlands — Disney’s Boldest Hunt Yet

“I can survive on my own — but who would want to survive on their own?”

Disney’s streak of reviving 20th Century Studios’ old franchises into box office gold continues with Predator: Badlands, the first theatrical Predator film in nearly a decade.

Like a modern Frankenstein, Disney has stitched life back into Fox’s graveyard of dormant franchises — Planet of the Apes, X-Men, The Omen, Alien, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, Avatar — and Badlands proves they can do it again. The numbers speak for themselves: an $80 million global opening weekend and glowing reactions from both fans and critics.

So what’s the secret? Simple — Badlands is nothing like what you’d expect from a Predator movie.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers), this installment reimagines the franchise as a PG-13 sci-fi action–adventure and coming-of-age story. It’s a surprising turn from the blood-soaked, macho mayhem the series is known for — and that’s exactly what makes it work.

The film follows Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a runt Yautja — the Predator species — who sets out to prove himself by hunting a legendary beast on one of the galaxy’s most dangerous planets. Things go south fast when he crash-lands, stripped of his weapons and survival gear.

Enter Thia (Elle Fanning), a relentlessly upbeat Synthetic (android) who saves his life despite being literally torn in half. Thia reveals that the same creature Dek is hunting is also being targeted by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation — yes, that Weyland-Yutani, from the Alien universe — as part of its sinister bio-weapons program.

Joined by an adorably vicious alien critter named Bud, Dek and Thia set off across the hostile world, putting them on a collision course with Thia’s cold-blooded “sister” Tessa (also played by Fanning) and, of course, the apex creature at the center of it all — the Kalisk.

At its heart, Badlands is a story about three outcasts learning to embrace what makes them different, even when their world tells them not to.

In one standout moment, Thia explains to Dek that on Earth, wolf packs are led not by the best killer, but by the one who protects the pack. Dek deadpans that he’ll be an Alpha who still gets a lot of killing done — and he delivers on that promise.

Despite the PG-13 rating, Badlands doesn’t skimp on the action. Trachtenberg cleverly sidesteps gore by focusing the carnage on Synthetic enemies. With their milky-white “blood” and strange, egglike innards, the androids are dismembered in all kinds of inventive ways that keep things thrilling without crossing into R-rated territory.

The final act sees Dek using the planet’s ecosystem as his arsenal: “blade grass” sharpened into weapons, an acid-spitting fish as a shoulder cannon, exploding leeches as bombs. It’s inventive, kinetic, and thematically perfect — Dek has become not just a Predator, but his own kind of hunter.

The emotional core of the movie lands thanks to the trio’s chemistry. Dek, Thia, and Bud are easy to root for, and by the time the final battle arrives, it’s surprisingly moving.

Elle Fanning’s dual performance as Thia and Tessa is stellar — a deliberate nod to Michael Fassbender’s twin android roles in Alien: Covenant. Thia is the film’s heart, the Donkey to Dek’s Shrek; Tessa, her ruthless foil, could have stepped straight out of an anime. Fanning sells both sides flawlessly.

As Dek, Schuster-Koloamatangi gives an expressive, physical performance that lets the audience empathize with a character who never speaks a word of English — something no other Predator film has managed this well.

Sure, franchise purists may grumble about “Disney-fying” Predator, but sitting in a packed Sunday matinee in Tonkawa surrounded by kids who cheered, gasped, and laughed, it was clear Badlands hits its target audience squarely. It’s easy to imagine those same kids going home and “playing Predator” in the backyard, just as a previous generation once did.

Franchises fade when they stagnate. They survive when they evolve. Predator: Badlands isn’t afraid to take risks — and in doing so, it keeps the hunt alive for a new generation.

Bold, creative, and surprisingly heartfelt, Badlands reminds us that finding your pack sometimes means making your own.