In 1987, a year before filmmaker John McTiernan delivered arguably the greatest action movie of all time with Die Hard, he joined forces with two of Hollywood’s action juggernauts at the time, The Terminator’s Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rocky’s Carl Weathers, and brought us the glorious, sci-fi horror actioner known as Predator.
Filled to the brim with skin-peeling, spine-ripping gore, incredible costuming and special effects, and tons of classic Schwarzenegger puns, Predator made more than six times its budget at the box office and went on to spawn a franchise that is still incredibly popular, almost 40 years after the original’s release. Although the franchise has blossomed into video games, comics, and toys, most of its shine still comes from the films, especially since Dan Trachtenberg started directing its films in 2022.
With Trachtenberg preparing for the release of Predator: Badlands, the ninth installment in the Predator franchise that has already shown us it will include lore from the Alien franchise, there’s no better time to rank the other eight entries in the series.
8Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
Undoubtedly the weakest film in the franchise, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem brings the battle of the two sci-fi horror giants to the small town of Crested Butte, Colorado. Like its 2004 predecessor, the film was surprisingly financially successful, garnering $130 million against a $40 million budget. However, money doesn’t mean quality, as the film was roasted for its lack of known acting talent, its messy storyline, and its camerawork being generally too dark to see.
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem did give us some cool scenes featuring the “Predalien” hybrid, which was teased at the ending of the first AvP movie. Some of the CG was extremely well done, the film had some fun kills, and the battles were fun to watch. Unfortunately, a lot of the screentime was taken up by characters no one cared about, and an ending that just didn’t work.
7The Predator (2018)
When fans heard that Shane Black, who played Hawkins in the original Predator film and wrote Lethal Weapon, was directing 2018’s The Predator, they expected it to be a lot better than a movie that felt like a hop, skip, and a jump away from being a parody. The tone becomes a little clearer when you understand that The Monster Squad and Night of the Creeps’ director Fred Dekker was behind the screenplay.
With a comedic-feeling story of a boy accidentally bringing the Yautjas to Earth, The Predator also proved that adding in a ton of great acting talent didn’t matter if the story wasn’t up to par. The cast included Jacob Tremblay, Sterling K. Brown, Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Tom Jane, and Keegan-Michael Key. While the film wasn’t terrible, it just felt extremely generic. It does get kudos for bringing the massive genetically upgraded Yautja to the screen, and a lot of the special effects, suits, and weapons were downright awesome.
6Alien vs. Predator (2004)
The first Alien vs. Predator worked a little better than its sequel because of its cool setting and backstory that involves an ancient civilization and pyramid buried beneath the ground in Antarctica. It also has the benefit of being directed by Event Horizon’s Paul W.S. Anderson and connects the franchises a little better with the inclusion of Charles Bishop Weyland, played by Lance Henriksen, who also played the Bishop android in Aliens.
This film wasn’t without its silliness, especially with the ending team-up of the main character and the Yautja, but it was still the first time we got to see the two monsters do battle on screen, and the exciting delivery of the Predator’s futuristic weapons vs. the Xenomorph’s animalistic ferociousness was something that fans of both franchises had waited on for decades. By no means was Alien vs. Predator a great movie, and maybe not even good, but it’s a fun popcorn movie at its core.
5Predators (2010)
I’ll always feel like Nimród Antal’s Predators never got the love it deserved. It’s still one of the most unique films in the franchise, as it brings a group of badass killers and soldiers to a Yautja game preserve on an unknown planet, rather than taking place on Earth. Aside from the first couple of Predator movies, this one probably does the best job at spreading character development around the entire cast, rather than just focusing on the main character, which isn’t surprising, considering the talents of a cast that included Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Topher Grace, Mahershala Ali, and Danny Trejo.
Seeing each character using their individual skills to fight the Yautjas was so cool, and it gave everyone that first taste of Yautja vs. Japanese warrior that we finally got to see later in Predator: Killer of Killers. Admittedly, some of the characters were cartoonishly silly, but their deaths were celebrated and fun, and we got the first glimpses of the Hell-Hound companions the Yautjas use for hunting. Plus, Adrien Brody’s bulked-up performance as a Schwarzenegger homage is pretty badass when he and the Predator have their final showdown.
4Predator 2 (1990)
At the time of its release, I think Predator 2 had better legs to stand on than it does now. Taking the Predator vs. man to the concrete jungle of Los Angeles during the worst gang activity ever sounds cool on the surface, and folks were plenty excited to see the Predator return, but it ends up with a highly-trained hunter just mowing through a bunch of regular dudes with no tactical fight experience or knowledge of what’s going on.
Related: Guess Who’s Back! ‘Predator 2’ Turns 30
Don’t get me wrong, Danny Glover is fun as the lead. Bill Paxton, Robert Davi, and Gary Busey are entertaining additions of characters that have absolutely no chance against the Yautja. Somewhere among the pointlessly absurd shootout intro and the hilariously-sized prop blunts of the “Jamaican Voodoo Posse” are scraps of neat Predator lore, including a look into their spacecrafts, new weapons like the smart disc, and the reveal that Yautjas don’t just hunt humans (but Xenomorphs from Alien, too!). The best thing Predator 2 has to offer is a great showdown between Glover and the hunter, but otherwise it stays in the middle of the pack.
3Prey (2022)
Dan Trachtenberg’s 2022 Hulu Original, Prey was such a breath of fresh air for the Predator franchise. It takes the setting back to the 1700s and pits a Yautja against Naru (played brilliantly by Amber Midthunder) and her Comanche tribe. Creating a period piece and showing a more primitive version of the Predator was a nice touch, as the weapons were essentially early designs of what we see in later films. Plus, it was pretty sweet seeing a Yautja singlehandedly take on a grizzly bear.
Stylistically, Prey is the most well-made film in the franchise. Jeff Cutter’s environmental cinematography and Sarah Schachner’s incredible score, along with Trachtenberg’s decision to use a mostly Native American cast (with the exception of the French trappers) all add to the movie’s legitimacy of feeling like a period production. Really, Prey only lacks in having memorable characters outside its lead, which is something the original excelled in.
2Predator (1987)
The original Predator and Prey are much closer in quality than you’d think; I’d rank them neck and neck with one another. I give Predator the edge. It was the start of something amazing and probably the best action-sci-fi-horror film ever made, not named Aliens. The film is action-packed from start to finish; it uses the lush, swallowing jungle to its advantage in creating fear of the hunter, and the characters are pretty much all memorable, for better or for worse.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers’ chemistry is off the charts, with their connection (and iconic handshake) still at the core of memes after almost four decades. It’s quotable, scary, fun, intense, and emotional. Granted, a few of the lines don’t hold up in today’s culture (looking at Jesse Ventura’s Blain), every single character plays their part to its best, and because of that, they’re everlasting in the genre.
1Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
Some might say it’s recency bias to rank Predator: Killer of Killers above the OG, but so much more can be done with animation than live action, especially when the story is jumping across times, environments that would be impossible to shoot on film, and effects-heavy, fast-paced, exaggerated battles. Dan Trachtenberg’s follow-up to Prey follows the same kind of idea: pitting the Yautjas against fearsome warriors of their eras and then having them team up.
Related: ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ Review: A ‘Predator’ Fan’s Dream Come True
The Third Floor’s (MCU, Godzilla x Kong) animation (especially the fighting and gore) is incredible, and each anthological story contains amazing character depth. Fans of the franchise finally get to see Yautjas fighting Norse warriors, Japanese warlords, and loyal soldiers from different periods in history. Also, Predator: Killer of Killers goes deeper into the Yautja culture than any other film, answering questions and developing backstory that have never been explored. The ending ties the entire franchise together, and sets things up beautifully for Trachtenberg’s next film, Predator: Badlands.
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