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In what may be the biggest and bloodiest monster-movie matchup since Godzilla took on Megalon, Twentieth Century Fox is one step closer to shooting ''Alien vs. Predator.'' Variety reports that Fox has hired writer/director Paul Anderson (''Resident Evil,'' ''Event Horizon'') to unite its two biggest brand-name space baddies.

The movie should have a built-in audience, if the success of the Dark Horse comic book and the two Fox Interactive video games pitting the extraterrestrial killers against each other is any indication. Anderson, however, is apparently writing a plot that is not based on any of the previous ''Alien vs. Predator'' story lines. Rather, according to Variety, the movie will be about a human scientist on a faraway planet who breeds eggs from the Alien species to attract Predators. This experiment turns out to be a very bad idea.

The behind-the-scenes firepower face-off is similarly fearsome. Coming to the table from the ''Alien'' side are producers David Giler and Walter Hill, who coproduced the four movies in the ''Alien'' series, while the ''Predator'' producers on board include John Davis, Lawrence Gordon (who also produced ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider''), and Joel Silver (the ''Matrix'' trilogy), all of whom served as producers on the two previous ''Predator'' pictures. Alas, neither Sigourney Weaver (who last took on the Aliens in 1997's ''Alien Resurrection'') nor Arnold Schwarzenegger (who starred in the first ''Predator'' in 1987) is expected to participate.


Posted Jul 15, 2002 | Order Article Reprints