Predator reboot incoming

[Batman]

The movies alone would have been blindingly obvious evidence that I'm DC, not Marvel, so you were either being intentionally ignorant (which is bad enough) or so abysmally stupid you didn't notice I'm DC (which I find hard to accept given the length of time I've been around).

[Purple]

The movies alone would have been blindingly obvious evidence that I'm DC, not Marvel, so you were either being intentionally ignorant (which is bad enough) or so abysmally stupid you didn't notice I'm DC (which I find hard to accept given the length of time I've been around).

Sorry about that. It's really not intentional. It's been a long time (at least 2 years) since I watched any of the movies (since I did not care much about the new dark and edgy ones). And my interactions with you have been very limited.

[Batman]

I was talking about the comics. 75 years and you didn't figure out Batman isn't Marvel? Marvel Comics didn't 'exist' until 1961 when I've been in print since 1939.
Or maybe I'm just overestimating everybody's comic book knowledge. I'm so used to everybody knowing more than I do that I think I might have forgotten there's people who know (or care) considerably less.

[Purple]

I was talking about the comics. 75 years and you didn't figure out Batman isn't Marvel? Marvel Comics didn't 'exist' until 1961 when I've been in print since 1939.

I have newer in my life owned or held in my hands a single comic book published either by Marvel or DC. In fact I have not even seen one up close and personal. Even that guy I mentioned reads them online.

[Cykeisme]

I know it doesn't add anything to the conversation when I state I'm going to take the generic cautiously optimistic "wait and see" approach to this new Predator reboot, and that it's blindingly obvious to say it could go really well or really badly.. but that's my reaction to this news.

Something's got me wondering a little, though.. the fairly recent installments (AvP flicks and Predators) have established that they can go on milking the franchise to this very day and age, considering Predators made USD 127m for its USD 40m budget.

So what is it, I wonder, spurred them to suddenly decide to do a reboot instead of just another movie in the existing (admittedly loose) shared universe?


Also, I chuckled when Gandalf used Batman and Robin as an example of a "bad remake" to Purple.
Little did he know..

[Iroscato]

I know it doesn't add anything to the conversation when I state I'm going to take the generic cautiously optimistic "wait and see" approach to this new Predator reboot, and that it's blindingly obvious to say it could go really well or really badly.. but that's my reaction to this news.

Something's got me wondering a little, though.. the fairly recent installments (AvP flicks and Predators) have established that they can go on milking the franchise to this very day and age, considering Predators made USD 127m for its USD 40m budget.

So what is it, I wonder, spurred them to suddenly decide to do a reboot instead of just another movie in the existing (admittedly loose) shared universe?


Also, I chuckled when Gandalf used Batman and Robin as an example of a "bad remake" to Purple.
Little did he know..

Actually, Shane Black has gone on record to say this is a sequel to the Predator series, not a full-blown reboot. Whether that means it's a Superman Returns-style sequel that ignores other films in the series and follows on from the first two, or an actual sequel to the recent Predators, remains to be seen.

[PREDATOR490]

I can expect a reboot / standalone sequel will be made because it allows them to ditch the ties to any of the other films to do whatever they want. I can especially see them trying to distance out some of the Alien crossover shit because the movies have made a complete shambles out of the mythology.

On the one hand, if they reboot Predator and actually decide to stick with a more consistent mythology then it might be worthwhile.
However, the Xenomorphs started out as little more than monster trash like Predator and the 'exploration' of their mythology resulted in the increasingly stupid bullshit to justify their existence.
The culmination ending in Prometheus with Xenomorphs somehow being destroyers next to the Space Jockey Jesus.

[TOSDOC]

What was awesome about Aliens, was rather than simply replaying the stuff that happened in Alien with different circumstantial details, they went in an entirely new direction that made the movie stand out on it's own.

Eh, I’d argue they did both. I’d be the first to admit Aliens is one of the greatest film sequels ever made, but it does rehash the first one’s script a bit, just under different circumstances:

In the 1st, there is a slow buildup of suspense as the crew monitors the creature’s approach to Dallas via motion tracker. In the 2nd, there is a slow buildup of suspense as the marines monitor the creatures’ approach via motion tracker.

In the 1st, Ripley escapes from a thermonuclear blast just in time, but not before going back for Jones. In the 2nd, Ripley escapes from a thermonuclear blast just in time, but not before going back for Newt.

There is an alien stowaway on each escape vessel.

Ripley must square off against the alien stowaway and finishes the job by ejecting it into space.

The genius of the sequel is that it may accomplish these without you realizing it, because the tone has changed from horror to action, but both rely on the clever buildup of suspense before the payoff.

Predators did go in a different direction, which I liked, had some badass characters, which I liked, and had the same tone and music, which I enjoyed immensely. I think it would be considered a stronger film if there was no Predator. If this new film, involving one of the original actors who was there and knows damn well what Predator was, can go in the same vein I would be pleased.

[Channel72]

However, the Xenomorphs started out as little more than monster trash like Predator and the 'exploration' of their mythology resulted in the increasingly stupid bullshit to justify their existence.

I don't know how fair it is to say that the Alien franchise started out as "monster trash." It was a pretty horrifying, original sci-fi take on the "Ten Little Indians", slasher-film, incremental death type story, but elevated a bit by the amazing H.R. Giger design and the bizarrely realistic, improv-style acting. (Seriously, the scene where they're eating dinner before Kane dies looks like documentary footage/ad-libbed experimental acting or something... I wish modern movies could pull off shit like that, instead of the usual, polished Hollywood-filtered vibe we get)

The franchise didn't start to really get stupid until Alien Resurrection, although I realize Alien 3 is pretty controversial. I might be in the minority, but I always appreciated that movie's nihilistically subtle tone for some reason... it was almost like an independent film or something. (Or maybe I'm just being fooled by the predominantly British cast...) They really should have just ended the whole thing there. By the time Prometheus came around they really went overboard into the nonsense zone.

[Iroscato]

(Seriously, the scene where they're eating dinner before Kane dies looks like documentary footage/ad-libbed experimental acting or something... I wish modern movies could pull off shit like that, instead of the usual, polished Hollywood-filtered vibe we get)

That's actually not far off what happened during filming IIRC. In the script for the dinner scene, it just said the creature 'comes out of him', and didn't bother to go into the finer details. So the other actor's reactions when...that happens is well on the way to being ad-libbed

[FaxModem1]

One idea that would be great is setting it during historical periods, as we know, unless they made Predator 2 non-canon, that the predators have been at it for a long time. Though, it could lead to silliness like this:



Frankly, the idea I like best is a human being adopted into a Predator family, like Machiko Noguchi from the comics and novels. Note, I'm not saying that we need to see Machiko or that they follow that story, but the premise of a 'civilized' human would be rather interesting.

[Borgholio]

If I recall, the actress who played Lambert literally fell over backwards during Kane's death scene, it was so unexpected.

[Tandrax218]

i would like to see the predator come to earth in the future when earth tech is more advanced...

the idea of a movie in the "past" sounds like predator overkill, he would be against knights in armor or guys with flintlock weapons...

and then again i dont like the idea of rebooting a philosophical masterpiece that is Predator with Arnie.

[Kuja]

There was a video game with that idea, as I recall. A Predator accidentally leaves some of his gear behind on Earth after a hunt and comes back later to find that humans found his stash and are now using Predtech like the cloaks and shoulder cannons.

[FaxModem1]

Yeah, it was called Predator: Concrete Jungle, which took place in the fictional New Way City.

[Purple]

What would be interesting to see is an Avatar like situation. You know, have us as the bad guy. Or at least a worthy adversary.

Have the whole thing happen in the Alien timeline. So some sort of distant future. The Predators are hunting for their pray, some sort of exotic beast on a distant planet far away. The planet also has a small human colony that serves as a survey station for colonization or something. But they don't know about the predator and he does not see them as worthy of hunting. Than one day they discover the beast and decide that it's worth being studied. Que some corporation coming in and deciding it can be weaponized or something similar. But basically they deploy troops and start hunting.

Now the predator is threatened. The humans are actively encroaching on his hunting grounds and competing for his pray. And they are doing it in a way he sees as dishonorable. Que him taking on the whole planet on his own to chase away the interlopers. Now make the Predator the protagonist in all this. A silent and ruthless protagonist that says nothing but gives us through his perspective a way of seeing the whole situation in a whole new light.

As for story, you can get some sort of human character interaction between goodie two shoes scientists and the mercenary marines or something, and than have the later massacred by our hero.

Have the movie end with the predator getting into the original colony after the marines have been killed and starting to murder everyone until he reaches a museum room. And in that room he finds a whole bunch of skeletons and stuffed animals. He looks at these and concludes that in the end the humans are not so different than him self and simply leaves.

End the whole thing with a narration from the main scientist guy: "We newer knew where that creature came from, what it was or why it attacked us. And we might newer know. Just as we might newer know why it left."

[Grumman]

The franchise didn't start to really get stupid until Alien Resurrection, although I realize Alien 3 is pretty controversial. I might be in the minority, but I always appreciated that movie's nihilistically subtle tone for some reason... it was almost like an independent film or something. (Or maybe I'm just being fooled by the predominantly British cast...) They really should have just ended the whole thing there. By the time Prometheus came around they really went overboard into the nonsense zone.

Ripley's story should have ended with Aliens. There might be room for more stories in the setting, but they should not have dragged Ripley & co back into it. She'd faced her demons, found a new family, and was riding off into the sunset. That should have been the end of it. Alien 3 undermined Aliens the same way Terminator 3 undermined Terminator 2, and while it might generally be a better movie, it still grates for the same reason.

[PREDATOR490]

Personally, the only thing I can really see being a new concept is for a Predator film to drop the 'hunt' aspect and go the war route. If you really wanted to add continuity, have a war between the Super Predators and normal Predators with humans stumbling into the situation. That way you can show what the Predators bring to the field when shit gets real. Doing it from a Predator perspective or having a Predator team up with the humans might be a decent chance to add depth to the Predators beyond the monster killing machine. However, I seriously doubt that will ever happen.

[DaveJB]

Ripley's story should have ended with Aliens. There might be room for more stories in the setting, but they should not have dragged Ripley & co back into it.

They weren't going to, originally - the first script for Alien 3 (by William Gibson) had Hicks as the main character, and then there were two subsequent drafts which didn't have any returning characters from the earlier films. Ripley was brought back mostly because subsequent script versions went off in a very odd, metaphysical direction, and they needed something to keep the storyline grounded.

[Alkaloid]

See, I'm almost entirely the opposite. I'd drop the 'super' predators entirely, because I really didn't like Predators nearly as much as I like Predator or Predator 2, in large part because there was nothing particularly super about the supposed super predators. Can anyone seriously imagine Arnies predator being killed by some two bit gangster with a sword? Especially given the parade of supermercenaries he liberated from their spines?

[Channel72]

Yeah, the "classic" predator is cooler. That's one thing I didn't like about Predators - the new predator design was kind of pointless. Essentially, the writers wanted to give each predator some kind of "personality" - you had a tracker, a falconer, a hunter or something... But the "super predators" looked too, er... tribal, with their bone-adorned gear and all, and not "sci-fi" enough. The classic predator looks at a lot more threatening.

[Channel72]

The franchise didn't start to really get stupid until Alien Resurrection, although I realize Alien 3 is pretty controversial. I might be in the minority, but I always appreciated that movie's nihilistically subtle tone for some reason... it was almost like an independent film or something. (Or maybe I'm just being fooled by the predominantly British cast...) They really should have just ended the whole thing there. By the time Prometheus came around they really went overboard into the nonsense zone.

Ripley's story should have ended with Aliens. There might be room for more stories in the setting, but they should not have dragged Ripley & co back into it. She'd faced her demons, found a new family, and was riding off into the sunset. That should have been the end of it. Alien 3 undermined Aliens the same way Terminator 3 undermined Terminator 2, and while it might generally be a better movie, it still grates for the same reason.

Yeah, I know - that's the standard criticism. I can understand that criticism, but unlike most hated sequels, Alien 3 wasn't stupid - it wasn't really a bad movie. It was just really nihilistic and depressing. It was pretty far from your typical Hollywood formula, with the main characters from Aliens dying meaningless deaths, Ripley's new love interest dying suddenly, and Ripley ultimately dying as well. But I don't think it was actually a bad movie, in the way that Terminator 3 was just stupid.

[Borgholio]

I always thought Alien 3 should have been a way to introduce a new group of main characters into the Alien world. Say, there was another Space Jockey ship on Fury 161 and the same thing happened to the prisoners that happened on LV-426. However this time, due to being an armed prison colony, things go a bit different and a fair number of them survive. Unfortunately, earlier in the movie, the cowardly chief warden took the only escape shuttle and fled the planet, only to have a face-hugging stowaway with him. This shuttle makes it back to Earth with it's "cargo" and this sets the scene for Alien 4 where Ripley could make a cameo if they really wanted her to...although at that point she'd probably say, "Fuck this, I'm tired of these things. I'm outta here.", and hop on the first outbound ship with Hicks and Newt.

[TOSDOC]

See, I'm almost entirely the opposite. I'd drop the 'super' predators entirely, because I really didn't like Predators nearly as much as I like Predator or Predator 2, in large part because there was nothing particularly super about the supposed super predators. Can anyone seriously imagine Arnies predator being killed by some two bit gangster with a sword? Especially given the parade of supermercenaries he liberated from their spines?

I remember an old issue of Starlog back in the late 80's or early 90's that had an "Ecology of the Predator" type article. It jived with Wong's brainbug about Klingons, that the Predators were not an entirely hunt-oriented culture anymore than the Klingons had to be entirely a race of warlike honor-bound Vikings.

It suggested that the Predator in the first film was a professional hunter in his spare time, and could have been simply on vacation on Earth from his accounting job back home. This still meshed well with the second film, where the creature is depicted as more fierce and reckless than the first's personality; the second Predator may be younger and from a different outlook entirely on his planet. The difference was to that between a 50-year old professional suit on his own with a single gun and knife, and an 18-year old redneck who just bought every gadget in the gunshop before leaving with his family on safari.

I took the difference between predators and "super-predators" to be a difference in ethnic tribes, between which there are plenty of parables of strife on our own planet. But it's not a direction that was needed at all, I hope they nix them in the next film.

[Sinewmire]

I took the difference between predators and "super-predators" to be a difference in ethnic tribes, between which there are plenty of parables of strife on our own planet. But it's not a direction that was needed at all, I hope they nix them in the next film.

Or they're females! IIRC in the EU, predator females are larger and more aggressive than the males.