‘Predator: Badlands’ Filming Location, Defined

November 8, 2025

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Three years after the reinvigorating franchise entry Prey, director Dan Trachtenberg is again with Predator: Badlands. The standalone movie opened in theaters on November 7, 2025, introducing new characters performed by Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. With new characters and a recent story, it is solely becoming that Badlands alters its setting from Prey, which occurred within the Nice Plains within the 1700s.

With Predator: Badlands set on a distant alien planet sooner or later, followers can count on a completely new surroundings and a definite sense of world-building. But, as soon as viewers spot a specific sequence involving a recognizable mountain vary, followers of the multi-billion-dollar, Oscar-winning franchise The Lord of the Rings are positive to really feel a way of déjà vu. With that in thoughts, let’s check out the place Predator: Badlands was filmed.

The place Was ‘Predator: Badlands’ Filmed?

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Below its working title of Backpack, principal images on Predator: Badlands commenced in August 2024 and wrapped in October. Though Trachtenberg introduced again Prey‘s cinematographer, Jeff Cutter, the filming location was very completely different from the 2022 movie. Prey was filmed primarily on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation land in Alberta, Canada. With the indigenous storyline involving Naru (breakout star Amber Midthunder), filming within the space made logical narrative and thematic sense.

For Predator: Badlands, it was crucial that Trachtenberg and his crew discover an otherworldly location that might mirror the distant alien planet on which the story takes place. To take action, the manufacturing settled on distant areas in New Zealand to movie the huge out of doors landscapes. Along with replicating New Zealand on studio sound levels, the forged and crew filmed on location in Auckland and Rotorua.

Auckland is without doubt one of the most trendy and densely populated cities in New Zealand, recognized for its breathtaking architectural marvels and entry to the ocean and the mountains. Some scenes in Predator: Badlands have been filmed on a sound stage in Auckland, together with the wreckage of a Predator Yautja spaceship and a Weyland-Yutani analysis base. Outdoors of Auckland, the vast majority of the film was filmed in New Zealand’s verdant wild, together with the all-too-familiar-looking Rotorua.

Located on the Bay of Loads on New Zealand’s North Island, Rotorua is a picturesque metropolis subsequent to Rotorua Lake, recognized for its “distinctive geothermal exercise” and its beautiful Pink and White Terraces. In keeping with Letterboxd, Trachtenberg was eager on filming in Rotorua as a result of the geothermal and otherworldly forest environment seems and feels so completely different from the jungle setting Predator is thought for. With its rolling hills and volcanic exercise, Rotorua can also be a lot completely different from the American Nice Plains, which set the stage for Prey.

‘Predator: Badlands’ Shares a Filming Location With ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Predator: Badlands was filmed in the identical basic areas as Peter Jackson’s landmark Lord of the Rings franchise. The epic Lord of the Rings franchise, tailored from J.R.R. Tolkien’s celebrated novels, grossed over $6 billion worldwide and gained 17 Academy Awards, together with a record-tying 11 for the ultimate entry, The Return of the King.

Each Predator: Badlands and The Lord of the Rings trilogy have been filmed close to the Bay of Loads outdoors Rotorua. Most importantly, Tongariro Nationwide Park was utilized in The Lord of the Rings to set scenes at Mount Doom, Black Gate, and Gollum’s Forbidden Pool. Elsewhere, the areas surrounding Hobbiton have been filmed at Okahune, not removed from Rotorua. With the area’s distinctly mountainous topography, these watching Predator: Badlands on the large display are positive to acknowledge the Lord of the Rings‘ landscapes.

Certainly, there’s one noticeable second in Badlands when Thia and Dek run throughout a mountain to evade a clan of Predators. As if ripped proper from a Lord of the Rings background, the sequence seems and feels prefer it was filmed in the identical mountain vary as Peter Jackson’s beloved adaptation. Even these unfamiliar with The Lord of the Rings’ legendary lore are positive to acknowledge the sprawling inexperienced mountainside and water beneath. It is as if Thia and Dek took a facet quest to The Shire actually shortly earlier than heading again house. Talking in regards to the resolution to movie in New Zealand, Trachtenberg advised Letterboxd:

“I’ve all the time needed to have a cause to return shoot one thing right here. This has been an important cause to, simply because the panorama right here, I feel, is… We’re very accustomed to seeing it in a fantasy setting, and I needed this to not really feel as sci-fi as we often see. We’ve seen a variety of Predator within the jungle.

There is a extra distinctive forestry panorama right here that’s this bizarre mixture of bits of jungly issues, but in addition forest and woodland, and redwoods exist right here. It’s all simply super-breathtaking. An enormous drive for me is for it to really feel like we’re in nature, within the wilds, and peppering that with alien parts versus being all on a stage and it being completely fabricated.”

If push got here to shove for territorial dominance, the true query turns into: who would win in a struggle between the Predator and Sauron? Leaving that as much as debate for one more time, followers can see a brand new and acquainted setting with Predator: Badlands.

‘Predator: Badlands’ Is Now in Theaters

Written by Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield, Predator: Badlands is the ninth installment within the long-running sci-fi/horror franchise. Following his admirable work on the prequel, Prey, director Dan Trachtenberg has returned to helm Predator: Badlands. Fusing parts from the Alien/Predator crossover sequence, Badlands tracks Thia (Elle Fanning), an artificial being created by the Weyland-Yutani company.

Upon touchdown on a distant extraterrestrial planet, Thia meets and types an unlikely bond with Dek (Schuster-Koloamatangi), an adolescent Predator ostracized from his herd for being a runt. In a twin function, Schuster-Koloamatangi additionally portrays Dek’s father, Njohrr, a vicious Apex Predator who desires to see his son die.

As Njohrr sends his clan of predators to hunt and kill Dek, the younger Predator turns to his older brother, Kwei (Mike Homik), to outlive and learn to hunt. In the meantime, as seen with the totally AI synthetics in Alien: Earth, Thia makes use of her synthetic intelligence to assist Dek and Kewi fend off the assault and keep alive. Predator: Badlands is now enjoying in theaters.