While reboot/sequel/sequelboot culture is getting a bit tiring, it’s impossible not to be excited about a newPredatormovie whenShane Blackis involved. TheKiss Kiss Bang Bangfilmmaker had a supporting role in the originalArnold Schwarzenegger-fronted actioner and contributed heavily to that film’s screenplay, and he returned to the franchise in 2014 by boarding 20th Century Fox’s reboot. However, instead of starting from scratch, Black and co-writerFred Dekker(ofMonster Squadfame) opted to craft a sequel,explaining to us here at Collider, “Why start over when you’ve all this rich mythology to mine?” Black added that he’s a fan of “really inventive sequels,” which should be obvious given the stellarIron Man 3, but since that time we haven’t heard too much by way of updates on the newPredatormovie. Until today, that is.
TheofficialPredatorFacebook pageunveiled a promo poster touting, “Here we go again, bro,” with the poster’s tagline reading “You’ll Never See Him Coming.” Folks noticed that in red on the poster were the words “The Predator,” leading us to wonder if that’s the title of this newPredatormovie. We reached out to Black himself who confirmed that, barring any other ideas,The Predatoris the current title of the film.
While this is clearly a promo poster as the movie doesn’t have a cast yet, I love the cleverness of the tagline “You’ll Never See Him Coming.” It’s a reference to the camouflage of the character, obviously, but also harkens back to a line of dialogue uttered by The Mandarin in Marvel’sIron Man 3, which Black co-wrote and directed.
Feature film-wise, Black most recently wrote and helmed the 70s-setThe Nice Guys, starringRyan GoslingandRussell Crowe, which looks utterly fantastic and is poised for release this May, and he also co-wrote (with Dekker) and directed the Amazon pilotEdge. Beyond that, we don’t know ifThe Predatorwill be Black’s next directing gig or if he’ll revive the promisingDoc Savageadaptationthat he was working on in the wake ofIron Man 3’s success. This new teaser poster seems to suggestThe Predatoris gaining steam, so might we see Black return to the franchise sooner rather than later? Whatever the case, a new Shane Black movie is good news for all.
