An Alien Vs. Predator Anime Series Was Made, But Disney Isn't Releasing It
Disney is finally making a new "Alien" movie following the company's acquisition of Fox in 2019, and in the wake of its successful "Predator" prequel "Prey" on Hulu no less. But it turns out, the company is already sitting on an animated mash-up of these two franchises that is done and ready to go. Unfortunately, the powers that be at the House of Mouse have decided not to release it, leaving us with the knowledge that a 10-episode "Alien vs. Predator" anime is just rotting in a vault for no good reason.
The information came directly from Joshua Izzo, the former licensing director at 20th Century Fox before the Disney acquisition. He spoke with the "Perfect Organism Podcast" on Alien Day last month (via IGN) and decided to spill the beans, revealing that he worked on an "Alien vs. Predator" anime series — one that's been completely finished and is now just sitting there on the shelf, gathering dust. In his own words:
"There is, sitting at Disney now, at 20th Studios, 10 episodes of a fully completed 'Alien vs. Predator' anime series that I produced. It's done. It's in the can. It's mixed; it's finished. It was produced and story cracked by Eric Calderon and Dave Baker, two unbelievably crazy talented guys."
Izzo also explained how the project came to be, with the pitch being a direct-to-video series of animated episodes. No director was named, but it's believed that Shinji Aramaki ("Halo Legends") was at the helm. Izzo added:
"I said, 'Hey listen, I want to pitch this idea of a direct-to-DVD Alien and/or Alien/Predator and/or Predator animation that we, the consumer products division, can sell against. Let us be the masters of our own destiny rather than waiting for theatrical whenever a movie decides to come out.'"
Why would Disney shelve it?
It's a little unclear when, precisely, this "Alien vs. Predator" anime was produced, but the episodes would have been split across three DVD releases and released episodically in Japan. All we know for sure is "Alien: Covenant" was a box office disappointment when it hit theaters in 2017 and that Shane Black's "The Predator" similarly failed to meet expectations upon arriving a year later. So both franchises were kind of dead for a period of time before the Disney/Fox deal went through, potentially opening the window for Joshua Izzo to make his pitch.
The idea, it seems, was to use this animated series to sell more products, be it toys, games, action figures, or what have you. Two "Alien vs. Predator" movies were released in 2004 and 2007, respectively. While neither is highly regarded, the first one was a financial hit, paving the way for "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem." More to the point though, these two franchises have been crossing over for decades in the comics, largely published by Dark Horse. That gave Izzo and his team lots of material to work with.
Now the big question: why won't Disney release the show? Well, given that these were produced with direct-to-DVD in mind, they are probably of a certain quality. That's not to say they're necessarily bad, but it seems unlikely they would be on the same level as a high-profile streaming show or something along those lines. That being the case, Disney could be trying to do what they perceive as protecting the brands. Even so, it does seem silly to leave a finished product on a shelf doing nobody any good. Maybe one day the episodes will be dusted off, but let's not get our hopes up in the meantime.