Alien and Predator Movies in Order: Release and Timeline

For all 16 Alien and Predator films, start with Alien (1979) and follow the release table below. It contains seven Alien films, seven Predator films and two AVP crossovers. You can instead choose an Alien-only or Predator-only route; the AVP pair is optional for both. Alien: Earth is a TV series.

If this is your first visit to either series, there is no need to commit to 16 films. Alien, then Aliens is a useful introduction to that side; Predator (1987) introduces the other. Watch the crossover afterward if the idea of those creatures meeting is what interests you.

Alien and Predator movies in release order

Release order is our default because it introduces each series before its crossovers and later prequels. The branch labels describe which collection a film belongs to; they do not declare one shared canon timeline.

The last two films have the same release year, but Killer of Killers came first, on June 6, 2025; Badlands followed on November 7. Both belong in the released list. Prey and Killer of Killers count as films even though they premiered on a streaming service.

Do you have to watch both series?

No crossover viewing is required for the single-series routes below. Choose Alien for its seven films, Predator for its seven, or AVP for the two crossover films.

Watch for these similar titles

Predator is the 1987 film; Predators is the 2010 film; The Predator is the 2018 film. They are different entries. Likewise, Alien and Aliens are separate films, and the second AVP title begins with the plural Aliens.

Alien movies in chronological order

Story order is easier to use within the Alien films than across the entire combined collection. For the seven Alien films, follow this sequence of their main stories:

1. Prometheus
2. Alien: Covenant
3. Alien
4. Alien: Romulus
5. Aliens
6. Alien 3
7. Alien Resurrection

This moves the prequels to the front and places Romulus between Alien and Aliens, the placement described in Disney’s official film preview. It is useful for returning viewers tracing the story, while release order keeps the original films ahead of explanations introduced later.

Prey and Killer of Killers take you into the past

Prey is set in the Comanche Nation long before the original Predator. Killer of Killers is more complicated: it is one animated anthology film with stories involving a Viking raider, a warrior in feudal Japan and a World War II pilot. The studio’s synopsis identifies those different settings.

For a first viewing, keep Killer of Killers intact and use its release position after Prey. Trying to insert each of its historical segments into the other movies interrupts an anthology built to be watched as a film.

For the live-action, Predator-only stories, a broad chronological route is Prey → Predator → Predator 2 → Predators → The Predator → Badlands. That deliberately leaves the multi-era anthology aside and excludes the two AVP crossovers. It is not a complete shared Alien/Predator canon timeline.

Badlands is set in the future

Predator: Badlands follows a young Predator and an ally named Thia on a remote planet. The studio’s synopsis places it in the future without giving an exact calendar year. Its connections with the wider Alien setting do not, by themselves, fix every film and crossover into one consistent sequence.

There is no single precise story order established here for all 16 films. Use the combined release table if you want every feature, or the seven-film Alien chronology for a continuous timeline route.

What should you watch before Alien: Romulus?

Alien (1979) is the most useful first stop. Romulus introduces a different group, so you do not need all six earlier releases just to follow that group’s immediate story. For your first trip through the whole series, though, use release order and watch Aliens before Romulus; that preserves the order in which the films expanded the setting.

Only looking for the Alien vs. Predator movies?

There are two: Alien vs. Predator (2004), then Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). You can watch that pair without the full marathon. Treat it as its own crossover route rather than using it to explain every detail of the later Alien prequels.

Where does Alien: Earth fit?

Alien: Earth is a television series that premiered in 2025. Disney’s introduction to the FX series places it in 2120, two years before Alien.

If you are following Alien story order and want to add television, place its first season between Alien: Covenant and Alien. If you only want the movies, leave it out: it does not raise the feature-film count to 17. For a first viewing of the original movie, you can also save the show until later; its earlier setting does not make it a prerequisite.

For another horror franchise with competing screen versions, our Silent Hill movie order separates the film continuities without spoiling their endings.