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Alien vs. Predator
Directed by	Paul W.S. Anderson
Produced by	Gordon Carroll John Davis David Giler Walter Hill
Written by	Story: Paul W. S. Anderson Dan O'Bannon Ronald Shusett Screenplay: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring	Sanaa Lathan Lance Henriksen Raoul Bova Ewen Bremner Colin Salmon
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	August 13, 2004
Running time	Theatrical Cut: 101 min. Director's Cut: 108 min.
Language	English
Budget	$60,000,000[1]
Preceded by	Alien: Resurrection Predator 2
Followed by	Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Alien vs. Predator (also known as AVP) is a motion picture released in 2004 by 20th Century Fox and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It is based both on several series of Alien vs. Predator comic books published by Dark Horse Comics and on the Alien and Predator films which spawned the original characters.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Origins 3.2 Location 3.3 Effects 4 Reception 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

The events of Alien vs. Predator are set in 2004 on Earth. As a Predator spacecraft nears the planet, Earth satellites detect a mysterious heat bloom beneath the ice of the island Bouvetøya near Antarctica. Billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland assembles a team of scientists to investigate the heat source and claim it for his multinational communications company Weyland Industries (foreshadowing the Weyland-Yutani Corporation of the Alien series). The team includes paleontologists, archaeologists, linguistic experts, drillers, mercenaries, and a "rough and tumble" female guide named Alexa Woods.

As the Predator ship reaches Earth orbit, it blasts a hole down through the ice towards the source of the heat bloom. When the human team arrives at the site, an abandoned whaling station, they find this hole and descend beneath the ice. There they discover a mysterious pyramid and begin to explore it, finding proof of a civilization predating written history and what appears to be a "sacrificial chamber" filled with dismembered human skeletons. Meanwhile, three Predators land and kill off the humans at the surface, making their way down to the pyramid and arriving just as the team unwittingly powers up the structure. An Alien queen awakens from cryogenic stasis and begins producing eggs, from which facehuggers hatch and attach themselves to several of the humans. Chestbursters soon result and quickly grow into adult Aliens. Conflicts erupt between the Predators, Aliens, and humans, resulting in several deaths. Unbeknownst to the others, one of the Predators is implanted with an Alien embryo by a facehugger.

Through translation of the pyramid’s hieroglyphs, the explorers learn that the Predators have been visiting Earth for thousands of years. It was they who taught early human civilizations to build pyramids, and they were worshiped as gods. At regular intervals they would visit Earth to take part in a rite of passage in which several humans would sacrifice themselves as hosts for the Aliens, creating the "ultimate prey" for the Predators to hunt. If overwhelmed, the Predators would activate their self-destruct weapons to eliminate the Aliens along with themselves. They deduce that this is why the current Predators are here, to hunt the Aliens again. The survivors further reason that the heat bloom from the pyramid was given off to attract humans for the purposes of making new aliens to hunt. The remaining humans decide the Predators must be allowed to succeed in their hunt so that the Aliens do not spread to the rest of Earth. As the battle continues most of the characters are killed off (including Weyland), leaving only Alexa Woods and a single Predator to face off against the remaining Aliens. The two ally with each other and use the Predator’s self-destruct device to destroy the pyramid, killing the remaining Aliens and escaping to the surface. The Alien queen escapes as well, and the three do battle in the whaling station. Alexa and the Predator defeat the queen by attaching its chain to a heavy water tower and pushing it over a cliff and into the ocean, dragging the queen down to the ocean floor. The Predator, however, dies from its wounds. A Predator ship suddenly decloaks and several Predators appear. They collect their fallen comrade and recognize Alexa as a worthy warrior. As they retreat into space, a chestburster erupts from the dead Predator. It appears to be an Alien/Predator hybrid, as it has the characteristic jaw mandibles of both species.

Actor	Role
Sanaa Lathan	Alexa Woods
Raoul Bova	Sebastian De Rosa
Lance Henriksen	Charles Bishop Weyland
Ewen Bremner	Graeme Miller
Colin Salmon	Maxwell Stafford
Tommy Flanagan	Mark Verheiden
Joseph Rye	Joe Connors
Agathe De La Boulaye	Adele Rousseau
Carsten Norgaard	Rustin Quinn
Sam Troughton	Thomas Parkes
Petr Jákl	Stone
Pavel Bezdek	Bass
Kieran Bew	Klaus
Carsten Voigt	Mikkel
Jan Filipensky	Boris
Adrian Bouchet	Sven
Ian Whyte	Predator, Scar
Tom Woodruff, Jr.	Alien, Grid

According to the novelization, the three Predators are named Scar (the main Predator), Celtic (the leader who attacks Quinn) and Chopper/Gill (who has the shortest screentime). Scar is also noted in the credits, and Celtic is acknowledged in one of the DVD commentaries. The three are easily distinguishable owing to their different masks - Celtic has a very elaborate design over his mouth, Chopper has several horizontal 'ribs' beneath his eyepieces and Scar's is almost entirely smooth except for a hieroglyph from xenomorphs blood. In addition, the Alien which fights Celtic is listed in the credits as "Grid", owing to the gridlike pattern Celtic's net imprints onto it. The Predator Leader of the ship, who gives Alexa the victory spear, is named Elder.

The concept of pitting the two creatures against one another has its roots in the Dark Horse Comics. Stan Winston also hinted at a crossover by placing an alien skull in a trophy case aboard the Predator's ship in Predator 2.^{[2] [3]} Screenwriter Peter Briggs created the original spec screenplay in 1990-1991, which itself was essentially a rewrite of the first comic series of the same name.^[3] In 1991 he successfully pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox, who owned both film franchises, although the company did not move forward with the project until 2003 after several re-writes of the original concept and screenplay and several changes to the cast and crew.

The writing credits submitted by the studio to the WGA recommended that Peter Briggs and Paul W.S. Anderson be credited for the story, while Anderson and Shane Salerno get the screenplay credit.^{[citation needed]} Instead, the WGA denied any sort of credit to Briggs or Salerno, and instead gave co-story credit to original Alien writers Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett on the rationale that some story elements were based on a deleted scene from that film.^{[citation needed]} Shocked at this decision, the studio offered Salerno an executive producer's credit, but he turned it down.^{[citation needed]}

Before AvP was greenlighted, James Cameron, the writer/director of Aliens, started work on a story for Alien 5, but when he heard of AvP, he thought that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise" and stopped work on his script. He went on record with Ain't it Cool News stating that he considered it a joke created only to milk the franchise. ^[4]

Production began in late 2003 on the Barrandov Studios backlot in Prague, where the vast majority of the filming took place, although the film was set on the Norwegian Antarctic island of Bouvet. The setting of the film, Bouvet Island, is referred to as "Bouvetøya Island". "Bouvetøya" is the Norwegian name and is a combination of the words Bouvet and øya ("the island"). Additionally, an animation in the film shows Bouvet as being located off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula near the approximate geographical location of Peter I Island, when in fact it is over 1,600 km from the nearest land. At this distance, Bouvet Island can be considered as one of the most remote islands (and indeed the most remote place) on Earth.

A number of changes were made to both the appearance and equipment of the Predators in AvP. Director Paul Anderson and the film's costume designers chose to give the Predators heavier armor in AvP than had been seen in the prior Predator films, partly because they felt it made the Predators seem less vulnerable to the Aliens and partly because it gave them a larger, sturdier overall appearance. Most fans, however, were upset with the costuming, as many felt that it made the Predators appear overly bulky, unstable and awkward. In addition, the Predator's vision system has been modified; it now includes a viewing mode used for tracking the Aliens. Modifications have been made to almost all of the previous weapons: the wrist blades are longer and larger, the net gun has been built into the wrist gauntlet, and its nets automatically contract; a folding shuriken-style weapon has replaced the disc; a more ornate version of the spear appears at the end of the film, perhaps only given to Predator elders; the plasmacasters are larger and more powerful, for use against Aliens; and one Predator is given a pair of giant, retractable fore-arm claws, though he never gets a chance to use them.

Critics were not allowed to view the film in advance.^[5] Once critics were able to review the film, the response was generally negative. ^[6] Despite mostly poor reviews, the film earned more than $38 million over its US opening weekend and spent its first week of release at the top of box office charts. However, subsequent weeks saw the film's revenue take a severe decline. Even so, it ranks as one of the most successful films to date in either franchise. The film earned $171.2 million worldwide, with a sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, scheduled for December 25, 2007.^[7]

• Alien vs. Predator series, including films, comics, novels, and games
• Aliens versus Predator (computer game)

• Alien vs. Predator at the Internet Movie Database
• Alien vs. Predator at Rotten Tomatoes
• Alien vs. Predator at Box Office Mojo
• Alien vs. Predator screenplay at MovieScriptPlace.com

Preceded by Collateral

Box office number-one films of 2004 (USA) August 15, 2004

Succeeded by Exorcist: The Beginning

v • d • e Alien, Predator and Alien vs. Predator
Alien films	Alien • Aliens • Alien³ • Alien: Resurrection
Predator films	Predator • Predator 2
AvP films	Alien vs. Predator • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Film characters	Bishop • Hicks • Hudson • Newt • Ripley • Ripley clone • Predator • Alien characters • Predator characters
Comics	Aliens • Aliens versus Predator • Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator • Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness: Mindhunter • Batman/Aliens • Batman versus Predator • Green Lantern versus Aliens • JLA vs. Predator • Judge Dredd vs. Aliens • Predator • Predator vs. Judge Dredd • Predator vs. Magnus, Robot Fighter • Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator • Superman/Aliens • Superman vs. Predator • Tarzan vs. Predator • WildC.A.T.s/Aliens • Aliens/Predator: Deadliest of the Species
Novels	Aliens (Earth Hive) • Aliens vs. Predator • Predator
Alien games	Alien (1982) • Alien (1984) • Aliens: The Computer Game (Activision) • Aliens: The Computer Game (Software Studios) • Aliens (MSX) • Aliens (arcade) • Alien³ • Alien³ (SNES) • Alien³ (Game Boy) • Alien³: The Gun • Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure • Alien Trilogy • Aliens Online • Alien: Resurrection • Aliens: Thanatos Encounter • Aliens: Colonial Marines (cancelled) • Aliens: Unleashed • Aliens: Extermination • Aliens (First Person Shooter) •
Predator games	Predator • Predator: Soon The Hunt Will Begin • Predator 2 • Predator 2 (Perfect 10) • Predator (mobile) • Predator: Concrete Jungle
Alien vs. Predator games	Alien vs Predator (SNES) • Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan • Alien vs. Predator (arcade) • Alien vs Predator (Jaguar) • Alien vs Predator (Lynx) (cancelled) • Aliens versus Predator / Gold Edition • Aliens versus Predator 2 / Gold Edition • Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt • Aliens versus Predator: Extinction • Alien vs. Predator 2D • Alien vs. Predator (mobile) • Alien vs. Predator 3D • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (video game)
Alien & Predator Universe	Derelict • Fiorina "Fury" 161 • LV-426 • M41A pulse rifle • M56 Smart Gun • M577 A.P.C. • Non-canon castes from the Alien films • Nostromo • Predator • Predator language • Space Jockey • Sulaco • United States Colonial Marines • USM Auriga • Val Verde • Weyland-Yutani • Xenomorph
Miscellaneous	Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual • Alien Loves Predator • The Alien Legacy • Alien Quadrilogy • Alien War • Batman: Dead End • Alien 2

v • d • e Films directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
Original films: Shopping • Event Horizon • Soldier • The Sight • The Glow • AVP: Alien Vs. Predator • Man with the Football • Death Race Video game films: Mortal Kombat • Resident Evil