You might have forgotten that a new Predator movie was in the works from Shane Black, but to prove it’s a thing that’s happening a teaser poster has been released. Simply titled The Predator, there is every reason to be excited that this reboot will be a worthy addition to the franchise, and let me tell you why.
Shane Black’s involvement should be enough to get your interest, the writer turned director was behind some of the greatest (and funniest) action movies of all time. Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, the deeply underrated The Long Kiss Goodnight and the equally misunderstood Last Action Hero were all from the mind of Shane Black. In recent years, he has moved into directing withe the likes of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 and this year’s Nice Guys. However, it’s not just Black’s presence behind the scenes that makes The Predator an enticing prospect; Black is reuniting with his The Monster Squad co-writer Fred Dekker to pen the screenplay. Released back in 1987, Dekker’s The Monster Squad should have reaped a Goonies sized audience. Instead, the movie flopped big time and nearly derailed Black’s career no sooner than it started. Thankfully, The Monster Squad found a cult following over the years and celebrates its 30th anniversary next year.
Shane Black made a rare appearance in front of the cameras in the original Predator as Hawkins, his role in the movie was a thank you from producer Joel Silver after Black’s first script (Lethal Weapon) struck gold at the box office.
As a franchise, Predator hasn’t had the best of luck outside of the original. Danny Glover took over from Arnie in the first sequel, a solid effort that didn’t recapture the box office success the franchise lay dormant for almost 15 years. Then, Alien vs. Predator happened, and Paul W.S. Anderson managed a rare feat, he killed two icons of sci-fi in one shitty movie. Sadly, the movie made enough money to get a sequel into production and arriving three years later AVP 2 washed up to mangle the corpse some more to create a truly unremarkable waste of time. Robert Rodriguez attempted to resuscitate the franchise and produced Predators in 2010, a marked improvement on AVP and its sequel although it was far from being the shot in the arm the ailing franchise needed. Remember that really cool shot from the trailer that had multiple Predator red dots all over Adrian Brody? Who else felt ripped off that the studio added those in for the trailer as in the movie it was only one. Admittedly one unstoppable killing machine is enough for anybody to contend with, but come on 20th Century Fox!
Ultimately, I’m first in the queue for any movie Shane Black is directing or writing, and his involvement in The Predator can only be a good thing.
