Dan Trachtenberg
is single-handedly bringing the Predator
franchise kicking and screaming into a new era, and recently opened up about the massive undertaking in started when coming up with three separate possible ideas for new entries in the near-40-year-old sci-fi action franchise. While many fans doubted that 2022 movie Prey could possibly compete with the original 1986 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie – especially with a female lead no less – Trachtenberg’s tight, thrilling movie blew away audiences and critics alike.
Now he is back with a new live-action theatrical Predator movie, Predator: Badlands
, and an animated anthology movie called Predator: Killer of Killers
that will debut in June of Hulu/Disney+. Speaking at a recent press event (via ComicBook), Trachtenberg explained how he became so intertwined with the Predator franchise, revealing that Prey was not originally the movie he was most interested in making. He said:
“I had three very cool ideas. One of them, the first one, the one I was the most excited about at the time, was Badlands. But then there was this other thing, that was Prey, [that] was really cool. We got to put the Predator in these different time periods and tell that story. I think the thing that made Prey special, though, wasn’t just Predator in a different time period, it was that the story we were telling was made better by the story of the Predator, and I didn’t want to just throw them into a different time period.
I really wanted to figure out, if we were to do that kind of thing again, how could it be special? And what’s the kind of story we could tell that could be equally badass and awesome, but also emotional and thematic and character-oriented?”
Related
‘Predator’ Anthology Streaming Film With a Killer Title Gets Action-Packed First Trailer
‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ will debut on Hulu this summer and will see the titular alien in the era of the Vikings, feudal Japan, and World War II.
Dan Trachtenberg Is Taking Predators Through Time
While many franchises make the mistake of believing that fans want to see something familiar and will be happy with the same old story being played out again and again, Trachtenberg had a clear vision for the Predator franchise, and some of that came down to putting the Predator in different time settings as well as different locations. That partly led to the creation of Killer of Killers, which the director reflected was “stupidly” produced at the same time as he was making Badlands. He added:
“In thinking about the different time periods, I honed in on the idea of, what if we made an animated movie where we could express ourselves in a way that we don’t get to see? We’ve now had all these Predator movies and we’re doing this one that’s crazy different, but still with all the stuff … The other side of the coin that I love in Predator movies is that hard-R, crazy carnage. Wouldn’t it be cool to see that in a different medium? So we made this movie, Killer of Killers, at the exact same time, stupidly, but awesomely.”
After so many people believed the Predator franchise would die at the hands of Disney following their acquisition of Fox, it has instead thrived. Whether Badlands and Killer of Killers will be received with the same high praise given to Prey is something we will discover later this year, but it seems that Trachtenberg has a very clear idea for the franchise, and that could make all the difference.
Source: ComicBook
Predator: Killer of Killers
- Release Date
-
June 6, 2025
- Director
-
Dan Trachtenberg, Josh Wassung
- Writers
-
Micho Robert Rutare, Dan Trachtenberg
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