Predator Reboot to Begin Production by October, Director Confirms

A new Predator movie is on the way, directed and co-written by Iron Man 3's Shane Black. Titled The Predator, it has now been confirmed that the film will begin production this fall.

Black was recently at the Cannes Film Festival to promote his new comedy thriller The Nice Guys. As reported by AVP Galaxy, Black told Agence France Presse that production on The Predator would begin "in the latter part of the fall--September, October."

Black also repeated his earlier comments that the new movie would be on a far bigger scale than the previous films in the long-running sci-fi action franchise. "To the best of my knowledge, the train is rolling," he said. "It took some convincing because they've been putting out these movies all along with a $50-60 million budget, and they all had a guaranteed return."

In March, Black spoke to Thrilllist about how he became involved with The Predator, and what fans could expect. "They called me and I was reluctant," he admitted. "I said, 'Look. You guys at Fox, I mean, I enjoy these movies, but we've been churning out these AvP whatever, they each cost a certain amount of money, they're okay, but there's no effort to elevate them or make them any kind of an event.'

"They said, 'What if we said to you we want to reinvent this, and really treat it with as much of an event status, or as much hoopla as we would the Alien prequel? We really want to make this something.

"I think that they came to me knowing pretty much that... they said, basically, if I wanted to make Predator but treat it like it was Iron Man 3 instead of just another little movie. I said, 'Let's really do it right this time.'"

Black himself appeared in the original Predator, the 1987 smash starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John McTiernan. To date there have been four further films, including the direct sequel Predator 2, two Alien vs. Predator movies, and 2010's Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators.

The Predator is set to be released on March 2, 2018.