While it was released here in the States back in September, Shane Black’s The Predator only made its way to China this past weekend, and the numbers are in. The good news? The film managed to slightly exceed expectations for its opening weekend in China, earning $20.7 million over the 3-day weekend and becoming #1 on the country’s box office charts.
The bad news? Worldwide, The Predator‘s box office total is still shy of $200 million, currently approaching $170 million. The reported production budget for the film was a massive $88 million, and that’s not counting however much 20th Century Fox spent to market it. Long story short, The Predator hasn’t made enough money, in all likelihood, to warrant a sequel.
Sadly, The Predator is the latest in a long line of films that had such high budgets they were practically set up to fail. If it was made for considerably less, Shane Black’s franchise reboot easily could’ve been considered a box office success, likely leading Fox to green light the “Predator Killer” sequel set up in the film’s final moments. Alas, we’re not counting on it.
Time to get those budgets under control, Hollywood.