20th Century Studios
Predator Badlands
ACCOUNT LEAD // Jessica Babila
PRODUCER // Eric Kleifield
CREATIVE PARTNERS // Kyle Gálvez & Peter Fahnestock
AGENCY // Trailer Park Group
ROLE // Associate Creative Director
YEAR // Fall 2025
Younger Sibling Syndrome
I love the Predator series. I know you’re here for the work and thought and consistency and all that, but I have to preface that this IP means more to me than 90% of the campaigns I work on. It’s so dumb, but it’s also perfect. Perfect dumb is a very special place to be, and that is where we begin. Please hold on to something.
The Client
Dan Trachtenberg’s vision for the Predator series has given the Yautja new life in theaters and streaming on Hulu. 20th Century trusts him explicitly, and the amount of world building we were allowed to pursue because of that was unparalleled. Most studios pay lip service to the worlds they’re building, but unless there’s a theme park attraction at the end of the tunnel, they rarely go the distance. Not the Predator Badlands team.
The Audience
Diehard Weyland-Yutani fans had a host of Easter Eggs to discover in Predator Badlands as the Predator and Alien franchises gravitate closer and closer together. However, a wider audience including fans of buddy action films, organic Sci-Fi, and monster movies in general had a place to call home (if we could reach them effectively.)
The Initial Challenge
This was the third Trachtenberg release in five years, and while every project of his feels very different (Comanche dub in Prey, anime-style visuals in Predator: Killer of Killers,) we had work to do to make this film feel like the tentpole, $150m+ ticket sale movie it needed to be.
Spoilers: It made over $180m.
Our Real Challenge
Predator is an aggressive name for an aggressive franchise starring an aggressive creature who, in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s words - not mine - is, “one ugly motherf*cker.” I think he’s cute.
Our real challenge, ultimately, was convincing audiences that a film could have an (subjectively) ugly Predator protagonist who speaks zero English its lead character.
Our Approach
The new planets we explore in Badlands offer a lush, DENSE, layer of organic visuals that we leaned into for our campaign mechanism. Vines and tentacles act as screen-wiping elements, hot edges of plasma weapons cut through footage and leave wobbly hot sear marks, and massive creatures crash and thrash as Dek tries to survive.
Our Output
Our frame-breaking creative set the tone for a social campaign that was deemed "omnipresent" at the 53rd Saturn Awards, including an “Infra-Redband” Trailer in heat vision, a throwback to the original films.
Campaign Results
#1
Movie in
the World
Wins
The movie went to #1 in theaters and stayed there. Compelling marketing, a stellar director, and a visually-stunning world put butts in seats, resulting in a $187m box office.
The movie also went to #1 on SVOD. Streaming releases are becoming key marketing events for major releases, picking up a little bit of the steam that DVD releases used to have. Predator Badlands had a massive run at the top of Hulu, driving traffic back to the previous two new titles as well.
+24%
Follower Growth
100k to 124k followers on Instagram
Learnings
Fans are smart, so don’t make your stuff dumb. Appealing to a wider audience doesn’t mean reducing content to a lukewarm average, it means providing glimpses of stories and motivations with which different segments can identify.
Pieces that featured hard sci-fi themes mixed with the survival-based partnership between Dek and Thia ended up performing exceedingly well.
95%
Positive Sentiment
On RottenTomatoes.com
Final Takeaway
The next Predator film is already a must-watch. It’s difficult for studios to play the long game in 2026. Pressure from investors, market shifts, and viewing habit changes make it easier to react than plan. That’s not the case with the Predator revival.
We ultimately respected the source material, respected the fans, and primed our newly-grown audience for whatever comes next.
Even if it’s a Xenomorph.