Alien vs. Predator (stylized on-screen as AVP: Alien vs. Predator) is a 2004 science fiction horror film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It is the first installment in the Alien vs. Predator franchise and stars Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner, Colin Salmon, and Tommy Flanagan. In the film, an expedition team is caught in the crossfire of an ancient battle between Aliens and Predators as it attempts to escape a pyramid buried beneath Bouvet Island.

It adapts a crossover bringing together the 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.

Alien vs. Predator was theatrically released by 20th Century Fox on 13 August 2004. The film received generally negative reviews from critics but was a commercial success, grossing $177.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $60–70 million. It has garnered a cult following. Due to the film's commercial success, the film was followed by a sequel titled Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem; the sequel was released in 2007 to similarly negative critical reception.

Plot

A satellite detects a heat bloom beneath Bouvet Island, an island about off the coast of Antarctica. Wealthy industrialist Charles Bishop 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 mountaineering guide Lex Woods. Terminally ill, Weyland desires to claim the discovery in his name. Meanwhile, a Predator ship arrives at Earth and uses a heating device to melt a hole in the ice.

When the team arrives at the abandoned whaling station, they find a newly made tunnel running directly from the ice's surface toward the pyramid beneath. 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. A captured Xenomorph Queen is awakened from cryogenic stasis and begins to produce eggs. When the eggs hatch, several facehuggers attach themselves to several of the team members trapped in the sacrificial chamber. Chestbursters emerge from the humans and quickly grow into adult Xenomorphs. The humans take possession of the Predators' Plasmacasters, and conflict erupts between the Predators, Xenomorphs, and humans. Chopper is killed by a Xenomorph named Grid, and after an intense battle, Celtic is killed too. Weyland buys Lex and Italian archaeologist Sebastian De Rosa enough time to escape from Scar, who initially spares him due to his illness. After attempting to challenge Scar by using a flare and his oxygen breather as a makeshift flamethrower, Weyland is killed. The two witness Scar kill a facehugger and a Xenomorph before unmasking and marking both his mask and forehead 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 millennia. They taught the early human civilization how to build pyramids and were worshipped as gods. Once a century, 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 Grid, and Lex gives Scar a Plasmacaster. They are attacked by a Xenomorph, and Lex manages to kill it. Impressed, Scar uses parts of the alien's corpse to fashion a sword and shield for Lex, and the two strike up an alliance. Lex finds Sebastian, who has become the host of a Xenomorph. She mercy kills him with a pistol, but the Xenomorph Queen is freed from her restraints and, along with the other Xenomorphs, begin to pursue Lex and Scar. Scar detaches and uses the bomb in his Wrist Gauntlet to destroy the pyramid and the remaining Xenomorphs and their eggs. Lex and Scar reach the surface, and Scar uses acidic Xenomorph blood to mark Lex with the Xenomorph hunter symbol. The Xenomorph Queen reappears and attacks them, but they defeat the Queen by hooking her chains to a water tank and pushing her over a cliff to sink to the ocean floor under the tank's weight; Scar is mortally wounded in the battle when the Queen impales him through the back with her tail.

A Predator spaceship appears, and its crew retrieves its fallen comrade. An elder Predator sees the hunter scar on Lex's face and gives her his 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 is placed at rest in front of a window by his comrades 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 four-book series. 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 ex-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". Woodruff Jr. and his Amalgamated Dynamics partner Alec Gillis also have uncredited cameos as technicians in the satellite tracking station. 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 book series. 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; 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, 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