The Predator

Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter turned a few heads when they announced the casting of Olivia Munn in Shane Black’s upcoming The Predator and slipped in a quick tease about the script. According to their sources, the newest Predator movie would take place in suburbia, leading many people speculate on how this setting would sync up with earlier reports that Black wanted to make a movie that was both very scary and very funny. After all, the suburbs have given birth to countless horror and science-fiction films; in the hands of someone like Shane Black, they could be the perfect setting for the Predator franchise.

Shane Black’s Predator movie has been shuffling its cast around lately. Benicio Del Toro recently stepped out, to be replaced by Narcos star Boyd Holbrook. Now, the movie has gained a cast member, as X-Men: Apocalypse star Olivia Munn has joined to be a part of the alien hunter-hunting team.

While the Predator franchise hasn’t exactly been as fantastic as the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring debut, excitement is building for Shane Black’s upcoming revival of the series, The Predator. We were pretty disappointed by Benicio Del Toro’s exit earlier this month, but the prospect of Narcos star Boyd Holbrook replacing him was more reassuring. And Black himself is a promising aspect of the project — his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and this year’s The Nice Guys were both fantastic and funny action movies. He’s very excited to start working on the movie, and already has big plans about the general vibe and how it’ll differ from its predecessors.

It was only a month ago that it was reported that Benicio Del Toro was in talks to star in The Predator, Shane Black’s reboot of the famous monster action series. But now The Hollywood Reporter that Del Toro won’t appear in the film, and Black and producers are back on the hunt for another star. Now the guy close to the lead role is Narcos star Boyd Holbrook.

Benicio Del Toro has been taking the world of cinematic sc-fi by storm. After starring as the Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s signed on to a mysterious role in Star Wars: Episode 8, and now it looks like he might be in Shane Black’s Predator sequel.

Neither Shane Black nor Arnold Schwarzenegger have confirmed the actor’s return for The Predator, though the two have expressed interest in the possibility — because how could they not? But one thing is for certain: If Schwarzenegger does come back, he won’t be playing the primary protagonist this time around. Black says as much in a new interview, where he reveals the current name of the hero in his Predator sequel, and discusses his plan to “event-ize” the franchise.

Before you get all worried about the Predator part of that headline, rest assured that it’s good news: Fox has actually moved Shane Black’s sequel up by almost an entire month, putting it in early February 2018, likely hoping to replicate the success of similar R-rated fare like Kingsman and Deadpool. The studio has also announced new release dates for two untitled Marvel projects and Robert Rodriguez’s Alita Battle Angel, as well as the spy thriller Red Sparrow.

Back in February, 20th Century Fox unveiled the first teaser image for The Predator, Shane Black’s upcoming sequel to the the classic sci-fi action flick. Black has completed work on the screenplay with Fred Dekker (of Monster Squad fame), and during the press tour for his upcoming dark comedy The Nice Guys, the director has revealed that not only will they begin production on The Predator this fall, but that the alien hunter will be getting a bit of a costume upgrade.

Shane Black’s new Predator movie has a tentative 2018 release date, and while we’ve been promised that it will “reinvent the franchise,” not much is known about the sequel to the classic action sci-fi flick. The Nice Guy director is currently scripting The Predator with Fred Dekker, and has shed a little light (though not too much) on what we can expect, including when the film takes place and if there’s any hope of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return.

Today, a dynamite interview with The Nice Guys director Shane Black ran over at Thrillist. It’s a good read — not only does Matt Patches get at some nifty insights about violence on film and working with Ryan Gosling, but he extracts two tantalizing tidbits from Black that will only enflame fan anticipation for his upcoming projects.