Alien Vs. Predator (2004 Film)

''Alien vs. Predator'' (stylized as ''AVP: Alien vs. Predator'') is a 2004 science fiction action film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner, Colin Salmon, and Tommy Flanagan. It is the first film installment of the ''Alien vs. Predator'' franchise, adapting a crossover bringing together the eponymous creatures of the ''Alien'' and ''Predator'' series, a concept which originated in a 1989 comic book written by Randy Stradley and Chris Warner. Anderson wrote the story, with the creators of the ''Alien'' franchise, Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett receiving additional story credit due to the incorporation of elements from the ''Alien'' series, and Anderson and Shane Salerno adapted the story into a screenplay. Their writing was influenced by Aztec mythology, the comic book series, and the writings of Erich von Däniken. In the film, scientists are caught in the crossfire of an ancient battle between Aliens and Predators as they attempt to escape a bygone pyramid.

''Alien vs. Predator'' was theatrically released on 12 August 2004. It received generally negative reviews and grossed $177.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $60–70 million. A direct sequel, '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'', was released in 2007.

Plot

In 2004, a Predator ship arrives on Earth and uses a heating device to melt a hole in Antarctic ice. Meanwhile, a satellite detects the heat bloom beneath Bouvetøya, an island about off the coast of Antarctica. Wealthy industrialist Charles Weyland discovers through thermal imaging that there is a pyramid buried beneath the ice. He assembles a team of experts to investigate, including archaeologists, linguists, mercenaries, and a mountaineering guide named Lex Woods. Terminally ill, Weyland desires to claim the discovery in his name.

When the team arrives at the abandoned whaling station, they find a newly made tunnel running directly beneath the ice toward the pyramid. The team descends the tunnel and begins to explore the pyramid, soon finding evidence of an ancient civilization and what appears to be a sacrificial chamber filled with human skeletons that all have ruptured rib cages.

Meanwhile, three Predators ⁠— Scar, Celtic, and Chopper ⁠— arrive and kill the remaining team members on the surface. They make their way down to the pyramid and arrive just as the team unwittingly activates the structure and is trapped within it. The Xenomorph Queen awakens from cryogenic stasis and begins to produce eggs. When the eggs hatch, several facehuggers attach themselves to humans trapped in the sacrificial chamber. Chestbursters emerge from the humans and quickly grow into adult Xenomorphs. The humans take possession of the Predator's blasters, and conflict erupts between the Predators, Xenomorphs, and humans. Celtic and Chopper are killed by a Xenomorph, and Weyland buys Lex and Sebastian De Rosa enough time to escape from Scar, giving his life in the process. The two witness Scar kill a facehugger and a Xenomorph before unmasking and marking himself with the acidic blood of the facehugger. After Lex and Sebastian leave, another facehugger attacks Scar.

Through translation of the pyramid's hieroglyphs, Lex and Sebastian learn that the Predators have been visiting Earth for thousands of years. They taught the early human civilization how to build pyramids and were worshipped as gods. Every 100 years, they visit Earth to take part in a rite of passage by which several humans sacrifice themselves as hosts for the Xenomorphs, creating the "ultimate prey" for the Predators to hunt. As a fail-safe, if overwhelmed, the Predators would activate a self-destruct device to eliminate the Xenomorphs. They deduce that the Predators lured them into the pyramid to use as a sacrifice.

Lex and Sebastian decide that the Predators must be allowed to succeed so that the Xenomorphs do not escape to the surface. Sebastian is captured by a Xenomorph, and Lex returns the blaster to Scar. They are attacked by a Xenomorph, and Lex manages to kill it. Impressed, Scar uses parts of a dead Xenomorph to fashion weapons for Lex, and the two form an alliance. Lex finds Sebastian, who has become the host of a Xenomorph. She mercy kills him, but the Xenomorph Queen is freed from her restraints and, along with the other Xenomorphs, begins pursuing Lex and Scar. Scar detaches and uses a bomb in his wrist module to destroy the pyramid and the remaining Xenomorphs and eggs. Lex and Scar reach the surface, and Scar uses acidic Xenomorph blood to mark Lex with the Xenomorph hunter symbol. However, the Xenomorph Queen reappears and attacks. They defeat the Queen by pushing her over a cliff, pulling her to the ocean floor. Scar is fatally wounded.

A Predator spaceship appears, and its crew retrieves its fallen comrade. An elder Predator presents Lex with a spear as a gift as the spaceship departs. Lex walks over to a snowcat and leaves the area. On the Predator spaceship, Scar's body lies at rest when a Predalien chestburster erupts from his chest.

Cast

* Sanaa Lathan as Alexa "Lex" Woods, an experienced guide who spent several seasons exploring Arctic and Antarctic environments. She is loosely based on Machiko Noguchi from the self-titled quadrilogy.
* Raoul Bova as Professor Sebastian De Rosa, an Italian archaeologist and member of the exploration team who is able to translate the pyramid's hieroglyphs.
* Lance Henriksen as Charles Bishop Weyland, the billionaire head of Weyland Corporation and its subsidiary, Weyland Industries, who organizes the expedition.
* Ewen Bremner as Dr. Graeme Miller, a Scottish chemical engineer, the main scientist of the exploration team.
* Colin Salmon as Maxwell Stafford, assistant to Mr. Weyland and former British Special Forces officer.
* Tommy Flanagan as Mark Verheiden, a member of the armed escort that accompanies the exploration team.
* Carsten Norgaard as Rusten Quinn, head of the drilling team.
* Joseph Rye as Joe Connors, a member of the armed escort that accompanies the exploration team.
* Agathe de La Boulaye as Adele Rousseau, a member of the armed escort that accompanies the exploration team.
* Sam Troughton as Thomas Parks, the second archaeologist of the exploration team, De Rosa's assistant.
* Petr Jákl as Stone, a member of the armed escort that accompanies the exploration team.
* Liz May Brice as The Supervisor at the Nebraska satellite receiving station that detects the heat bloom in Antarctica.
* Karima Adebibe as a Sacrificial Maiden in the flashback to the ancient era.
* Tom Woodruff Jr. as The Alien / "Grid". The Alien played by Woodruff is listed in the film's credits as Grid, referencing crosshatch scars from Predator net constriction in the battle with the Predator called "Celtic".
* Ian Whyte as The Predator / "Scar", one of the three main Predators who come to Earth to create and hunt Aliens within the pyramid as a rite of passage. Whyte played the lead Predator, called Scar in the film's credits due to the Predator marking himself with the Alien's acidic blood. He is loosely based on Dachande from the self-titled quadrilogy.
** Whyte also played the other three Predators: "Chopper", "Celtic" and "Elder" (leader of the Predators at the end of the film).

Production

Fifth ''Alien'' film and sequel

Before 20th Century Fox gave ''Alien vs. Predator'' the greenlight, ''Aliens'' writer/director James Cameron had been working on a story for a fifth ''Alien'' film. '' Alien'' director Ridley Scott had talked with Cameron, stating "I think it would be a lot of fun, but the most important thing is to get the story right." In a 2002 interview, Scott's concept for a story was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created"; this project eventually became Scott's film '' Prometheus'' (2012). On learning that Fox intended to pursue ''Alien vs. Predator'', Cameron believed the film would "kill the validity of the franchise" and ceased work on his story, "To me, that was '' Frankenstein Meets Werewolf''. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other...Milking it." After viewing ''Alien vs. Predator'', Cameron remarked that "it was actually pretty good. I think of the five ''Alien'' films, I'd rate it third. I actually liked it. I actually liked it a lot." Conversely, Ridley Scott had no interest in the ''Alien vs. Predator'' films. When asked in May 2012 if he had watched them, Scott laughed, "No. I couldn't do that. I couldn't quite take that step." Director Neill Blomkamp would eventually go on to pitch his sequel to ''Aliens''. However, Scott stated in 2017 that the project has been cancelled.

Development

The concept of ''Alien vs. Predator'' originated from the ''Aliens versus Predator'' comic book in 1989 and subsequent novelisations and novels. It was also hinted at when an Alien skull appeared in a trophy case aboard the Predator ship in '' Predator 2''. Shortly after the release of ''Predator 2'', ''Predator'' co-writer Jim Thomas discussed the possibilities of a ''Predator'' franchise and commented on the prospect of a crossover film, stating, "I think Predator vs. Alien is a good idea that will probably never happen". Screenwriter Peter Briggs created the original spec screenplay in 1990–1991, which was based on the first comic series. In 1991, he successfully pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox, who owned the film franchises, although the company did not move forward with the project until 2002, although a video game produced by Capcom as a tie-in to the unmade film saw independent release in 1994. The project was delayed chiefly because the studio was working on '' Alien Resurrection''. A draft penned by James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox described as "pretty much word-for-word like the Dark Horse comic book" was rejected by producer John Davis, who hoped to give the film an original approach by setting it on Earth.

As there were six producers between the film franchises, '' Predator'' producer John Davis had difficulty securing the rights as the producers were worried about a film featuring the two creatures. Paul W. S. Anderson pitched Davis a story he worked on for eight years, adapting the Machiko Noguchi series, and showed him concept art created by Randy Bowen. Impressed with Anderson's idea, Davis thought the story was like '' Jaws'' in that it "just drew you in, it drew you in". Anderson started to work on the film after completing the script for '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse'', with Shane Salerno co-writing. Salerno spent six months writing the shooting script, finished its development, and stayed on for revisions throughout the film's production. Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett received story credit on the film based on elements from their work on the original ''Alien''.

Story and setting

Early reports claimed the story was about humans who tried to lure Predators with Alien eggs, although the idea was scrapped. Influenced by the work of Erich von Däniken, Anderson researched von Däniken's theories on how he believed early civilizations were able to construct massive pyramids with the help of aliens, an idea long debunked and based on misinterpretations of Aztec mythology. Anderson wove these ideas into ''Alien vs. Predator'', describing a scenario in which Predators taught ancient humans to build pyramids and used Earth for rite of passage rituals every 100 years in which they would hunt Aliens. To explain how these ancient civilisations "disappeared without a trace", Anderson came up with the idea that the Predators, if overwhelmed by the Aliens, would use their self-destruct weapons to kill everything in the area. H. P. Lovecraft's novella '' At the Mountains of Madness'' (1931) served as an inspiration for the film, and several elements of the ''Aliens vs. Predator'' comic series were included. Anderson's initial script called for five Predators to appear in the film, although the number was later reduced to three.

As ''Alien vs. Predator'' was intended to be a sequel to the ''Predator'' films and prequel to the ''Alien'' series, Anderson was cautious of contradicting continuity in the franchises. He chose to set the film on the remote Norwegian Antarctic island of Bouvet commenting, "It's definitely the most hostile environment on Earth and probably the closest to an Alien surface you can get." Anderson thought that setting the film in an urban environment like New York City would break continuity with the ''Alien'' series as the protagonist, Ellen Ripley, had no knowledge the creatures existed. "You can't have an Alien running around the city now, because it would've been written up and everyone will know about it. So there's nothing in this movie that contradicts anything that already exists."

Casting

The first actor to be cast for ''Alien vs. Predator'' was Lance Henriksen, who played the character Bishop in ''Aliens'' and '' Alien 3''. Although the ''Alien'' films are set hundreds of years in the future, Anderson wanted to keep continuity with the series by including a familiar actor. Henriksen plays billionaire and self-taught-engineer Charles Bishop Weyland, a character that ties in with the Weyland-Yutani Corporation as the original founder and CEO of Weyland Industries. According to Anderson, Weyland becomes known for the discovery of the pyramid, and as a result the Weyland-Yutani Corporation models the Bishop android in the ''Alien'' films after him; "when the Bishop android is created in 150 years time, it's created with the face of the creator. It's kind of like Microsoft building an android in 100 years time that has the face of Bill Gates."

Anderson opted for a European cast including Italian actor Raoul Bova, Ewen Bremner from Scotland, and English actor Colin Salmon. Producer Davis said, "There's a truly international flavor to the cast, and gives the film a lot of character." Several hundred actresses attended the auditions to be cast as the film's heroine Alexa Woods, loosely based on the comic and novel protagonist Machiko Noguchi. Sanaa Lathan was selected, and one week later she flew to Prague to begin filming. The filmmakers knew there would be comparisons to ''Alien'' heroine Ellen Ripley and did not want a clone of the character, but wanted to make her similar while adding something different.

Anderson reported in an interview that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was willing to reprise his role as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaeffer from '' Predator'' in a short cameo appearance if he lost the recall election on condition that the filming should take place at his residence. Schwarzenegger, however, won the election with 48.58% of the votes and was unavailable to participate in ''Alien vs. Predator''. Actress Sigourney Weaver, who starred as Ellen Ripley in the ''Alien'' series, said she was happy not to be in the film, as a possible crossover was "the reason I wanted my character to die in the first place", and thought the concept "sounded awful".

Filming and set designs

Production began in late 2003 at Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czech Republic, where most of the filming took place. Production designer Richard Bridgland was in charge of sets, props and vehicles, based on early concept art Anderson had created to give a broad direction of how things would look. 25 to 30 life-sized sets were constructed at Barrandov Studios, many of which were interiors of the pyramid. The pyramid's carvings, sculptures, and hieroglyphs were influenced by Egyptian, Cambodian, and Aztec civilisations, while the regular shifting of the pyramid's rooms was meant to evoke a sense of claustrophobia similar to the original ''Alien'' film. According to Anderson, if he was to build the sets in Los Angeles they would have cost $20 million. However, in Prague they cost $2 million, an important factor when the film's budget was less than $50 million.

Third scale miniatures several meters in height were created to give the film the effect of realism, rather than relying on computer generated imagery (CGI). For the whaling station miniatures and life-sized sets, over 700 bags of artificial snow were used (roughly 15–20 tons). A 4.5-meter miniature of an icebreaker with working lights and a mechanical moving radar was created, costing almost $37,000 and taking 10 weeks to create. Visual effects producer Arthur Windus, claimed miniatures were beneficial in the filming process: "With computer graphics, you need to spend a lot of time making it real. With a miniature, you shoot it and its there." A scale 25-meter miniature of the whaling station was created in several months. It was designed so the model could be collapsed and then reconstructed, which proved beneficial for a six-second shot which required a re-shoot.

Effects and creatures

Special effects company Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated (ADI) was hired for the film, having previously worked on ''Alien 3'' and ''Alien Resurrection''. Visual special effects producers Arthur Windus and John Bruno were in charge of the project, which contained 400 effects shots. ADI founders Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr. and members of their company, began designing costumes, miniatures and effects in June 2003. For five months the creatures were redesigned, the Predators wrist blades being extended roughly four times longer than those in the ''Predator'' films, and a larger mechanical plasma caster was created for the Scar Predator.

The basic shape of the Predator mask was kept, although technical details were added and each Predator was given a unique mask to distinguish them from each other. These masks were created using clay, which was used to form moulds to create fiberglass copies. These copies were painted to give a weathered look, which Woodruff claims "is what the Predator is all about". A hydraulic Alien puppet was created so ADI would be able to make movements faster and give the Alien a "slimline and skeletal" appearance, rather than using an actor in a suit. The puppet required six people to run it; one for the head and body, two for the arms, and a sixth to make sure the signals were reaching the computer. Movements were recorded in the computer so that puppeteers would be able to repeat moves that Anderson liked. The puppet was used in six shots, including the fight scene with the Predator which took one month to film.

The crew tried to keep CGI use to a minimum, as Anderson said people in suits and puppets are scarier than CGI monsters as they are "there in the frame". Roughly 70% of scenes were created using suits, puppets, and miniatures. The Alien queen was filmed using three variations: a 4.8-meter practical version, a 1.2-meter puppet, and a computer-generated version. The practical version required 12 puppeteers to operate, and CGI tails were added to the Aliens and the queen as they were difficult to animate using puppetry. The queen alien's inner-mouth was automated though, and was powered by a system of hydraulics. Anderson praised ''Alien'' director Ridley Scott's and ''Predator'' director John McTiernan's abilities at building suspense by not showing the creatures until late in the film, something Anderson wanted to accomplish with ''Alien vs. Predator''. "Yes, we make you wait 45 minutes, but once it goes off, from there until the end of the movie, it's fucking relentless".

Music

Austrian composer Harald Kloser was hired to create the film's score. After completing the score for '' The Day After Tomorrow'', Kloser was chosen by Anderson as he is a fan of the franchises. It was recorded in London, and was primarily orchestral as Anderson commented, "this is a terrifying movie and it needs a terrifying, classic movie score to go with it; at the same time it's got huge action so it needs that kind of proper orchestral support."

The score album was released on iTunes on 9 August 2004, and on CD on 31 August 2004 and received mixed reviews. James Christopher Monger of Allmusic thought Kloser introduced electronic elements well, and called "Alien vs. Predator Main Theme a particularly striking and serves as a continuous creative source for the composer to dip his baton in." Mike Brennan of Soundtrack, however, said it "lacks the ingenuity of the previous trilogy (''Alien'') and the ''Predator'' scores, which all shared a strong sense of rhythm in place of thematic content. Kloser throws in some interesting percussion cues ("Antarctica" and "Down the Tunnel"), but more as a sound effect than a consistent motif." John Fallon of JoBlo.com compared it to character development in the film, "too generic to completely engage or leave a permanent impression."

Release

Home media

''Alien vs. Predator'' was released on VHS, DVD, and PSP UMD Movies in North America on 25 January 2005. The DVD contained two audio commentaries. The first featured Paul W. S. Anderson, Lance Henriksen, and Sanaa Lathan, while the second included special effects supervisor John Bruno and ADI founders Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff. A 25-minute "Making of" featurette and a Dark Horse ''AVP'' comic cover gallery were included in the special features along with three deleted scenes from the film. On release, ''Alien vs. Predator'' debuted at number 1 on the Top DVD Sales and Top Video Rental charts in North America.

A two-disc "Extreme Edition" was released on 7 March 2005, featuring behind the scenes footage of the conception, pre-production, production, post-production, and licensing of the film. An "Unrated Edition" was released on 22 November 2005, containing the same special features as the Extreme Edition as well as an extra eight minutes of footage in the film. John J. Puccio of DVD Town remarked that the extra footage contained "a few more shots of blood, gore, guts, and slime to spice things up...and tiny bits of connecting matter to help us follow the story line better, but none of it amounts to much."

Reception

Box office

''Alien vs. Predator'' was released in North America on 13 August 2004 in 3,395 theatres. The film grossed $38.2 million over its opening weekend for an average of $11,278 per theatre, and was number one at the box office. The film spent 16 weeks in cinemas and made $80,282,231 in North America. It grossed $9 million in the United Kingdom, $16 million in Japan, and $8 million in Germany and totalled $97,144,859 at the international box office. This brought the film's worldwide gross to $177,427,090, making it the second highest-grossing film in either the ''Predator'' or ''Alien'' franchises, behind '' Prometheus'', which grossed over $403 million worldwide. It ranks third behind ''Aliens'' and ''Prometheus'' at the domestic box office.

Critical response

On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Rick Kisonak of ''Film Threat'' praised the film stating, "For a big dumb production about a movie monster smackdown, ''Alien vs. Predator'' is a surprisingly good time". Ian Grey of the ''Orlando Weekly'' felt, "Anderson clearly relished making this wonderful, utterly silly film; his heart shows in every drip of slime." Staci Layne Wilson of Horror.com called it "a pretty movie to look at with its grandiose sets and top notch creature FX, but it's a lot like Anderson's previous works in that it's all facade and no foundation." Gary Dowell of '' The Dallas Morning News'' called the film, "a transparent attempt to jumpstart two run-down franchises". Ed Halter of '' The Village Voice'' described the film's lighting for fight sequences as, "black-on-black-in-blackness", while Ty Burr of '' The Boston Globe'' felt the lighting "left the audience in the dark".

Other media

Sequel

A sequel titled ''Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' was released in December 2007.

Related film

A fourth ''Predator'' film, titled ''The Predator'', was released in September 2018, featuring Lex Wood's Xenomorph-bone spear from the conclusion of ''Alien vs. Predator'' on display at Project Stargazer.

Pinball

Zen Studios developed a virtual pinball table based on the premise and setting (though not the plot) of the film, releasing it on 26 April 2016 as an add-on pack for '' Zen Pinball 2'', '' Pinball FX 2'' and '' Pinball FX 3''. Instead of providing a condensed version of the events of the film, the ''Alien vs. Predator'' pinball table features an original storyline that focuses on a Predator's journey to become a seasoned warrior and Alien hunter. The table's score display plays clips from the film itself, while Woods and De Rosa are its announcers, observing and commenting on the Predator's actions with mostly newly recorded voice lines.

See also

* ''Alien'' franchise
* ''Predator'' franchise
* List of action films of the 2000s
* List of horror films of 2004
* List of science-fiction films of the 2000s

References

External links

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Alien vs. Predator Central

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2004 films
20th Century Fox films
Alien vs. Predator (franchise) films
American science fiction action films
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Bouvet Island
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