Predator: Badlands

Name: New Zealand Film Commission
Price range: $

Grounding a global sci‑fi franchise in physical environments and local expertise, New Zealand develops a brand-new, fully realised alien plant.

International Production

Feature 2025 Sci-Fi, Action, Horror

Predator: Badlands showcases New Zealand as a premium screen destination for international productions seeking scale, flexibility and cinematic transformation. Filmed across Auckland and Rotorua, the production combined studio infrastructure with geothermal landscapes and forests to create a setting that felt alien, immersive and physically real.

"Rotorua’s steaming geothermal fields and forested ridgelines offered alien, otherworldly exteriors the production needed, while Auckland supplied studio space and local production infrastructure."

/ Dan Trachenberg, Director

Otherworldly locations

New Zealand as an alien planet

Predator: Badlands transformed New Zealand’s landscapes into a distant, hostile alien world. Filmed across Auckland, Rotorua and remote North Island locations, the production drew on geothermal terrain, volcanic ridgelines and dense forests to create a setting that felt unfamiliar, physical and grounded. Director Dan Trachtenberg deliberately prioritised real-world environments, aiming for a film that felt “in nature, in the wilds,” with alien elements layered into the landscape rather than relying solely on sound stages or digital fabrication. Rotorua’s geothermal fields and forested terrain, in particular, delivered the otherworldly aesthetic central to the film’s visual identity.

The production combined large-scale visual effects with detailed practical design, drawing on New Zealand-based crews experienced in creature work and tactile world‑building. From Predator suits to textured environments, the filmmakers favoured physical, handcrafted elements that enhanced realism and supported the film’s grounded sci‑fi tone. This hybrid approach, blending practical effects with digital enhancement, allowed Predator: Badlands to deliver an expansive, immersive world while retaining a strong sense of physical presence on screen.

Locations Lookbook