The Predator (film)

The Predator is an upcoming American science-fiction action horror film directed by Shane Black and co-written by Black and Fred Dekker. It is the fourth installment in the Predator franchise, following Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010), set to take place between Predator 2 and Predators. The film stars Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Sterling K. Brown, Jacob Tremblay, Yvonne Strahovski, Alfie Allen, and Thomas Jane. The film is set to be released on August 3, 2018, by 20th Century Fox in IMAX as well as standard formats.

Cast

• Boyd Holbrook as Quinn McKenna, a former Marine and Special Forces commando who discovers the existence of the fierce Predators but finds that no one believes they exist. James Franco was originally offered the role but passed on it before Benicio del Toro was cast, but Del Toro later had to back out due to scheduling conflicts.
• Olivia Munn as Casey Bracket, a scientist opposite Quinn.
• Trevante Rhodes as Nebraska Williams,^[1] a former Marine who enlists in a special Predator-hunting operation headed up by Quinn, his best friend.^[2] 50 Cent was originally in talks to play the role before Rhodes was cast.
• Keegan-Michael Key as a man who teams up with Quinn and Williams to fight the Predators.^[3]
• Sterling K. Brown as a government agent who jails Quinn but later needs his help with fighting the Predators.^[4]
• Jacob Tremblay as Quinn's troubled son, who has a form of autism and is bullied in school but becomes a key player in the fight against the Predators due to his preternatural ability to learn languages.
• Yvonne Strahovski as Quinn's ex-wife and the mother to Tremblay's character.
• Alfie Allen as a former Marine who teams with several other outsiders, including Quinn, to stop the human-hunting Predators in suburbia.^[5]
• Thomas Jane
• Augusto Aguilera^[6]
• Jake Busey^[7] as the son of Peter Keyes.
• Edward James Olmos as a military figure.^[8]
• Niall Matter^[9]

Production

Pre-production

In June 2014, Fox announced a sequel which Shane Black will direct and co-write with Fred Dekker, and John Davis will produce.^[10] Davis has said of the film that he thinks it is fresh and reimagines the franchise in a "different, interesting way".^[11] In February 2016, Black confirmed the title of the new sequel would be The Predator.^[12] Shane Black has referred to the project as an event film which aims to elevate the Predator series: "It's an attempt to 'event-ise' the Predator again... [An attempt to] make it more mysterious."^[13][14] Black also expressed that the film would mark a return to the "intimate" scale of the original film and that the film-makers hoped to achieve “the same sense of wonderment and newness that Close Encounters had when that came out.”^[14]

Shane Black has confirmed that the film is set in the present day and the titular character will have an upgraded set of armor.^[15][16][17] Black has also indicated that the film would be a sequel set in present day 2018, following the events of Predator and Predator 2, but set prior to the events of the 2010 film Predators.^[18][19] He also mentioned that he looked for plot details set up in the previous Predator movies that he could retrospectively link back to with the new film.^[20] In February 2016, the studio revealed a teaser image of the film, confirming the title The Predator.^[21]

Martin Whist served as the films production designer,^[22] while effects house Amalgamated Dynamics provided the creature effects for The Predator, having done so previously for the first two Alien vs. Predator films.^[23]

Casting

Arnold Schwarzenegger was confirmed to have discussed with Black about returning to the film as his character after the first Predator (1987) film.^[24] Rapper 50 Cent has spoken of the possibility of being involved in the film.^[25] By September 2016, Benicio del Toro had signed on to star in the film.^[26] The following month, Boyd Holbrook was in negotiations to replace del Toro, who departed due to scheduling issues.^[27] On November 3, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter had reported that Olivia Munn was in talks to play a role.^[28] In January 2017, Trevante Rhodes and Keegan-Michael Key had joined the cast while Sterling K. Brown and Thomas Jane are in talks to join as well.^{[29][30][31][32][33]} Child actor Jacob Tremblay was reported to have joined the cast on January 25, 2017, playing the son of Holbrook's character.^[34] In February, Alfie Allen and Yvonne Strahovski were added to the cast.^[5][35] In March, the last main role was filled by Augusto Aguilera and Jake Busey was also cast.^[6][36]

Filming

Filming was scheduled to begin in February 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[37] On November 21, 2016, Larry Fong was confirmed to be hired as cinematographer for the film.^[38] Black announced on his Twitter that filming began on February 20, 2017.^[39] Filming wrapped on the 2nd of June.^[40]

Release

The Predator was originally slated by 20th Century Fox for a March 2, 2018 release date,^[41][42] before the date was pushed forward to February 9, 2018.^[43] It was then pushed back to August 3, 2018.^[44] The film will also be released in IMAX theatres.^[45]

See also

• List of monster movies

References

External links

• The Predator on IMDb
• The Predator at Rotten Tomatoes