Shane Black, who co-starred as Hawkins in the original 1987 Predator had easily one of the best dialogue lines in the entire film, hell in the entire film series when he joked with Sonny Lamhand about the “echo” of his girlfriends deep/big pussy.
Since then he has mostly appeared in films in minor roles but has instead made a very successful career as a hollywood writer and director, scripting such 1980s classics as Leathal Weapon one and two, The Monster Squad, an more recently as writer and director of Iron Man 3 and is now looking to return to the Predator franchise as writer and director of the upcoming film “The Predator” which is scheduled for a 2018 release. Black has said in recent reviews that he plans for the new Predator film to be a “big event” movie, similar to Iron Man 3 and hoping to breath new energy and life into the lagging franchise.
According to Black, 20th Century Fox convinced him to take charge of the Predator franchise movie forward, even though he freely admitted to not having been overly impressed with certain previous installments in the series (the Alien vs. Predator movies, in particular):
They called me and I was reluctant. I said, “Look. You guys at Fox, I mean, I enjoy these movies, but we’ve been churning out these AVP whatever, they each cost a certain amount of money, they’re okay, but there’s no effort to elevate them or make them any kind of an event.” They’re just sort of another Predator. “Oh, there’s another one that came out.” They said, “What if we said to you we want to reinvent this, and really treat it with as much of an event status, or as much hoopla as we would the Alien prequel, which is coming out also? We really want to make this something. The kind of movie that people line up for.” I said, “Really, you’ll spend a bunch of money?” They go, “Yep.” I go, “Make it really scale, spectacle?” “Yep.” “S***, that sounds interesting.”
I think the first one was great, and it was contained, and it was a perfect little gem for what it was. I think there’s an expansion that needs to take place, and also just a love for that era, that movie, and the mythology of the Predator. I think that they came to me knowing pretty much that… they said, basically, if I wanted to make Predator but treat it like it was Iron Man III instead of just another little movie. I said, “Let’s really do it right this time.”
During the annual Arnold Sports Festival in Ohio, the action icon original star Arnold Swartzennager broke the news, revealing to The Arnold Fans that he’s going to have a meeting with Black soon about the new film:
“I haven’t talked with him (Shane Black) yet but I’m going to meet with him for lunch sometime soon. Just as soon as I’m finished with this (Arnold’s Sports Festival) and The Apprentice and all this stuff. But I will get together with him. If there is any news, we’ll of course let you know right away. There’s also a meeting coming up soon about Conan, about the project moving forward.”
The Predator is scheduled for release on March 2, 2018
