14 DAY TRIAL // Great news for fans of the “Predator” franchise: Shane Black, who played Hawkins in the original 1987 film but has gone to become one of the most accomplished writers and directors of action movies of our times, is handling writing and directorial duties on a new installment.
In response to reports that 20th Century Fox was looking to “reboot” the franchise with his help, Black has spoken to Collider to set the record straight: this won’t be a reboot but a sequel. In addition, he’s revealed that Fred Dekker is also working with him on the script.
“As far as Fred and I are concerned anyway. Why start over, when you’ve all this rich mythology yet to mine?” Black says.
So, instead of having a movie that would retell the story from the original and perhaps add a little bit more flash to it, we will get a movie that will further expand the Predator universe. Think of a project like Robert Rodriguez’s from 2010, “Predators,” which, though ambitious, failed to impress the fans as anticipated.
“I really get behind inventive sequels [because I love] the idea of expanding and exploring the existing Predator mythology, rather than hitting the restart button,” Black continues, explaining why he hates the concept of reboots.
With a man like Black on board, this new “Predator” installment could actually do justice to the original franchise: he’s written the scripts for several huge box office hits (and he’s considered a pioneer of the action genre because of it) like the “Lethal Weapon” films and “Iron Man 3,” but he’s also directed “Kiss Bang Bang” and “Iron Man 3.” Plus, he is familiar with “Predator” because of his role in the original.