Predator: Badlands Already a Box Office Disaster? Tracking Now Points to Trouble

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Initially, Predator: Badlands seemed poised to avoid the fate of previous films in the series, with a promising start at the box office. However, recent viewership numbers suggest the film is now struggling and may not perform as well as hoped.

The movie earned $40 million domestically and $39.2 million internationally, totaling $79.2 million worldwide (reaching $88.5 million by Tuesday). However, with a production cost of $105 million, it’s not yet clear if the film will be profitable.

A Tough Road to Profit

In the movie business, a film usually needs to earn about 2.5 times its production cost to cover its expenses. For Badlands, that means it needs to make around $262.5 million worldwide to break even.

Right now, it’s far from that trajectory.

We can draw a comparison between Badlands and this year’s Weapons, which debuted with a similar opening weekend of $43.5 million and ultimately performed well.

  • $151.5 million domestic
  • $116.6 million international
  • $268.1 million worldwide

That’s essentially the exact target Badlands needs to hit just to break even.

Week 2 Drop Is the Warning Sign

This is where the trouble starts. Predator: Badlands is now:

  • Tracking lower on the daily numbers than Weapons ($49,281,667 vs $55,498,630 in their first five days)
  • Projected to drop 60% in its second weekend
  • Expected to pull in around $16 million for weekend two

The movie Weapons performed well its second weekend, dropping 43.8% in ticket sales but still earning over $24.4 million.

This distinction is important. It suggests one movie maintained viewer engagement and built excitement, whereas Badlands seems to be losing traction quickly, particularly now that The Running Man remake is attracting the same viewers this weekend.

Foreign Box Office Will Decide Its Fate

With domestic turnout slowing and the film tracking under Weapons on every major metric:

  • Badlands cannot break even on domestic earnings alone (presently looking like it will come under Weapons‘ $151M)
  • It will need a strong international run — and possibly even long legs — just to get out of the red.
  • If the slowdown continues, the movie could finish well below the $260+ million threshold, cementing it as another Disney box office bomb despite a promising debut.

A Franchise High, but Not a Financial Win (Yet)

It’s ironic that Badlands had the biggest opening weekend of any Predator movie in the US (when not adjusting for inflation), but its high production costs and significant drop in ticket sales the following week could negate that success.

If Predator: Badlands doesn’t start earning significantly more money overseas soon, it risks becoming another expensive sci-fi movie that had a strong start but quickly lost momentum and ultimately failed to succeed.

I just finished reading the review, and honestly, Predator: Badlands gets a 6 out of 10 from me. It’s a bit of a letdown, and I kept thinking about how much better this movie could have been if a few things had been different.

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2025-11-13 07:31