Alien, Predator Get It On!
By Josh Grossberg (E! Online Movies)
Forget Godzilla vs. Mothra. A far nastier fight is brewing on the big screen.
Can you say Alien vs. Predator?
The long-in-development flick combining two of Hollywood's baddest space-monster franchises looks like it's finally getting off the drawing board.
Resident Evil director Paul Anderson has been tapped to direct the film for 20th Century Fox, Daily Variety reports.
The tussle should be a good one. Introduced in 1979's Alien, the jaw-dropping, acid-blooded insectoid race probably would have taken over the universe by now if it wasn't for the heroic efforts of Sigourney Weaver. And Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly had his butt kicked before thwarting the human-hunting, Rasta-like warrior in 1987's Predator.
The idea of pitting the two evil E.T.s against each other initially came from Dark Horse Comics, which published an "Aliens vs. Predator" comic book in 1990.
The series proved to be a hit, attracting the attention of Fox execs. In 1999, Fox Interactive had a huge videogame hit with Aliens vs. Predator -- gamers had the choice of playing an alien, a predator or a plucky space marine -- and which recently spawned the sequel, Aliens vs. Predator 2.
Still, the Alien vs. Predator film has remained on the drawing board at Fox for more than a decade, with several scripts coming and going, and producers of both Alien and Predator choosing to keep their franchises separate. (About the closest we've come to the battle royale was a brief shot of an alien skull among the trophy collection of the predator in 1990's Predator 2.)
Now, Fox is eager to breathe some life into both franchises. While the Ridley Scott-helmed original Alien earned a solid $79 million domestically in 1979 and James Cameron's 1986 Aliens grossed $85.2 million, the latter two installments underwhelmed. David Fincher's Alien3 pulled in just $55.5 million in 1993 and Jean-Paul Jeunet's Alien: Resurrection did about $48 million domestically. Likewise, the first Predator earned nearly $60 million in North America, while its sequel managed just $30.7 million.
July 15, 2002