Alien, Predator Weigh In

Sure, Predator's got cloaking and thermal vision. But Alien's got speed, agility, shark-like instincts and acid for blood.

When Las Vegas oddsmaker John Avello crunched the stats and the intangibles, he came up with one conclusion: Alien's going to wear the belt at the end of Alien vs. Predator, the franchise-melding flick opening Friday.

"If they fought three times," says Avello, director of race and sports operation for the Bally's and Paris casinos in Vegas, "Alien would win two of them."

The casino's two sportsbooks have Alien down as a 1/2 favorite, with Predator a longer shot at 9/5. (The lines are "entertainment purposes only," as they say, with the wizened house not really taking wagers on the outcome of a scripted Hollywood matchup.)

Avello has neither seen the new movie (he's not alone there--more on that later), nor has he seen most of the older Alien and Predator movies. But he has seen plenty of boxing matchups.

"I kind of took it as a fight...so I looked at what were the stronger positions of each one," Avello says.

Alien got credit for all the above attributes, plus its jaws. Predator got credit for "better technology." The two matched up evenly in Avello's eyes in strength.

On the Web, meanwhile, Alien was coming up short in a poll (http://www.avp-movie.com/avpvote/votenow.html) conducted by Fox, the promoter of the Alien vs. Predator bout.

As of noon (PDT) Thursday, 2.4 million had cast their lot with Predator as the presumed winner of the cinematic clash; 2.2 million had sided with Alien.

"I would bet money Predator would be the victor," says Anthony C. Ferrante, editor-in-chief of the genre magazine Cinescape. (Ferrante also has not seen the movie.)

Ferrante's reasoning for a Predator win is based on common, continuity sense: Alien vs. Predator, set in present day, is essentially a prequel to the first Alien movie, set in the year 2122. Since the Earthlings in the first movie are surprised to learn of a creature that can jump out of people's chests, it stands to reason that the Aliens who run around in Alien vs. Predator must have been vanquished before the forerunners of Ripley, et al., learned of their existence.

Right...?

Ferrante admits there's a certain amount of massaging that goes into all-star matchups à la Alien vs. Predator or Freddy vs. Jason or King Kong vs. Godzilla.

"I think that when you have two iconic franchises that both have their fans you want to basically be very careful not to offend either one of them," Ferrante says.

For example: In 2003's Freddy vs. Jason, a pairing of knife-fingered fiend Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and the hockey-mask-wearing Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th series, Jason appears to claim victory when he hacks off Freddy's head. But before the final credits roll, the head starts laughing.

Who won? New Line, which made $82.6 million at the U.S. box office off an estimated $25 million investment. (Avello, who didn't have to worry about sequels or ticked-off Freddy fans, predicted Jason would win a maniac-to-maniac showdown.)

Filmmakers also opted for a play-no-favorites ending for 1963's King Kong vs. Godzilla, a monster mash between Hollywood's great ape and Japan's radioactive beast.

In the final battle, Kong and Godzilla tumble into the ocean. Kong swims away; Godzilla, though unseen, roars away. Another draw. (One persistent, but erroneous rumor has Kong winning in the U.S. version, and Godzilla taking the title in the Japanese version.)

The outcome of Alien vs. Predator has been kept under wraps--mostly. Fox kept critics at bay by reportedly invoking "the film's not finished" line. (A call seeking comment from a studio spokeswoman was not returned Thursday.)

On Thursday, Ain't It Cool News posted a batch of early-bird reviews from moles. The dispatches contained mild-to-major plot spoilers, and frank assessments of writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson's efforts. ("[Blank] you, Paul Anderson," goes one. "I hope you rot in hell.")

Alien comes to Alien vs. Predator the more well-established space alien of the two stars. The baddie has been featured in four films, most recently 1997's Alien: Resurrection. Predator, meanwhile, hasn't been on the big screen since 1990's Predator 2.

To the Alien faithful, just the thought of having to share screen time with Predator is an insult.

"Why would you put a Predator in an Alien movie? Are you [blankin'] retarded?," one offended Netizen asked on the rec.arts.movies.current-films newsgroup. "That's like putting Ghoulies in a Gremlins movie."