Dan Trachtenberg, who has spent the last several years reviving and steering the Predator franchise for 20th Century Studios, is planting his flag at Paramount Pictures.
The filmmaker has signed a three-year first-look directing and producing deal with the studio. He will develop, direct and produce feature projects with his producing partner, Ben Rosenblatt.
The deal marks a return to the Melrose lot for Trachtenberg, who made his feature debut with 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane for Paramount. And it’s the latest big-name filmmaker deal for the David Ellison-owned Paramount, which is headed by co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg.
“As a kid I remember seeing the Paramount logo and dreaming of the epic adventure that would follow,” said Trachtenberg in a statement. “Now to have the opportunity to bring new huge and emotional stories to giant screens is a literally a dream come true. Ben and I cannot wait to join Dana, Josh, Don, and the entire Paramount team in pursuing our shared vision of making Paramount once again the apex of cinema.”
Paramount, since being acquired last summer, has brought filmmakers and producers such as the Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things), Jon M. Chu (Wicked), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Issa Rae (Insecure) and JD Lifshitz and Raphael Marguelies (Barbarian) into the fold as its stocks up with cupboard with talent.
Stated Greenstein and Goldberg: “Dan has an extraordinary ability to deliver films that are both daring and deeply entertaining. He has a rare instinct for tension, scale, and storytelling that connects with audiences worldwide. We’re excited to welcome him to the studio.”
Trachtenberg is coming off the success of Predator: Badlands, the third of his Predator features. Released in November, Badlands became the highest-grossing entry in the franchise’s 38-year history, earning $184.5 million worldwide and surpassing the previous franchise record holder, 2004’s Alien vs. Predator ($177.4 million).
That came on the heels of his animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers, which was released in June on Hulu. He first took on Predator with Prey, the 2022 movie that revitalized the franchise by taking it into the colonial West. The movie earned Trachtenberg two Emmy nominations, including outstanding directing for a limited series anthology or movie and outstanding writing for a limited series anthology or movie.
Rosenblatt was a producer on the Snowpiercer and Ripley series, in addition to producing Trachtenberg’s Predator franchise films.
Trachtenberg, who also directed the pilot for Amazon series The Boys, is repped by CAA, Untitled and Johnson Shapiro.
Dek of the Yautja goes through a lot throughout Predator: Badlands, all in the name of seeking validation from his father, Njohrr. This being Predator, “validation” actually means “trial by combat,” and the showdown between father and son at the end was almost more restrained than what we got on screen.
In the final cut of the film, Dek and Njohrr’s fight on Yautja Prime has them really going at it. But as Wētā’s two supervisors—Sheldon Stopsack for VFX, and Karl Rapley for animation—revealed to Polygon, that clash was originally more akin to a samurai film. “Father would turn invisible, and there’d be a quick rush as they ran toward each other,” explained Rapley. “Dek threw sand at Father, which revealed him, and then they crossed paths, like a samurai standoff, and they went to the opposite sides, and then Father’s arm fell off. So it was just a very quick exchange.”
After watching the film, director Dan Trachtenberg approached Wētā about doing a “bigger” sequence that would make it feel “more of a moment.” The Predator: Badlands stunt team came down to New Zealand and made a brand new fight sequence, so Wētā had to digitally create Yautja Prime, including the clan guards Dek disposes of and the planet’s geographical features. Using the original fight as a reference point, Rapley said the team used “sweeping camera moves” for the new sequence and created a sandstorm from scratch.
Stopsack felt the sandstorm served a “narrative point” of Dek outsmarting his father, and the idea behind it was sound. It may have been a challenge, but he said the team was “excited” to tackle it and considers it “one of the more beautiful, fun aspects [of the film]. Dan told us, ‘We don’t want to show them clearly. It wants to be muddy and a bit more gritty.’ I really admired that and resonated with it.”
With the longer fight, audiences get to see how Dek’s come into his own as a hunter, and it hopefully gets them excited about where he goes next. There’s no word yet on if we’re getting a sequel to Predator: Badlands, but at the very least, it feels like the young Yautja has endeared himself enough to hopefully pop up somewhere else.
After the streaming hits Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, sci-fi fans had a pretty good idea that director Dan Trachtenberg‘s first big-screen entry in the series, Predator: Badlands, would kick ass and innovate on the long-running franchise in creative ways. That’s definitely what happened, and now you can bring a smaller version of Badlands‘ dynamic duo—Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) and Thia (Elle Fanning)—to your shelf of collectibles.
The characters are unique by themselves, especially Dek, the first true Predator hero after a long line of Predator antagonists. But together, they’re a formidable team, if a little odd-looking, since Thia is a torn-in-half Weyland-Yutani synthetic who travels strapped to Dek like a backpack.
Hot Toys knows you’re hungering for Predator: Badlands goodies, and it delivers with this new figure. Or figures, rather, a distinction that’s reflected in the price tag. It’ll set you back a hefty $405 to pre-order this one, estimated to ship October 2026-March 2027 (details here).
The Dek and This Sixth Scale Collectible Figure Set has all the detail you’d expect. Dek comes with multiple mandibles and hairstyles, as well as all the armor and weapons (plasma sword, bow and arrow, shurikens, wristblades) he needs to undertake the hunt of his life.
Thia, meanwhile, has interchangeable eyeballs (in case you want that eerie Weyland-Yutani Corporation logo peeking out of her sockets), and, as the Hot Toys site explains, “Thia is crafted with a half-body design featuring exposed mechanical details and magnetic connectivity, allowing collectors to attach Thia seamlessly to Dek’s back with the branch-like strap accessory holding her in place—recreating their partnership as seen in the film.”
Not every franchise can have a comeback as consistently strong as what Predator is having right now. Beginning with 2022’s Prey, the sci-fi horror series has found itself revitalized between that and this year’s Predator: Killer of Killersand Predator: Badlands, the latter of which hit theaters this past weekend.
Directing all three is Dan Trachtenberg, whose feature film debut was 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane. Along with each film giving longtime Predator fans things they’ve wanted or didn’t expect—like officially canonizing the term “Yautja” in these movies or Killer pitting the aliens against different historical factions—what binds them together are the thematic threads that run between specific pairs or the full trilogy and may define the filmmaker’s larger mission statement.
The most prevalent theme explored in Trachtenberg’s trio is masculinity. Predator has always been about this to some degree—how can it not, when it’s got that handshake and features big dudes picking fights to stroke their egos and blowing themselves up when things don’t go to plan?—and it’s all over Prey and Badlands in particular.
Badlands’ protagonist Dek is deemed a lesser Yautja owing to his small size, a status so humiliating in Yautjan culture his father Njohrr considers his son too weak to survive and wants to just kill him. Meanwhile, Prey’s Naru longs to be a hunter alongside her brother Taabe, but she’s impeded mainly by the other young men in their Comanche tribe, who try to physically or verbally prevent her from proving herself. She can’t join them because she’s a woman, but she thinks the other Comanche women’s duty of foraging and healing is a lesser act.
Prey and Badlands explore masculinity from different angles: the former posits that Naru needs to use both her hunting andforaging skills if she’s to defeat the Feral Predator, who otherwise tears through the Comanche, the French fur traders, and the local animal population with a degree of curiosity and cockiness. Yautja have always been likened to big game hunters whose advanced technology enhances the mean streak they have for killing things. But when they mess up, they really mess up; Prey’s Feral Predator almost meets his end just going up against a wolf and a bear, and there’s a similar arrogance in Dek. Despite declaring he won’t fail in killing a beast to redeem himself, he’s humbled within minutes of crash landing on Genna when the local flora steal most of his gear and nearly do him in then and there.
Of the two, Badlands’ jabs at masculinity are sharper and hit harder owing to Dek being the first Predator protagonist in these films. Like Naru, he’s positioned by Trachtenberg as an underdog, which likely wasn’t a coincidence, since the director’s mentioned almost pairing the two together. Instead, Dek’s allies are the bisected Weyland-Yutani synthetic Thia and a Gennan creature dubbed Bud. Dek takes pride in his people’s ethos of survival through strength and solidarity, which is established at the start of the film with an opening epigraph. But he also does some reconsidering when Thia asks him a simple question that challenges his whole worldview: “Who would want to survive on their own?” He eventually repays the kindness of Thia and his brother Kwei, who died protecting Dek against their father, in the film’s climax by using Genna’s wildlife to save her.
Dek on the hunt. – Fox
People are nothing without community, as emphasized in Killer of Killers and Badlands. The animated film’s three leads—Viking warrior Ursa, airman John Torres, and exiled shinobi Kenji—all fight their respective Predators with allies by their side. None of them have the honor of surviving, but they give the heroes a shot they otherwise might not have if they worked alone, and when they’re forced to fight each other for the amusement of spectating Yautja, they decide to work together to escape. Language barrier be damned, the three of them watch each other’s backs, and almost all get away, with Kenji and Torres flying off thanks to Ursa staying behind. She ends the film in suspended animation again, but Killers establishes that the Yautja capture anyone who’s killed a Predator, including Naru, but also Dutch and Harrigan (the respective leads of the first two Predator movies), so she’s not entirely on her own.
“It’s good to have friends, so quit being a jerk” is an interesting pivot for the Predator films to make, and it’s telling that all three films close on the promise of community. Those endings may tease ominous things for the characters—Kenji and Torres look well and truly screwed against a legion of Yautja ships, ditto Dek squaring off against his mother—but the underlying message Trachtenberg establishes here gives Predator some potentially fun new tools to play with as it continues gloriously doing its own thing.
The sci-fi sequel “Predator: Badlands” is opening atop the theatrical food chain, while a bunch of adult-skewing wide releases like Jennifer Lawrence’s “Die My Love,” Sydney Sweeney’s “Christy” and Russell Crowe and Rami Malek’s “Nuremberg” are debuting further down the charts.
The “Predator” entry got to the chopper with $15.6 million across Friday and preview screenings in 3,725 locations. That puts it on the path to land well ahead of its pre-weekend projections, which had forecast an opening from $25 million to $30 million. As a comp, “Alien: Romulus” — another Disney revival of a sci-fi property that it acquired in the 20th Century Fox merger of 2019 — earned $42 million in its August 2024 debut.
Speaking of “Alien,” “Predator: Badlands” even has an outside shot at the biggest theatrical bow ever for the “Predator” franchise if it overachieves Saturday. The record is held by the 2004 crossover “Alien vs. Predator” ($38 million). But it’s worth nothing that the “Predator” series has been out of theaters in recent years. The last two entries — the 2022 prequel “Prey” and this year’s animated anthology “Predator: Killer of Killers” — debuted directly on Hulu and Disney+. Director Dan Trachtenberg, who helmed both of those features, returned for the PG-13-rated “Badlands,” which stars newcomer Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as a young Predator outcast and Elle Fanning as his legless android companion.
Disney spent $105 million on producing “Predator: Badlands,” plus more on marketing expenses. It’s a considerable budget, but far less than the $180 million that the studio put towards its recent sci-fi flop “Tron: Ares.” “Badlands” will outperform the $33 million opening weekend of “Ares,” plus it has better reviews to boost word-of-mouth in the weeks ahead. Audiences liked it too, as moviegoer survey firm Cinema Score polled an “A-” grade from early crowds.
Among the weekend’s other new wide releases, Amazon MGM Studios’ “Sarah’s Oil” is faring the best, heading to a fourth place bow after earning $1.7 million across Friday and previews in 2,410 locations. Projections are at $4.4 million for the weekend. The early-1900s-set and PG-rated drama, about one of the first Black women to become a millionaire, comes from Wonder Project and Kingdom Story. Not many critics have reviewed it, though Cinema Score turned in the highest marks possible with an “A+” grade.
Sony Pictures Classics has the historical courtroom drama “Nuremberg” in 1,802 locations after premiering it at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It’s in the race for fifth. Grosses hit about $1.4 million across Friday and previews. Reviews lean positive for the James Vanderbilt-directed period piece, though it’s hardly a critical darling. SPC acquired rights from producers Walden Media and Bluestone Entertainment in June.
Meanwhile, Mubi has Lynne Ramsay’s “Die My Love,” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, in 1,983 locations. It’s the widest release ever for the indie-focused banner, which bowed “The Substance” in 1,949 theaters last year for a $3.2 million debut. That horror movie legged out to $17 million domestic and $77 million worldwide, becoming a significant awards season force along the way.
Here’s hoping Mubi has a similar longterm vision for “Die My Love,” which earned roughly $1 million across Friday and previews. It’s a slim start considering the company acquired the starry drama for $24 million, in what was the most high-profile deal out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. General audiences didn’t go for the arthouse title, with Cinema Score turning in a terrible “D+” grade.
In danger of opening outside the top 10, Black Bear Pictures is making its maiden voyage as a distributor with its release of “Christy,” starring Sydney Sweeney as boxer Christy Martin. Playing in 2,011 locations, the drama had a very quiet start, with roughly $670,000 across Friday and previews. Black Bear has looked to position “Christy” as a best actress Oscar contender, kicking off with a festival premiere at Toronto. Much like “Nuremberg,” reviews are respectable but hardly superlative. Audiences like the movie at a “B+” grade from Cinema Score.
Second place looks to go to Paramount’s drama “Regretting You,” earning another $2.2 million on Friday and projecting a $7.3 million third weekend for a slim 7% drop. The Colleen Hoover adaptation has shown good holds since its opening and looks to hit a $38 million total domestic gross through Sunday.
In third, Universal’s “Black Phone 2” earned $1.5 million on Friday and is projecting $5.2 million for its fourth outing, down just 38% from its prior frame. The Blumhouse sequel looks to hit a total domestic gross of $70 million through Sunday, pacing a touch behind its 2022 predecessor ($72 million through four weekends).
Focus Features’ kidnap thriller “Bugonia” is vying for fifth, earning $1.1 million on Friday and projecting $3.7 million for its second weekend of wide release (down 26%). The Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone reunion should hit a $12.5 million domestic total through Sunday.
It’s not every day that you can sit down and talk to all the stars of a big Hollywood movie in a single interview, but not every movie is Predator: Badlands. The latest film in the sci-fi franchise that started in 1987 flips the script on the tried-and-true formula, not only by making the Predator himself the hero but also by not featuring a single human character in the whole film. In fact, in terms of actors, there are really only two main ones who appear on screen: Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi.
Fanning, you know. The younger sister of Dakota Fanning has been in incredible movie after incredible movie for over 20 years. Super 8, Maleficent, Neon Demon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—she’s been everywhere. And, in Predator: Badlands, Fanning does double duty as Thia and Tessa, two Weyland-Yutani synthetics sent to the evil planet Genna to do some shady Weyland-Yutani shit.
Schuster-Koloamatangi, on the other hand, is a newcomer who you might not recognize even after you watch Predator: Badlands. That’s because the New Zealand-born actor, making his American film debut in the film, plays Dek, the main character whose real face you never see. Because he’s a Predator. But every emotion and subtlety in the performance is all him, as he made the film using CGI facial capture.
But that’s how, earlier this week, io9 ended up across from every single big star of the excellent film from director Dan Trachtenberg—all two of them—to talk about franchise films, how this one changes the previous installments, how Schuster-Koloamatangi got the role, and who from the franchise they’d like to appear with next.
Thia and Dek. – Disney
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Germain Lussier, io9: Joining a franchise has got to be a big deal for an actor. You have so many things to consider beyond just a movie. It’s, “Are we going to be in sequels? Are we going to be toys? My likeness,” things like that. Did that come into play for either of you as you decided to do this role?
Elle Fanning: Yeah, you think about those things. But, for me, I always look to the director. I look to the script. And also, why are they making another one? Like, what’s the reason behind this? And reading this script, you completely understand that reason. Because Dan Trachtenberg is completely opening the franchise up and pushing it into this bold new direction. It’s a big swing. I love a challenge. I like to surprise audiences. And I feel like that’s exactly what it’s going to do. It’s about time that we put the Predator in the protagonist’s role and kind of learn about his history. And also, I’ve always wanted to be an action figure. I’m like, I love that.
io9: It’s one of the few things you haven’t done, right?
Fanning: Exactly.
io9: There are so many awesome creatures in this. One of my favorite things was discovering what could possibly be next. Do you have a favorite story of a creature that was either interesting to work with on set, be it practical or digital, or something that, after you saw the movie, you were like, “That is not at all how I expected it to be”?
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi: Wow. I think my favorite creature was this android that was strapped to my back.
io9: [Laughs] Okay, present company excluded.
Fanning: I mean, I love Bud. And Bud, there was a man, Ravi [Narayan], who was in a suit that we could look at. And there was a cardboard cutout of Bud to see what he would look like. I mean, the Kalisk? I did not know that the Kalisk was going to look like that.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Yeah.
Fanning: Dan was helpful in showing us renderings of the creatures and things, so we kind of knew what we were looking at. And we weren’t in a studio. We were on these locations in New Zealand. So that helped. Everything was kind of tangible. But the creatures, yeah, they were created [digitally]. The Kalisk I was like, “Whoa.” I saw it in IMAX just the other day, and that was scary.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Yeah, the scale of it was crazy to see, like, fully edited. They tell you, “Look at this, the eyeline is all the way up there,” and you’re just kind of in your zone, trying to figure out what your character is feeling. And once you see it, it’s like, “Damn. That’s a bit more.”
Dek on the hunt. – Disney
io9: Dimitrius, I read in the press notes that you had to complete an obstacle course to get this movie. You could tell me about maybe the first role in movie history where someone had to complete an obstacle course to get.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Yeah, man. I felt like I was a kid again, running around on a playground. I remember walking in—because they told us when I had the call back, like, “Oh, yeah, so you’re just going to”—they didn’t even call it [an] obstacle course. They just said, like, “a movement course.”
Fanning: I keep thinking, like, Wipeout, Predator-style. Like, I keep thinking about bouncing on these balls or something, dressed as a Predator.
io9: That’s exactly what I had in mind.
Fanning: It was more serious than that, but that’s what I keep imagining.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: I don’t know if it was more serious than that. It was pretty similar. But, yeah, I walked in, and I was like, “Oh, this is like a proper obstacle course that we have to do.” And I’m quite competitive, so I was trying to force myself not to rush and try to finish first. I was like, “Man, I’m going to kill this. Like, I’m going to be so fast.” But then, I had to keep slowing myself down and remembering it was about performance. We’re trying to bring the character to life, play to the camera, and whatnot. But, yeah, if the camera wasn’t there, I would’ve been pushing people out of the way, trying to finish that quick, man.
Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands. – Disney
io9: Elle, you worked with so many incredible directors, and you just mentioned Dan, who is still early in his career. What do you think makes Dan special compared to other directors you’ve worked with? What makes him stand out?
Fanning: Gosh, Dan is so special. He has such a vivid imagination and just, he’s a fan himself of this world. And I think that brings so much passion to the project and the films that he does. And he can balance these epic worlds, completely world-building, a whole new planet we’ve never seen before, and the action has just that epicness. But he has so much heart as a person. He’s so kind and he cares just as much about the emotional scenes and the dialogue scenes that we have. And so when you marry those two things together, it really makes for something special. I mean, I worked with JJ Abrams. I know that they’re friends, but he reminds me of JJ.
io9: Now that you’ve both played a Yautja and been friends with the Yautja, does that recontextualize the other movies at all? Can you watch any of them and be like, “I wonder what’s going on with him?” or “I wonder why they did that?”
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Yup.
Fanning: We’ve been talking about that. We’re like, “We could go back and watch them. I think maybe I’ll have a soft spot for the other Predators in all the other movies.”
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Yeah, my family members who just always got killed.
Fanning: Yeah, they always got killed. They always say how bad they are, but they always get defeated.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: They always died.
[All laugh]
Predator: Badlands – Disney
io9: Dimitrius, I know you went through the old films and stuff before you did this. Did anything stand out to you? Anything that was like, “Oh, that’s something I want to key in on and remember while we’re shooting this”?
Schuster-Koloamatangi: I think the main thing that I wanted to make sure I delivered in my performance was having the presence of the Yautja. You know, when you’re rewatching all the old films, you know when they’re around. You can’t see them; they’re not saying much, but you feel their presence, and you get that anxiety. You feel scared almost, and they’re not even popping up. So I wanted to emulate that kind of feeling with Dek. When he was on screen, you feel that. Like, “Okay, there’s a Predator.” So that was more of the energy that I was trying to bring from all the iconic movies. Have that sense of aura. He’s a Predator. He’s a Yautja. He’s ferocious. But it was cool mixing that with his vulnerability as well and the obstacles that he’s forced to go through in the film.
Predator (1987) – 20th Century Fox
io9: And obstacle courses. Last thing, the other movie Dan was making at this time, Killer of Killers, establishes that a lot of the people from the other movies are still around. So, do you have a character from the previous movies that may still be alive or not that you would love to see your character interact with?
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Oh, hell yeah, Arnold.
Fanning: Yeah, duh.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Yeah, he’s the star.
Fanning: Though I did love Prey too, so I’d love her to come back; that would be cool.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Naru?
Fanning: Yeah.
Schuster-Koloamatangi: Oh true, that would be sick.
James Cameron has never made a Predator movie, but he’s oddly tiptoed all around it. He, of course, directed one of the best sequels ever with Aliens, a franchise that has been connected to Predator for a while. With The Terminator, he helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the first Predator, one of the biggest stars ever. And, while Predator: Badlands was filming in New Zealand, Cameron was also in the country making his own Disney creature movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash. So when Cameron gets thanked in the credits of this week’s Predator: Badlands, it isn’t exactly a surprise, but the truth of it goes much deeper than all of that.
Speaking to io9 in Los Angeles this week, Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg explained why he thanked Cameron in the credits. “I consider myself very lucky that we were making movies at the same company,” Trachtenberg said. “We collaborate with the same executives, and he saw Prey and loved it. So when we were heading down to New Zealand to shoot, he invited me down to Wellington to hang out on [the Avatar 3] set and in his edit bay. And I divulged all my anxiety about making this movie and the methodology that we were doing, which was going to be very new for the franchise and certainly very new to me.”
Trachtenberg is primarily referring to the fact that Badlands flips the Predator franchise on its head by making a Yautja, the killer species at the center of the franchise, a hero. He is probably also referring to the fact that the character’s face was completely created using CGI based on the facial expressions of its actor, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. It’s a process Cameron is very well-versed in.
“Then we reconvened for dinner, and we drove separately,” Trachtenberg continues. “And when he sat down, he said, ‘I was thinking about what you’re doing on the way over here and I think it’s going to work.’ And that was insane. He put so much wind in my sails to bring back up to Auckland and tell the whole crew.”
But that encouragement wasn’t the only reason Trachtenberg decided to thank Cameron in the credits. After filming ended, he turned to the Oscar-winning director one more time.
“Then, just a few months ago, we had a cut movie of the movie that was almost done, not quite, and I wanted to get his input before we put the finishing touches on,” Trachtenberg said. “And he wrote a note back that said, ‘I have to be honest, when I first heard about what you’re doing, I didn’t think it was going to work, but holy crap, it really worked.’ I don’t know if he didn’t remember the first thing or if he just knows exactly what someone in my shoes needs to hear when they hear it. So it was just amazing.”
We think lots of people are going to have Cameron’s reaction to Predator: Badlands when it hits theaters later this week. Check back for more from Trachtenberg and on the film soon.
The Asylum has released the official trailer for Predator Wastelands, the upcoming action sci-fi mockbuster, which will be available to rent or own on digital platforms starting on November 4. The movie serves as a spoof of Elle Fanning’s Predator: Badlands, which will debut after Wastelands on November 7.
“When an alien hunter arrives on Earth, it takes down a gang of warlords and unexpectedly becomes a folk hero to the oppressed locals. Now with their support, the alien sets its sights on the warlords’ ruthless leader,” reads the official synopsis.
The video features how an alien hunter becomes the unlikely hero of the masses after unexpectedly saving them from oppressive warlords who are about to kill them. This mysterious warrior then joins the people’s war against the leader of the warlords, who is determined to punish everyone resisting his rule. The trailer highlights some of the movie’s fighting sequences involving the alien hunter.
Predator Wastelands is a sci-fi action adventure written and directed by Ryan Ebert. The cast includes David Chokachi as Balam, Johnny Ramey as Omar, Vanessa Zanardi as Inara, Amulya Ananth as Samira, L.A. Williams as Ayman, Aaron Groben as Daray, Yaser Salamah as Zaid, Mahek as Amani, Jeremiah A. Walker as Alien Predator, and more.
The movie is produced by David Michael Latt, with David Rimawi serving as an executive producer. It is a production by The Asylum, the production company best known for hit mockbusters like the Sharknado movies, Z Nation, and Ape vs. Monster.
Originally reported by Maggie Dela Paz for SuperHeroHype.
Guillermo Del Toro wouldn’t mind taking on The Phantom of the Opera. Filming on Robert Eggers’ werewolf movie has begun. Plus, get another new look at Predator: Badlands. Spoilers now!
The Heretiks
Deadline reports Gregg Bishop is attached to direct The Heretiks, a “supernatural home invasion horror-thriller” set on Halloween. Written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, the story concerns “a disaffected teenage girl who must team up with a renegade witch to protect her little sister from a murderous coven hellbent on using her as a human sacrifice in an apocalyptic ritual on Halloween night.”
The Bells
Deadline also reports a feature adaptation of Virat Pall’s short film, The Bells, is also in development. Like the short is based on, the “supernatural horror film in the vein of The Ring and Smile” will concern “a cursed phenomenon where victims hear mysterious bells tolling before meeting a deadly fate.”
The Phantom of the Opera
Speaking with Inverse, Guillermo del Toro stated he has “a couple of ideas” for a new take on The Phantom of the Opera.
It’s such a classic tale but I would do it differently. I have a couple of ideas but for now, I’m going into crime and stop-motion.
Werwulf
According to Screen Daily, filming has officially begun on Robert Eggers’ Werwulf in Dartmoor, Devon.
Shelby Oaks
A new Shelby Oaks poster from Bloody-Disgusting is 3/4ths text, and full of praise.
We also have an international trailer for Predator: Badlands.
Energon Universe
Deadline reports that Hasbro is woring with Skybound Entertainment to create a TV series based on the Energon Universe comic series, a shared universe that incorporates the Transformers and G.I. Joe characters, as well an original sci-fi storyline, Void Rivals. Lucifer‘s Joe Henderson is set to showrun the series, an adult-focused animated show, as it taken out to buyers.
The Thrashers
Deadline also reports James Wan’s Atomic Monster has acquired the television rights to The Thrashers, a YA novel from Julie Soto about an “exclusive friend group at New Helvetia High.” When a student named Emily Mills, “who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies—the whispers about the Thrashers begin. As Emily’s journal surfaces, detectives close in, and [series’ star] Jodi faces an impossible choice: betray her [new] friends or protect herself. Meanwhile, as eerie messages and strange occurrences escalate, it becomes clear—Emily isn’t done with them yet.”
Arkham Asylum
Finally, during his recent appearance on the BobaTalks Youtube channel, James Gunn confirmed the planned Arkham Asylum TV series is no longer in development.
That isn’t something that is being developed by anyone right now. It just didn’t work.
Recently Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg touched on how, if at all, the other projects in development while he was making his second installment within the 20th Century Studios wheelhouse affected his work. “There was a lot going on while we were making this movie. Romulus was not yet out, and I hadn’t seen it yet. And Alien Earth, I was aware of happening, but not sure where that was [going to] end up. So we decided to set ourselves well into the future,” he told IGN.
In Badlands, Elle Fanning’s Thia is indeed a Weyland-Yutani synth from the Alien franchise’s evil corporation, but the far-future setting gave Trachtenberg room to play in his own sandbox. “So all the stuff that has happened would have happened before our movie. We’re not trying to squeeze [it] in,” he explained. “[I am] also cognizant of how, in this day and age, with all the media that we have, some of it can feel like homework. And you’re going to have to remind yourself, where in a timeline does this sit between this movie and that movie? And I really do not want that to be the case with Badlands.”
And that’s such a relief if, like myself, you were thinking, “Geez, do I have to watch Alien: Romulus and all of Alien: Earth before Predator: Badlands?” to find out that’s not the case at all. But obviously if you want to do all that, go for it. Just know they’re not movies or shows set up solely with the intention to build bridges to lead up to any sort of crossover event. Just enjoy the darn Xenomorphs wreaking havoc and that Predator on the hunt.
Shane Black has brought a lot of entertainment to Hollywood over the years, sometimes as an actor (he played Hawkins in 1987’s Predator), but mostly as a filmmaker. He created the Lethal Weapon series, wrote The Monster Squad and The Long Kiss Good-Night, co-wrote and directed Iron Man 3, and more.
But 2018’s The Predator, which he co-wrote and directed, misfired both in front of and behind the camera. It was especially disappointing for fans given his long history with the franchise.
Black aims to bounce back from The Predator with his current release, a thriller called Play Dirty. But he acknowledges that Dan Trachtenberg, the director who took up Predator after The Predator—and is now steering the entire franchise, with animated film Predator: Killer of Killers and Predator: Badlands releasing this year—deserves a lot of credit.
“Dan Trachtenberg saved that franchise,” Black told the Hollywood Reporter. “His work is impeccable. I saw Prey, and all I could do was say, ‘Sir, my hat’s off.’ That was a really great mythic take. I feel like an audience member now, and I’m just happy to see whatever he does. So, yeah, I’m happy that the franchise is still humming, as you say, and he’s the right shepherd for it, at least for now.”
