Shane Blackis currently working on anew Predator movie, simply calledThe Predator, but the movie has been talked about for so long that it is starting to feel like one of those things that is never going to happen. However, according to the director, everything is on track and the movie is actually going to be shooting early next year. With production nearing, he was also willing to give some updates on the movie in a couple of recent interviews.
Firstly, speaking with Collider,Shane Blackrevealed that he is heading toVancouversoon to start pre-production and that filming will start in February. He also talked a little bit about what we can expect in terms of tone when it comes toThe Predator. Here is what he had to say about it.
“I think thePredator movieshave slightly veered from typical sci-fi in that there is a sort of thriller aspect to them. I think it should be scary, I think it should be funny, and I think ultimately it should be wondrous and about perceiving things that human beings very seldom get a chance to see… I don’t mean movie audiences I mean characters in the movie. I’m not saying the movie will be nothing anyone’s seen before (laughs).”
The director also said that Fox has been very cooperative in terms of his vision forThe Predator. He mentioned that a large part of that has to do with the success they had withDeadpoolearlier this year, so they are more open to doing something with an R rating that they think can still have mass appeal. The next Wolverine movieLoganwill also be R rated, so Fox seems to be very open to this sort of thing andShane Blacksays he and Fox felt going with an R was the only way to doThe Predatorjustice.
“Fox has been very cooperative. I mean part of it is the success they had with Deadpool, but I also made a case-and I think they agreed-that fans of the Predator generally, probably aren’t looking to go to see a PG-13-rated version of it. It would be more of a letdown if it was sort of tailored to a family friendly audience than if it were allowed to play out to the same scale and level that the first R-rated one did.”
Speaking ofLogan, that movie andThe Predatorare going to have a bit of connective tissue in the form of starBoyd Holbrook. Originally,Benicio Del Torowas meant to take the role that is going toHolbrook, but scheduling got in the way and made it an impossibility. Fortunately,Shane Blackseems very confident in the ability of theNarcosstar. In a seperate interview withJoBlo, the director talked a bit about thecastingand heaped some praise onBoyd Holbrook.
“It’s quite good news. With Benicio [del Toro] and the scheduling, we just couldn’t make it work. We have a release date and we had to start much later than we wanted to. This way, the silver lining is this kid (Boyd Holbrook), who I’ve spent some time with now, he’s just marvelous, he’s amazing.”
Even thoughBoyd Holbrookdoesn’t have thename recognitionthat someone likeBenicio Del Torohas, it does say something that Fox was willing to hire him for another huge movie after playing the villain inLogan, which is due out in March.Shane Blackalso reiterated in his interview with JoBlo thatThe Predatorwill indeed be a sequel and not a straight up reboot. Here is what he had to say on the matter.
“I think it has to stand on its own two feet, but our goal is to make sure it acknowledges that, yeah, it is 30 years later in the continuity of the story. In other words, Dutch Schaefer’s patrol, which was attacked and largely slaughtered, happened 30 years ago in the context of the story. It’s referenced, it’s part of the mythology. In that way, it’s more of a sequel than a reboot.”
Outside of these new details, we know that the movie is going to be released in IMAX and we have also seen the first official poster forThe Predator, which was released by the studio some time ago. Things were reasonably quiet after that, until now that is, because the ball really seems to be rolling.The Predatoris currently set for release on July 17, 2025.
