The 1980s, are clearly alive and well. With numerous properties from the era of terrible music and ozone-depleting deodorants making their way back into the spotlight over the last couple of years, the return of a certain infamous intergalactic hunter may be one of the more tantalising projects on the horizon. The Predator is coming back with Hawkins himself, Shane Black, leading the charge to put the iconic trophy hunter back on top of the survival-action food chain.
And that’s a damn good talent to have on board. Black may have cut his teeth on scripts for Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boy Scout, and Last Action Hero, but it was Iron Man 3 that showed just how good a director he really was as he juggled multiple threads in one of the best Marvel movies released so far.
The Predator reboot wasn’t originally going to be a Shane Black project. In fact, he was hesitant to revive it, explaining to Collider that it was a drive to reboot the franchise in a more meaningful way that had him sold:
They called me and I was reluctant. I said, “Look. You guys at Fox, I mean, I enjoy these movies, but we’ve been churning out these AVP whatever, they each cost a certain amount of money, they’re okay, but there’s no effort to elevate them or make them any kind of an event.” They’re just sort of another Predator.
“Oh, there’s another one that came out.” They said, “What if we said to you we want to reinvent this, and really treat it with as much of an event status, or as much hoopla as we would the Alien prequel, which is coming out also? We really want to make this something. The kind of movie that people line up for.” I said, “Really, you’ll spend a bunch of money?” They go, “Yep.” I go, “Make it really scale, spectacle?” “Yep.” “Shit, that sounds interesting.”
Which eventually led to the idea of making this reboot a massive event movie similar in vein to Iron Man 3:
I think the first one was great, and it was contained, and it was a perfect little gem for what it was. I think there’s an expansion that needs to take place, and also just a love for that era, that movie, and the mythology of the Predator. I think that they came to me knowing pretty much that… they said, basically, if I wanted to make Predator but treat it like it was Iron Man III instead of just another little movie. I said, “Let’s really do it right this time.”
I get Black’s comments. 2009’s Predators was a great movie, but it is also a film which is as Black describes it, “ just sort of another Predator”. But a Predator remake that fleshes out the hunter while staying true to its roots as a survival-horror in the jungle? That’s a sci-fi reboot that I’m actually quite ready to get behind. Maybe this time, they can convince Jean Claude Van Damme to actually don the Predator outfit.
Last Updated: March 24, 2016
