Predator: Badlands has claimed its latest box office trophy, and it’s a high-profile head that’s been mounted on its wall this time. Having recently surpassed a John Wick spinoff in its climb up the 2025 box office chart, Predator: Badlands has now overtaken Tron: Ares, Disney’s soft reboot of the Tron franchise starring Jared Leto.
While Wicked: For Good dominated the box office this weekend with a record-setting opening, Predator: Badlands’ domestic box office total managed to climb to $76.2 million. That clears the $73 million that Tron: Ares has earned since its debut and makes Predator: Badlands the 24th-ranked film on the 2025 domestic box office chart.
Related
Predator Movies in Order: The Official Way to Watch Every Film Correctly
With Predator: Badlands hitting theaters, this is the correct order to watch every movie in the Predator franchise.
Predator: Badlands is now just barely below Black Phone 2 ($76.3 million) on the box office chart for the year. After that, it’ll take a significantly larger jump at the box office for the sci-fi movie to overtake animated sequel The Bad Guys 2 ($82.5 million).
This is the latest good news from the box office for Predator: Badlands, which has been a strong performer since its debut. Badlands had the best opening weekend box office gross ever for the Predator franchise, and is the second-highest-grossing Predator movie overall, trailing behind 2018’s The Predator ($160.5 million).
Related
Predator: Badlands’ Ending Officially Makes Franchise History 38 Years Later
Predator: Badlands expands the sci-fi action franchise in exciting new directions, with a crazy ending sequence that teases brand new territory.
Tron: Ares, meanwhile, got a lukewarm reception from critics, though critics have collectively always been less than impressed with the Tron ​​​​​​series. Moviegoers were more forgiving, as has also always been the case, this time drawn in, at least partially, by the standout Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. All that said, Tron: Ares hasn’t made up its production budget, having earned $141.8 million worldwide at a reported cost of $180 million on the low end.
Predator: Badlands Overtakes Tron: Ares at the Box Office
Predator: Badlands received strong reviews, earning a “Certified Fresh” 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Moviegoers liked it even more based on its 95% positive audience score. CBR’s Predator: Badlands review says the film is “a special sci-fi experience of 2025.”
Predator: Badlands flips the script on the established Predator movie template, taking the story off Earth and into the future. The film’s protagonist is a Predator, or Yautja, named Dek, played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatang. Dek gets some help from Elle Fanning’s android Thia as he hunts for an invincible beast on a deadly alien planet.
Prey director Dan Trachtenberg returned to direct Predator: Badlands and is already working on another Predator sequel. While the next installment of the Predator series hasn’t gotten an official greenlight yet, it could see Arnold Schwarzenegger return to the series.
“Obviously, the holy grail of Predator movies would be getting Arnold back in there,” producer Ben Rosenblatt said at the Predator: Badlands premiere. “And it’s always been something in the back of our minds that it would be really great to see him come back to this franchise that he’s made iconic, and that’s made him iconic.
“Arnold and Dan have met a couple of times now,” he continued. “He’s been really interested in what we’re doing. He’s a real fan of what we’ve done so far, from what I understand. And we’re really excited. After Predator: Badlands comes out, we’ll see and have more conversations. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to do something with Arnold, because that would be awesome.”
Predator: Badlands is now playing in theaters.
Release Date
November 5, 2025
Runtime
107 minutes
Director
Dan Trachtenberg
Writers
Dan Trachtenberg, Patrick Aison, John Thomas, Jim Thomas
Producers
Brent O’Connor, John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt
Elle Fanning
Thia / Tessa
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
Dek / Father