On the whole, the Predator franchise is not very good. While the original 1987 film is indeed a genre classic, its 1990 sequel was underwhelming, as was a 2010 attempt to restart things with the Nimrod Antal-directed Predators. And of course, the less said about the two abysmal Alien Versus Predator films the better.
But here is why I have some high hopes for the most recent attempt to kick start the franchise after it was announced last summer that the project is being overseen by director Shane Black and writer Fred Dekker. Black did some uncredited rewrites on the first film – a gig which also landed him in front of the camera as one of the mercenaries being stalked through a South American jungle by an alien hunter. Dekker, of course, has written with Black before on the cult hit The Monster Squad.
And according to Dekker via his Facebook page, the screenplay has been turned.
A character from the new screenplay we just turned in. Art by Angus Herndon, age 7.
Posted by Fred Dekker on Sunday, November 29, 2015
The plot for the proposed reboot is obviously under wraps, but producer John Davis explained to Collider a few months back –
The writing is so fresh, the perspective is so fresh. I’m telling you you’re going to get something you don’t expect and you’re going to say, ‘This is the most entertaining way to reinvent a franchise.’
It remains to be seen if this new Predator film will be Black’s next project. He is currently wrapping up work on The Nice Guys starring staring Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger, which is set for a May 2016 release. He has also been developing a Doc Savage film for Sony based on the 1930s and `40s pulp magazine adventure hero.
