The Alien franchise began all the way back in 1979 with Ridley Scott’s Alien. It would go on to spawn several sequels with different directors and two prequels with Scott. The series was led by Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley for four of its film, a trend which ended after Alien: Resurrection.
The Alien Vs Predator movies were produced.
Disney now owns the rights to both franchises leaving their futures somewhat uncertain, however there has been some mention of both series continuing under the 20th Century Pictures subsidiary. Some films have done amazingly, others less so.
Aliens VS Predator: Requiem (2007) 4.7
The first Alien vs Predator was successful enough to warrant a sequel. which was unfortunately not as well-received as its predecessor. Following the ending of the previous film, a Chestburster emerges from the chest of the fallen Predator, Scar. The Predator/Alien hybrid crash lands in a small town in Colorado, releasing a bunch of Facehuggers.
After a distress beacon is sent to the Predator homeworld, a lone Predator arrives on Earth to clean up the mess, erasing any evidence of the Aliens. The film leads to a climactic battle between the old school Predator and the new Predalien.
The Predator (2018) 5.4
The 2018 film opted to go a different direction, rather than being a direct sequel to 2010’s Predators. It was written and directed by Shane Black, who worked on the original Predator as a script doctor and actor. This film shifts the action back to Earth where Army sniper Quinn McKenna escapes from an encounter with a Predator and sends its helmet to his young son.
McKenna is shipped off with a group of military prisoners who escape captivity to attempt to stop a Predator invasion after McKenna’s son activates a distress beacon.
AVP: Alien vs Predator (2004) 5.6
The first AVP film is a vastly different experience to its sequel and attempts to work as both a prequel and sequel to its respective franchises. Set in a pyramid deep under the ice in Antarctica, a group of experts led by industrialist Charles Bishop Weyland played Alien franchise alumn Lance Henriksen.
The group find a direct tunnel to the pyramid, made earlier by a Predator ship, and make their way inside. They accidentally activate the structure which brings an Alien queen out of cryosleep and she releases eggs. Three Predators arrive, which is when the conflict erupts into an all-out war between three species.
Alien Resurrection (1997) 6.2
Set 200 years after the death of Ellen Ripley in Alien 3, military scientists on the ship Auriga create a clone made of Ripley’s blood for the purpose of harvesting the Alien embryo inside her. The Ripley clone exhibits enhanced strength and reflexes due to her DNA becoming mixed with the Xenomorph.
The scientists use the alien embryo to create new Xenomorph’s which, when fully grown, end up breaking containment, causing a massacre on the ship. Ripley leads a group of mercenaries through the ship as they attempt to escape the carnage.
Predator 2 (1990) 6.3
Released in 1990 but set in 1997, this sequel shifted the action to the streets of Los Angeles, in the midst of a gang war. Danny Glover and Bill Paxton play detectives investigating murders they believe are connected to two rival gangs.
They soon learn that the killer is in fact an alien creature that hunts humans for sport. Gary Busey plays Special Agent Keyes, who attempts to capture the Predator, a role originally written to be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Dutch from the first film.
Predators (2010) 6.4
Predators is very much an ensemble film that includes actors Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo and Lawrence Fishburne. Taking place on an alien planet, this film follows a group of humans waking up as they descended from the sky, unaware of how they got there. The characters all have some background with being killers including mercenaries, soldiers, killers and a doctor (with a dark side).
The group encounters multiple creatures including quadrupeds and three ‘Super’ Predators. At the Predator camp, there is also the original version of the Predator being held captive, which the characters later use as an ally.
Alien Covenant (2017) 6.4
11 years after the events of Prometheus, the colonization ship Covenant diverts its course to investigate another planet that might life. The crew encounters the android David, who explains that Elizabeth Shaw died when their ship crashed on the planet.
It is later learned that the aliens on the planet were created by David through experimentations and he uses a Facehugger to create a new alien, the Xenomorph. David’s ultimate goal is to create a being that would exterminate the human race.
Alien 3 (1992) 6.5
A film that essentially undid everything that Aliens set up by killing off Newt and Hicks, although in the Aliens: Colonial Marines game he is in fact still alive. This movie has the characters crash landing on a prison planet with Ripley being the only survivor and a Facehugger latching onto a dog (or Ox depending on the cut).
A new Xenomorph wreaks havoc through the prison, wiping out all the prisoners and guards. The film ends with Ripley killing herself so that the alien queen embryo inside of her can’t be used by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
Prometheus (2012) 7
In 2012 director Ridley Scott made a return to the Alien universe, in which was pushed as an Alien prequel film that would link to the original. The film follows a crew from Earth aboard the ship Prometheus traveling to a distant planet that appears to home the ascendants of humanity.
The crew finds an ancient structure with cylinders of an unknown substance. The android David sneaks some of the substance into the drink of Elizabeth Shaw’s partner Holloway which leads to an Alien creature growing within her. The main villain of the film is an Engineer and the film ends with an alien creature bursting from its corpse.
Predator (1987) 7.8
The most iconic film in the Predator series stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch, the leader of an elite mercenary group assigned to rescue a foreign official in the jungles of Central America. Unknown to them, an alien creature watches their every move and slowly picks them off, one by one.
Dutch learns that the alien only attacks those with weapons, deducing that the creature is hunting for sport and collecting trophies from each victim. The Predator meets its match in Dutch which leads to a hand to hand fight in the film's climax.
