Predator reboot incoming

[Borgholio]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-v ... ack-714598

The "Lethal Weapon" creator and "Iron Man 3" director will write the treatment and is attached to direct the project, which could relaunch the sci-fi action franchise.

The ’80s action classic Predator is getting the reboot treatment from 20th Century Fox.

But before some purists cry foul, they should know that this reboot comes with an interesting attachment: Shane Black, the venerable screenwriter behind Lethal Weapon and writer-director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3.

Black will write the treatment for the project, then will hand over scripting duties to Fred Dekker, his university chum with whom he wrote 1987’s Monster Squad. Black will oversee the writing and is also attached to direct.

John Davis, who produced the original with Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon, is producing the reboot.

Predator is the muscle-bound action 1987 movie that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura as commandos being stalked in a jungle by a fearsome alien. John McTiernan directed the film, which was one of the movies that cemented Schwarzenegger’s star power.

Black actually appeared in a minor role in the original movie and how he became involved is part of Hollywood lore.

When Predator was being made in 1986, Black was already a screenwriting prodigy for his Lethal Weapon and Monster Squad scripts. The studio and producers wanted him to polish the script for Predator, which was then in pre-production. Black turned it down. A few weeks later, they approached him again. Once more, Black said no. Another few weeks went by, and then the studio called again. This time, however, he was told there was a small role in the movie and asked whether he would like to have it. Black said yes.

When he arrived to the South American set, the studio execs and producers greeted him and said, "By the way, would you mind taking a look at the script?" Black replied, "I’m still not rewriting it."

Fox has found ways to keep Predator alive since its initial outing. There was a Schwarzenegger-less sequel, Predators, in 1990. Robert Rodriguez produced an installment of the franchise in 2010. Fox also combined it with its Alien franchise for a couple of Alien vs. Predator movies released in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

Fox exec Matt Reilly is overseeing the reboot. Davis Entertainment's Ira Napoliello is also overseeing.

This is proving to be a busy time for Black. He is trying to put together a cast for The Nice Guys, a 1970s crime movie that was originally earmarked for television. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are circling the project, which is being produced by Silver but has no home just yet, and that could shoot this fall.

Black is also very actively developing Doc Savage, the adaptation of the 1930s pulp hero for Sony. He recently met with Chris Hemsworth for the title role, but it’s unclear when that project would shoot since it’s still grappling with budgetary issues. Sony, however, does consider Savage one of its priorities.

Black is repped by WME, GreenLit Creative and Bloom Hergott.

Dekker, who directed Monster Squad as well as Robocop 3, is also repped by WME.

So now we have to fear another classic movie being butchered. Quick! Get to da choppa!

[Channel72]

I don't know if I'm in the minority, but I actually liked where they were going with the recent "sequel" Predators.

Yeah, it was kind of mediocre and had a lot of issues, but the premise was really cool, and it fit very well with the Predator mythos. I'd rather actually see a follow-up to that movie than watch a rebooted original Predator with different actors.

Besides, rebooting Arnold movies is a formula for failure.

[General Zod]

Fuck them and their reboot. You simply can't improve a masterpiece.

[Lagmonster]

Reading the actual article does some good towards mitigating my nerd-jerk reaction of "hate reboots". Black's work really stands among some of my favourites. Minimize the studio's fingers in the pot, don't let the stars bring in their own writers, hope he still has his "get the fuck offa my project" attitude, and it could be a good movie.

[Gandalf]

Fuck them and their reboot. You simply can't improve a masterpiece.

Why does the quality of the original matter? It's not like the reboot will make it cease existing, unless one is the type of idiot dedicated to HOLY CANON.

[DaveJB]

About the best thing that can be said about this is that they're bringing back someone who was involved with making the original film, rather than just some idiot hack who only watched the original film on VHS twenty years ago. But yeah, they didn't need to go full reboot on this. None of the other films (apart from the two AvP entries) were really that well connected, they could have just made another standalone sequel and it would likely have made very little difference.

[Terralthra]

Yeah, I dug Predators, too. I hope they can build on that.

[Purple]

Fuck them and their reboot. You simply can't improve a masterpiece.

Why does the quality of the original matter? It's not like the reboot will make it cease existing, unless one is the type of idiot dedicated to HOLY CANON.

They exist for you and me, but there are plenty of people in present and future that will only have seen the remakes/reboots. And what happens if those suck is that you get an entire generation of people for whom something cool has been labeled as sucking and who will thus only remember the bad instead of the good. Which is a shame.

[Gandalf]

Oh no, they won't care for a brand name?

[Purple]

Oh no, they won't care for a brand name?

And thus there would be any motivation for any good sequels/reboots/remakes to be made for it. Good remakes = fun for everyone. Bad remakes = bad for everyone and no more good remakes.

[Gandalf]

You're right. I remember that after Batman and Robin, there weren't any more Batman films.

[Purple]

You're right. I remember that after Batman and Robin, there weren't any more Batman films.

I am not sure I follow. "Batman and Robin" is an example of what I say, but not in the way you say. It was was a masterpiece and clearly the best Batman movie ever made. And it ushered in an age of sequels.

[AniThyng]

You're right. I remember that after Batman and Robin, there weren't any more Batman films.

I am not sure I follow. "Batman and Robin" is an example of what I say, but not in the way you say. It was was a masterpiece and clearly the best Batman movie ever made. And it ushered in an age of sequels.

Not sure if sarcasm detector is broken.

[Purple]

You're right. I remember that after Batman and Robin, there weren't any more Batman films.

I am not sure I follow. "Batman and Robin" is an example of what I say, but not in the way you say. It was was a masterpiece and clearly the best Batman movie ever made. And it ushered in an age of sequels.

Not sure if sarcasm detector is broken.

I am serious. I loved the movie. It's fun, action packed and has Arnold in it.

[Borgholio]

Wasn't Batman and Robin the LAST of a series of movies until...wait for it...it was rebooted with Batman Begins?

[DaveJB]

Well, it looks like the initial reports were incorrect; it's a sequel, not a reboot. Presumably they're taking the same path as the second and third films and just not making it directly connected to any of the prior ones. Link

Last night, news broke that 20th Century Fox was reviving its Predator franchise with Shane Black attached to direct and write the treatment, while Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad) would handle scripting duties. While it didn’t come as a surprise that Fox wanted to put together another entry in one of its staple film series, it was excellent to hear that Black, who wrote and directed Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Iron Man 3, would be steering the ship. A veteran screenwriter, Black has developed a signature tone and style that is a welcome reprieve from generic studio actioners, and he proved himself to be a strong director with the incredible Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang then showed he could handle a massive budget on Iron Man 3.

While Black’s Predator film was initially reported as being a reboot, we recently got in touch with the filmmaker who clarified that he and Dekker are actually envisioning an “inventive sequel” with this iteration, which is to say it’s really not a reboot at all.

While the initial report said that Black’s new Predator film would be a reboot, Black tells us that he and Dekker see the project as definitely not a reboot, “As far as Fred and I are concerned anyway,” Black said, adding “Why start over, when you’ve all this rich mythology yet to mine?” Black said he doesn’t like reboots generally, but can “really get behind inventive sequels”, noting that he likes “the idea of expanding and exploring the existing Predator mythology, rather than hitting the restart button.” He went on to say that Dekker, who’s writing the screenplay, is “perfect” for the project, adding the two had a blast writing the screenplay for The Monster Squad together. Indeed, the result of their previous collaboration makes the prospect of the new Predator film even more enticing.

More often than not, a reboot is a lazy way of avoiding the hard work of coming up with a new idea, and instead choosing to use the blueprint of what came before. What Black and Dekker have planned for Predator, however, sounds like something fresh yet in step with the spirit of the original films, and that’s worth getting excited about. Just exactly what portions of the Predator mythology will be mined for this new film are under wraps for now, but I’m eager to see what surprises Black and Dekker have up their sleeves.

[General Zod]

Fuck them and their reboot. You simply can't improve a masterpiece.

Why does the quality of the original matter? It's not like the reboot will make it cease existing, unless one is the type of idiot dedicated to HOLY CANON.

I simply don't see how a remake can live up to the original, or add anything of significant value to the series. But since it's been confirmed as not being a remake, I can breathe a little easier.

[Lagmonster]

My faith in Black continues. He isn't a film messiah, but he seems to be smart enough not to tie himself willingly to shit projects.

[Iroscato]

Well it looks as though prequel-sequel-reboot-remakes are in vogue at the moment in Hollywood, what with DOFP enjoying huge success and Terminator 5 incoming. Maybe this will follow suit.

[Darth Nostril]

Black and Dekker. Powerful solutions.



Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Replicant]

Assuming this reboot makes it to the screen, how much physical change if anything do you want to see to the Predator himself?

I would like to see some minor improvements based on better special effects but beyond that I want to see the same Predator that threw Arnie around like a ragdoll.

[Channel72]

I am not sure I follow. "Batman and Robin" is an example of what I say, but not in the way you say. It was was a masterpiece and clearly the best Batman movie ever made. And it ushered in an age of sequels.

Not sure if sarcasm detector is broken.

I am serious. I loved the movie. It's fun, action packed and has Arnold in it.

Is this really happening?

[Iroscato]

I am serious. I loved the movie. It's fun, action packed and has Arnold in it.

You're fucking weird, Purple.

[Purple]

I am serious. I loved the movie. It's fun, action packed and has Arnold in it.

You're fucking weird, Purple.

I seriously can not understand what people dislike about the movie. It had a memorable cast of villains, some very good one liners, a villain that actually felt human and a female lead for each end of the good evil spectrum. It had some great special effects, good action and was generally fun. So what's not to like?

[Iroscato]

I have no idea what you've been smoking, ingesting, injecting or rectally inserting as of late Purple, but your posts have seriously taken a nosedive in general quality as of late. Batman and Robin was an absolute travesty of a film, aimed squarely at kids to sell as many toys as possible (hence the word 'toyetic' being bandied about during production), and somehow managed to be more camp yet far less enjoyable than the '66 movie 30 years earlier.
Schumacher straight-up admitted he fucked up, and apologised to fans for the horror he had conceived in tandem with a bloated studio obsessed with selling the film to the lowest common denominator.