Alien Vs. Predator may have received a critical lashing, but the battle between two of Eighties cinema’s favorite human killing aliens made enough money to warrant a sequel.

The second Predator/Alien battle is in the works, and now it looks like 20th Century Fox has hired a director for the sequel... or in this case directors. Earlier this week IGN reported that Fox was on the verge of hiring a pair of special effects expert brothers, Greg and Colin Strause to direct the actioner. Today, the Strause brothers confirmed the story on their website.

So who the hell are the Strause brothers? They haven’t done a lot of high-profile directing, but they do have a pretty impressive effects resume. They’ve done effects work on 42 films since 1996, and that rather long list includes some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. On their resume you’ll find Titanic, Terminator 3, The Day After Tomorrow, Galaxy Quest, and most recently X-Men: The Last Stand. They definitely know how to manipulate CGI. But can they direct?

I’m not sure it really matters. They can’t be worse than the guy who directed the first Alien Vs. Predator, Paul W.S. Anderson. Even if they are worse, it’s not the kind of movie that demands a good director. I don’t think anyone is expecting quality from this franchise. Don’t get me wrong, unlike a lot of people I actually enjoyed the first movie in a strange sort of empty, effects first way. If Alien Vs. Predator 2 is a piece of garbage with really great effects, it’ll just be continuing the tradition of the first one. The Strause Brothers seem well qualified to meet that goal.

Watch for AVP 2 in theaters late next year. Fox has scheduled it for an August 10, 2007 release date.