Tom Cruise’s Underrated Sci-Fi Spectacle Gets Overtaken by New ‘Predator’ Hit at the Box Office

Having completed over a month of release in domestic theaters, Predator: Badlands looks like it’ll stall ahead of the coveted $100 million mark at the box office. It might also fall short of the $200 million mark worldwide, despite having exceeded expectations in its debut, and having emerged as the highest-grossing installment of the Predator franchise over the course of its run. This weekend, Predator: Badlands hit the $90 million mark domestically, and, in doing so, overtook an underrated sci-fi film from 2013. The movie Oblivion marked the sophomore directorial effort of Joseph Kosinski, who announced his arrival with Tron: Legacy three years prior. Starring Tom Cruise, Oblivion didn’t exactly do the kind of business that Cruise’s War of the Worlds had some years prior, but it proved to be another showcase for Kosinski’s keen eye for visuals, and his ear for music.

Released in 2013, Obliviongrossed nearly $300 million at the worldwide box office against a reported budget of $120 million. The movie featured Cruise as a technician conducting menial tasks in space, in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event on Earth. Oblivion also featured Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Morgan Freeman. The movie received mixed reviews, with praise in particular being directed at Claudio Miranda‘s cinematography and the original score by French band M83. It now holds a 51% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Visually striking but thinly scripted, Oblivion benefits greatly from its strong production values and an excellent performance from Tom Cruise.” Despite the film’s mixed reviews and so-so performance at the box office, Cruise was clearly impressed enough with Kosinski to get him on board to direct Top Gun: Maverick, which made $1.5 billion at the box office, and was hailed for “saving” movie theaters in 2022. Kosinski’s latest film is F1, which is doing incredibly well on streaming after having made $630 million worldwide.

‘Predator: Badlands’ Opened to Excellent Reviews

Directed by Dan Trachtenbergand starring Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Predator: Badlands opened to excellent reviews and is now sitting at a “certified fresh” 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Director Dan Trachtenberg continues to take the Predator franchise in exciting new directions with Badlands, a rollicking adventure that transforms one of cinema’s most iconic brutes into a hero worth rooting for.” The movie holds a stellar 96% audience score on the platform, which bodes well for its future on streaming. You can watch Predator: Badlands in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.