Over one year ago, it was revealed that Fox was looking to get to the chopper for a new Predator movie with Shane Black in the director's chair and Fred Dekker on the keyboard, but since that initial announcement, the news front for the project has been as quiet as its stealthy galactic hunter... until recently, when producer John Davis broke the silence.
Speaking with Collider's Haleigh Foutch at the Television Critics Association, Davis, co-producer of the original Predator and producer of the upcoming entry to the franchise, said that the new Predator film—considered a sequel rather than a reboot—is still very much on track and that the script from Black and Dekker (longtime friends who worked together on the beloved 1987's Monster Squad) is spectacular:
“Shane shot a movie and he’s doing a pilot now, but I’ve read a lot of his script and I think it’s genius. I think it’s genius and I think it’s entertaining, and what it did is recreate a famous franchise in a different, interesting way; looking at it from a different light.
“Shane’s got a writing partner, Fred Dekker. They’ve been doing it together and Fred’s great. The two of them together, they’ve been in the business for a long time, but 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.'"
While it's not exactly groundbreaking that someone affiliated with the Predator sequel is excited about it, it is encouraging to know that over one year after this project was revealed, it's still going strong with Black and Dekker attached to it.
It will be refreshing to see a continuation of the Predator storyline rather than a rebooted retread, and horror hounds have to be thrilled knowing that Fred Night of the Creeps Dekker is producing new material for the big screen. That alone should be worth the price of admission.
As Predator fans know, Black is no stranger to the Predator franchise, having played the role of the bespectacled, wisecracking Rick Hawkins in the 1987 original.
Writer/director of the criminally under-watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and director/co-writer of the widely celebrated Iron Man 3 (2013), Black previously was interested in directing the feature film adaptation of Death Note, but now Adam Wingard is set to helm the film for Warner Bros. In addition to the Predator sequel, Black is working on getting a movie version of Doc Savage to the big screen and he's also lined up to direct an adaptation of The Destroyer for Sony Pictures. It's uncertain in what order these projects will see the light of the silver screen (if they make it that far), but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details regarding the Predator sequel.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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