Prey Has Set A Massive Record
The new Predator prequel has more views in its first three days than any other Hulu program, according to the streaming platform.
This article is more than 2 years old
Upon releasing on Hulu, Prey has done something you would be within your rights to think was impossible — it gave fans a Predator sequel they actually want to watch. With less than a week of streaming time under its belt, Prey has already proven to be the most critically hailed film in the franchise. But it’s achieved more than praise. Prey has become the single most watched movie or TV series on Hulu, ever.
As reported by Variety, the Disney-owned Hulu is saying that Prey has more viewing hours in its first three days on the streamer than any other show or movie on the platform. The film’s dominance, by the way, goes beyond American shores. It proved to be the most streamed film premiere on Latin America’s Star+, as well as on “Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories.”
It’s a fairly monumental accomplishment when you consider everything Prey had going against it. The sci-fi action thriller prequel didn’t have the big Hollywood names its past installments enjoyed. Speaking of the previous films in the series, after 1987’s Predator the follow-ups haven’t been particularly well received. The last film was the 2018 flop The Predator whose disappointing box office receipts were matched with a horrible 33% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, not counting the Alien Vs. Predator flicks, The Predator‘s Tomatometer score just barely beats out the lowest score in the franchise — the 32% 1990’s Predator 2 is saddled with.
Prey turns the clock back 263 years to 1719. Amber Midthunder (Legion) stars as the hero Naru, a young Comanche woman who is determined to become a hunter, in spite of the pressure from her family and the bullying from some of the tribe’s male warriors. When Naru joins the hunt for a mountain lion who carried off a boy, she becomes convinced something else is stalking them. Soon it’s only Naru, her loyal dog Sarii, and her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) facing not only the ruthless alien hunter, but a group of cruel French fur traders. The French voyageurs are likewise hunted by the Predator, but their shared struggle makes them no kinder to the Comanche.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) from a script by Patrick Aison (Wayward Pines), Prey‘s winning streaming numbers make sense, because neither critics nor audiences can seem to get enough. Judging solely by the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores, Prey is the most critically acclaimed entry in the franchise so far with a 92% score (the original Predator is second with only 80%). Likewise, its audience score is 81%, with Predator‘s 87% being the only higher score in the series. At least one actor from the first film, Jesse Ventura, has gone out of his way to sing the prequel’s praises on Twitter. You can see his online love for the movie below.
So far, there is no official word that Prey will have a sequel but — while we will avoid specific spoilers — the film does go out of its way to set up the potential for a follow-up. As soon as we know, we’ll make sure you know.
