Out of all the various sequels, spinoffs, crossovers and reboots that followed in the wake of John McTiernan’s classic original, Nimrod Antal’s Predators is arguably the best. While Predator 2 is entertaining in its own way, and Shane Black’s The Predator showed flashes of brilliance that are too few and far between, the 2010 Robert Rodriguez production is a satisfyingly old school genre movie with no airs or graces.
It takes an ensemble cast of wildly disparate characters, drops them in the middle of an alien jungle and forces them to fight for survival. That’s the entire plot in a nutshell, and that no-frills approach is one of the reasons why Predators has remained a firm cult favorite. Despite turning a sizeable profit after making $127 million at the box office on a $40 million budget and earning a further $32 million in DVD and Blu-Ray sales from the United States alone, though, not to mention largely enthusiastic reviews from both fans and critics, a sequel was never made.
Co-writer Alex Litvak has revealed that he wanted the second outing to be a cross between Die Hard and Alien set in the Predator universe, which sounds all kinds of awesome, but after The Predator bombed two years ago, it appeared that the franchise might be over for good.
However, it was confirmed recently that 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg is rebooting the property once again, and now insider Daniel Richtman claims that multiple Predator movies could be in the works. The tipster has hinted that 20th Century Studios is cooking up more than one new project for the series, and that discussions have focused on bringing back either Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch, Adrien Brody’s Royce, or even both.
“Disney/Fox are developing not only a prequel but a sequel movie as well and they want Adrian Brody and Arnold back,” he says.
Fans would love to see a sequel to Predators and the return of the Austrian action icon in equal measure, and if someone can figure out a way to get both him and Brody in the same movie, then the franchise could finally be onto a real winner.
