10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg was hoping to make his addition to the Predator franchise in complete secrecy so the reveal that the film was a Predator movie would be a surprise, but that surprise was spoiled. Even though we know it's happening, the production has remained shrouded in secrecy throughout – until producers John Davis and John Fox sat down for an interview with Collider to promote their new film Jungle Cruise and decided to spill some Predator details along the way.
We knew the film had been developed under the working title Skulls, and now Davis has said that the title is Skull. He went on to reveal four pieces of information:
1. Dan is a brilliant director. Watching dailies, you just understand how his vision is completely unique. He's got his own language and it's fresh and it's cool, and it's interesting.
2. This is the Predator origin story. This is the Predator's first journey to this planet.
3. Our lead is female, which I always think is interesting. I guess I did that with Alien vs. Predator, right? Sanaa Lathan.
4. It goes back to what made the original Predator movie work. It's the ingenuity of a human being who won't give up, who's able to observe and interpret, basically being able to beat a stronger, more powerful, well-armed force.
Fox added,
It actually has more akin to The Revenant than it does any film in the Predator canon. You'll know what I mean once you see it."
Davis said the film was conceived as an R-rated movie, but the rating depends on how you end up cutting it together. He couldn't say when we might see the first footage or trailer, or when the film might be released. He did confirm that the project has been in development since Shane Black's The Predator was in the midst of filming, as that's when Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison approached them and Emma Watts of Fox with the pitch.
Davis went on to say that he believes Trachtenberg's Predator / Skull will be
The second best … or it may be equal to the first one. I feel like the first one was a wonderful, interesting movie and I know what worked about it. I feel like we kind of never got back there again. We ended up in different places. I think this is a worthy complement to the first one. It's going to be as good."
The producers didn't say whether the film would be a theatrical release or, as has been rumored, a streaming release on Hulu. They also wouldn't confirm the time period the story is set in, but we've previously heard that Amber Midthunder stars as
Kee, a Comanche woman who goes against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior. Many years ago – in a time before any Europeans had ever encroached on their lands – the Comanche people had a well defined society and gender norms. Kee is very close to her younger brother, Taabe, who is being groomed as a leader. As capable as any young man in the tribe, Kee has always been a teacher and source of inspiration for Taabe. In the Comanche way – she is Patsi – the elder sister that has helped to shape him. Kee is a truth teller and has insight that others do not. A tomboy, she wants to prove herself in the masculine world of the Comanche. When danger threatens them all – Kee sets out to prove that she is as capable as any young warrior.
So now the question is, did David mean this movie will show the first time any member of the Predator species arrived on Earth? If so, the fact that it centers on a Comanche character would seem to contradict Alien vs. Predator's reveal that the Predators have been coming to Earth for thousands of years. Or did he mean that it's a specific Predator's first time on Earth? Could the Predator in this film be the same one we saw Schwarzenegger fight in the first movie? Or the one from the ending of Predator 2 that had a gun that was engraved in 1715? That would be a pretty cool franchise "deep cut", if Trachtenberg's film shows that Predator acquiring its 1715 gun.
We'll have to wait and see.