During an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in Antarctica, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the ... Read allDuring an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in Antarctica, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the team realize that only one species can win.During an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in Antarctica, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the team realize that only one species can win.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 4 nominations
- Boris
- (as Jan Filipensky)
The 'Prey' Cast Answer Burning Questions
The 'Prey' Cast Answer Burning Questions
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn an interview, director Paul W.S. Anderson said that Arnold Schwarzenegger offered to reprise his role as Dutch Schaefer (from Predator (1987)) at the end of this movie as a cameo, but only if he lost the election for California Governor. Schwarzenegger famously won the election, so he was unavailable to appear.
- Goofs(at around 38 mins) Sebastian sets the clock on the sarcophagus to October 10, 2004 - 10/10/2004, because the Aztec calendar was supposedly based on 10's (the decimal system, erroneously called "metric" here). Yet, why would an Aztec civilization set a calendar to align with the Gregorian calendar, which is what our modern calendar is and wasn't developed until centuries later by the Romans? The Aztecs would not recognize what we call "October" as the 10th month.
- Quotes
[Lex discovers Weyland with his respirator]
Alexa 'Lex' Woods: There's no room for sick men on this expedition.
Charles Bishop Weyland: My doctors tell me the worst is behind me.
Alexa 'Lex' Woods: You're not a very good liar, Mr. Weyland. Stay on the ship. We'll update you at the top of every hour.
Charles Bishop Weyland: You know, when you get sick, you think about your life and how you're going to be remembered. You know what I realized would happen when I go? A ten percent fall in share prices. Maybe twelve. And that's it.
Alexa 'Lex' Woods: I've heard this speech before. My dad broke his leg seven hundred feet from the summit of Mount Rainier. He was like you. He wouldn't go back or let us stop. We reached the top and he opened a bottle of champagne. I had my first drink with my dad at 14,400 feet. On the way down, he developed a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his lung. He suffered for four hours before dying twenty minutes from the base.
Charles Bishop Weyland: You think that's the last thing your dad remembers? The pain? Or drinking champagne with his daughter fourteen thousand feet in the air?
[pause]
Charles Bishop Weyland: I need this.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits color and style (green computer text on black) are the same as the display of "Mother," the onboard computer in "Alien," right down to the underlining of important text (in this case, the department titles).
- Alternate versionsIn November 2005 Fox released an 'Unrated Edition' which runs nearly 8 minutes longer than the theatrical version. It features deleted plot and character scenes. It also has some alternative footage and added CGI blood effects. The story is better told. The violence and gore are stronger than in the PG-13 theatrical version.
- ConnectionsFeatured in HBO First Look: 'Alien vs. Predator': Behind the Scenes (2004)
- SoundtracksLa Bamba
Traditional
Courtesy of Extreme Production Music USA
The concept, while intriguing, is not entirely new. Quite recently, Jason (Friday the 13th series) and Freddy (the Nightmare on Elm Street) did battle as studios attempted to milk every last drop of revenue from waning sequels. Three-quarters of a century ago, Universal pictures became what would be the greatest horror film studio with Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, The Mummy, and Creature from the Black Lagoon among others. When it became apparent that each franchise was running its course, the natural thought was to pair their monsters in a showdown. Most prominent was Frankenstein Meets Wolfman. So it is no wonder that a clip from that very film shows up at the beginning of Alien vs. Predator.
Set on present day earth, a satellite detects a thermal event in Antarctica which triggers a hastily assembled scientific expedition financed by the Weyland Corporation. Its enigmatic head is Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) who wants to leave a legacy as his health begins to fail. Sanaa Lathan is the mountain climber/guide who leads the group to the thermal anomaly and discovers an ancient pyramid beneath the deep ice. Unfortunately, the explorers trigger a sequence of events including the birth of new Aliens via the dreaded facehuggers and the arrival of a group of Predator warriors ready for a new hunt. As the body count rises, the Aliens multiply in number and thus a battle royal is ready to commence. Will there be any humans left? How come nobody told the Nostromo crew in the first Alien movie about these critters? And what happened to the Henriksen character's namesake who reappears in the guise of Bishops 1 and 2 in later films? So many questions are left unanswered.
The plot does have plenty of holes and glosses quickly, almost too quickly through the story as characters we barely get to know or want to care about quickly perish. Fans of both film series will appreciate the multitude of references to the Alien life cycle and Predator code. There are a couple of inconsistencies which may nag the purists such as the rapid maturation of the Aliens from egg to adult in record time, and the ease with which the dwindling humans understand the whole scenario. In fact, not only do the humans quickly realize who the Aliens are, namely the ultimate quarry for the Predator hunter warriors, but that human beings have been used like cattle to perpetuate the Aliens every 100 years as game for the returning Predator race. Note that the film Predator 2 hinted at this very concept with a brief glimpse of an Alien skull inside a Predator spaceship. Alien vs. Predator also serves as a kind of prequel to the Alien films and a kind of sequel to the Predator films in its timeline.
Sanaa Lathan is actually good in the role of the guide and it is possible a better script and strong direction would have brought echoes of Ripley from the Alien films of old. The set design of the pyramid is fascinating though confusing with all of its ever changing mazes. The creature effects are not bad though reserved for the latter half of the movie. Director Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon) does a serviceable job here and the PG 13 rating is designed for all those fans of the video games and comics featuring the Alien and Predator battles. Business should be brisk though limited to those loyalists who will find this installment diverting and certainly not the disappointment of Alien 3, or is it we've just lowered the bar a bit more?
- seaview1
- Aug 12, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- AVP
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $60,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $80,282,231
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $38,291,056
- Aug 15, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $177,427,090
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1