Can Predator 5 Save A Franchise Which Is Turning Into A Failure?

We have already seen several reboots of the Predator films and now the audiences are going to get treated by Predator 5 which will be premiering on Hulu, instead of a theatrical release – which also goes on to prove how much of a failure the franchise has turned out to be. Predator 5 is titled as Prey, is set about 300 years ago in the times of Comanche Nation. It follows the story of Naru, played by Amber Midthunder who is forced to protect her tribe against a predator. Directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane’s Dan Trachtenberg, the script of Predator 5 is written by Tom Clancy’s Patrick Aison.

Is the Predator franchise turning into a failure?

The Predator franchise has survived long but its recent films have always seemed to deliver short. 1987’s Predator was a hit, grossing a whopping $98 million on a $20 million budget. Unfortunately, the film’s sequels haven’t really been as successful. 1990’s Predator 2, which was a follow-up to the original film was a box office disaster, making less than $60 million. The installments that followed didn’t gain much attention either until 2010’s reboot Predators which went on to make $127 million at the box office. In 2018, another installment came into production with director Shane Black, titled The Predator, but extensive reshoots, behind-the-scenes drama, and some disastrous CGI plagued the film, turning it into a box office and critical disappointment.

Now, as Predator 5 is set to make its way on Hulu, it looks like the franchise is finally accepting that things didn’t go as planned, eventually turning it into a failure. The project was announced during the recently held Disney+ Day with a release date in 2022. While all the previous installments premiered in the theaters, this announcement came as a surprise to many fans.

Can Predator 5 find success on Hulu?

Disney has been slightly skeptical about theatrical releases lately which proves that it doesn’t have enough confidence in Predator 5. Going by its earlier announcement, Disney will release the rest of its 2021 films in the theaters despite the COVID pandemic. Theaters, after all, are a better way to judge a films’ success and Disney’s popularity has shown that it can survive the uncertainty of the ongoing pandemic. There’s another advantage of releasing films in theaters that it helps in avoiding unnecessary financial situations – like the one that happened with Black Widow. Before this announcement, Predator was considered as a big franchise, however, a streaming release relegates the standard of the franchise.

However, keeping in mind that the bar for entry that streaming platforms allow is quite lower for viewers than for those going to theaters which allow streamers to constantly make more surprise releases and hits, for example, Netflix’s recent hit series Squid Game. So, it’s still quite a possibility that Predator 5 can do well on Hulu and if it does, it will definitely help in rejuvenating the franchise which could result in more future films.