LOS ANGELES - The bad-ass creatures from 20th Century Fox's Alien vs. Predator will soon be invading Facebook.

Fox has licensed the rights to the sci-fi movie franchise to Plarium, an Israeli social and mobile game developer, which plans to integrate the characters into its Soldiers Inc. multiplayer game on Facebook.

Alien vs. Predator is a mashup of Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) and Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer Predator (1987). The first 2004 film grossed US$172 million worldwide and spawned the 2007 sequel Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, which pulled in $129 million at the box office worldwide.

In the Soldiers Inc. Facebook game, the Alien vs. Predator characters will be used as an entirely separate experience from the original game: Players must investigate a temple of unknown origin and extract assets before a thermonuclear detonation. Gameplay features will include a multi-mission story arc, a series of global missions, side missions, special reward units, collectible in-game items and boosts themed around Alien vs. Predator.

"Soldiers, Inc. has the perfect mixture of thrilling and engaging gameplay that is perfectly in step with the Alien vs. Predator franchise", said Mike Doyle, vice-president of Interactive Games at Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. "We look forward to bringing fans the ability to immerse themselves in a game experience that incorporates the franchise's high-octane excitement and takes it to another level."

Launched in August 2013, Soldiers Inc. is Plarium's most popular game with 85 million total players, according to the company. The strategy game is set in 2019 in the fictional realm of Zandia where foreign powers, multinational companies and underground criminal organizations fight to locate rare minerals in a starving and depleting state.

The AVP deal is Plarium's first such licensing partnership and the company said it plans expand to grow its branded-content business in future games and franchises.

Founded in 2009, Plarium has more than 150 million registered users worldwide for its games. The company has more than 1,000 employees at its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, and five offices and development studios across Europe and the U.S.