Predator franchise producer John Davis has said that the future is wide open for this series after the successful release of Prey through the Hulu streaming service. The possibilities for future films seem limitless, so we decided to compile some of them together for a list we’re calling Predator Franchise: What’s Next After Prey?
PREY SEQUEL
Prey director Dan Trachtenberg left the door wide open for a direct follow-up. Artwork during the end credits shows more Predator ships arriving in the Comanche Nation, and the tribe still has possession of the pistol we saw in the hands of a Predator (and Danny Glover) in Predator 2. So the Predators have to retrieve that pistol somehow. While it could be cool to see a sequel to Prey, it would also be quite unusual for the Predator franchise, because we have never seen the lead from one entry return for a second Predator encounter. Fans have been hoping to see Dutch from the original film take on another Predator, but Prey’s Naru (Amber Midthunder) could turn out to be the first returning star.
EARTH FUTURE
Alien vs. Predator showed us that Predators have been visiting Earth since the beginning of human civilization – in fact, they’re the “ancient aliens” / “ancient astronauts” that helped humanity get going. So while Prey took us back to 1719, movies could go back in time much further than that. But we can also imagine that Predators are going to be visiting Earth for a long time to come. Predator 2 was set seven years in the future from when it was released, but a movie could jump ahead decades or centuries to be set in a much different time. It could be a highly technologically advanced Earth. It could be a dystopian Earth. It all depends on the imagination of the writers/directors… and, of course, the budget.
PREDATOR VS. SAMURAI AND NINJAS
While digging into the idea of Predators visiting Earth throughout history, fans often focus on the potential of a Predator movie that would be set in Feudal Japan, allowing the alien hunter to face off with samurai and ninjas. We did get a hint of how cool such a movie could be with the samurai sword duel in Predators. Now let’s take how awesome that scene was and build a feature film out of it. This idea comes up so often and has captured the imagination of so many fans, 20th Century Studios and the producers could probably bet on success if they were to greenlight a Feudal Japan Predator movie tomorrow. So they should go ahead and do that.
PREDATOR PLANET
While some movies have presented the ideas of rival classes of Predator (in Predators), Predators enhancing themselves with DNA from other species (The Predator), and Predators from different continents of their homeworld (Prey), the creatures have been explored much more in books and comics than in the films. Books have even given the species a name: Yautja. We saw a quick glimpse of the Predator home planet in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, and we might be due for a film that allows us to spend more time there and learn more about how the Predator society works. Cube director Vincenzo Natali had pitched a film about Predators hunting people on their home planet, so they should call him up and dust that idea off.
DUTCH REMATCH
As mentioned, fans have been wanting to see Arnold Schwarzenegger reprise the role of Dutch Schaefer ever since 1987, and ideally this would have happened decades ago. There have been attempts to get Schwarzenegger to make an appearance as Dutch in a Predator movie, but most of those failed attempts would have just given him a cameo. We need a Predator sequel where Schwarzenegger is back in the lead. But if we’re ever going to see Dutch battle a Predator again, the studio and producers need to get this one rolling soon. The man is 75 years old. Schwarzenegger did record lines as Dutch for the Predator: Hunting Grounds video game, now it’s time for him to be on screen as Dutch again.
DIE HARD ON A PREDATOR SHIP
If Predators had received a direct sequel, screenwriter Alex Litvak knew exactly what he wanted the movie to be: “Die Hard on a Predator ship”, with Predators survivors Royce (Adrien Brody) and Isabelle (Alice Braga) catching a ride back to Earth on the ship the “Super Predators” use to transport abducted people to their game preservation planet. Royce and Isabelle would spend the trip battling Super Predators and the other creatures they had on board in their “alien zoo”. Whether or not Royce and/or Isabelle would end up being brought back all these years later, the basic concept of people trying to survive on a ship controlled by Predators – Super or otherwise – is still a fun idea.
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR 3
Fans waited more than a decade to see the Alien vs. Predator concept brought to the screen – but with their modern day Earth settings, neither of the two AVP movies we got were what the fans had been expecting. There’s still a chance we could get a movie closer to the Alien vs. Predator many of us had always imagined… which is basically a mixture of Predator and Aliens. It would be a film set in the future, on a different planet, with Colonial Marines traversing a jungle that’s infested with Xenomorphs while also having to deal with at least one Predator. A simple set-up for a fun time, with bullets flying and three different kinds of blood splashing across the screen.
ADAPTATIONS
As mentioned above, many more Predator stories have been told through novels and comic books than have been presented as feature films. Some of those novel and comic book ideas might be worth returning to and adapting to the screen. Beyond Alien vs. Predator stories and crossovers with the likes of Batman, Superman, and Archie (don’t expect those to become movies), there have also been stories about Predators in New York City, Siberia, Africa in different decades, 1950s Hollywood, Colonial India, Victorian England, and a prison, among other places. Predators have taken on the mob, battled pirates, crash-landed in the ocean, had run-ins with Dutch’s brother. There have been serial killer Predators. One story (the origin of the Predator 2 pistol) was contradicted by Prey, but there are plenty more to choose from.
COWBOYS AND PREDATORS
Fans talk about Predators showing up throughout history to battle samurai, ninjas, Vikings, soldiers in the World Wars, etc. My personal favorite of the historic battle possibilities would be a western-style Predator movie, as I always enjoy seeing the western genre get mixed together with the horror and/or sci-fi genres. Whether it’s Bone Tomahawk, Tremors 4, or the maligned Cowboys & Aliens, watching these is a good time for me. So let’s move about 145 years ahead of Prey and take an awesome western set-up with different groups of cowboys ready to have a shootout with each other, maybe even add in some Civil War soldiers, and then drop a Predator into the mix as well. That sounds like a great viewing experience to me.
PREDATOR WINS
This is something that could be applied to any of the ideas on this list, or any others that may come up: at some point, we need to see a Predator succeed. No matter what the scenario was – Predators coming to Earth to hunt, Predators battling Alien Xenomorphs, Predators abducting people to hunt on a different planet – every time we’ve seen a Predator in action, they haven’t made it out of the movie alive. We know they must be occasionally successful in their endeavors, in Predator 2 and AVP there were some Predators that had clearly been around for a while, so let’s see a Predator survive for once. Let one pack up their trophies and head back home to relax after a good hunt.
What would you like to see from the Predator franchise as it continues? Let us know which ideas are your favorites by leaving a comment below.