This may seem like the kind of news we’re getting all too familiar with, where a cherished classic of the 80s has found itself on the current slate for a remake/reboot/re-imagining. In this instance, the classic in question is the 1987 actioner Predator, which studio 20th Century Fox has set to be rebooted for an as yet undetermined date.
Basically, what we have here is a long mistreated property of an intergalactic super hunter now being reset and handed over to one of the original stars who has since become an incredibly successful writer-director in the time since the first film. And just to make matters more interesting, Black will only be coming up with the basic treatment for the film, handing actual scripting duties over to an old friend: Fred Dekker.
Both Black and Dekker (don’t laugh, you’re better than that) have been friends for years, but haven’t worked together in such a capacity since 1987’s The Monster Squad, making this all kinds of tantalising. Shane Black really is getting the old band back together for this new take on the Predator franchise. As it is, the fact that Black already has a few projects on the go (he’s currently working on two films, The Nice Guys and Doc Savage) and that there has been no announcement as to when this new film will land would suggest that we’ll have to wait a while before this makes much headway. Still, giving the film over to someone who is basically a legacy within the franchise, and this person in particular, certainly does offer up a greater sense of hope than normally accompanies such news.