by Pierre Lorenz on January 19, 2022

Intro

In this week's Original, we present the fifth part of a now legendary Alien film series. The talk is of course about "Predator: Prey", which will be released this summer and is a sort of quasi-reboot of the franchise. This text will tell you everything you need to know about the release and what kind of information is known at all!

Production

With "Predator: Prey", the next installment of the successful science fiction franchise is finally being released after a long wait. It was only at the end of last year that the official title "Prey" was revealed at all, before that the movie was only known under its working title "Skulls". Responsible for the production is none other than "10 Cloverfield Lane" director Dan Trachtenberg. Apart from "10 Cloverfield Lane", the 40-year-old American has not really had many commitments as a director so far, but was obviously able to convince those responsible at Disney and 20th Century Studios with the aforementioned blockbuster and individual episodes of "Black Mirror", for example. Anyone who has followed the production of the "Uncharted" film adaptation will also recognize Trachtenberg, as he was one of the many directors who applied for the project.

The script was written by "Jack Ryan" producer Patrick Aison and is more or less conceived as a reboot of the film series. Aison and his colleague John Davis have been developing the idea for "Predator 5" behind the scenes for years, allegedly even during the production of "The Predator". The new project has now been finalized since September and is waiting for the right time for a release in the summer of 2022.

The way in which the film is to be distributed is not met with great enthusiasm by all fans, however. As those responsible confirmed last November, "Prey" is to hit the streaming service Hulu, which significantly reduces the likelihood of a theatrical release that many had hoped for. A parallel release for theaters and home theaters has not been specifically ruled out, but if you look at the approach of other Hulu releases, you should not count on a theatrical release. Internationally, the movie will be available on Disney+.

Unfortunately, those responsible are keeping any footage of "Predator 5" under wraps. There is a single image from November 12, but it only shows the main character Nura with bow and arrow and the Predator indistinctly in the background.

Plot

The action takes place about 300 years in the past and is briefly about how the warrior Naru wants to protect her tribe, the Comanche people, from the alien creatures at all costs. The brand new setting makes it clear that the entire movie series is daring to make a fresh start, as it is quite risky to set the story this far in the past. After all, this automatically takes us away from the practice of the new films to somehow reproduce the original from 1987. Because let's be honest, that's never really worked very well so far. It is precisely this reboot that could now give the somewhat discredited franchise a new chance to win over the fan community, even if prequels and reboots are not necessarily easier to produce than crude sequels. The deliberate distance to the original makes it possible to dive deeper into the original story of the hunting aliens. In addition, the setting of hundreds of years ago is something completely new. Many, however, rightly wonder how a Native American wants to fight the dangerous creatures without modern weapons.

Exactly when the first encounter between aliens and humans took place cannot be determined. However, in "Prey" we are roughly in the period in which the alien creatures first found their way to Earth. Perhaps it is even the case that Naru is the very first human to encounter the predators and thus had a decisive influence on their future behavior towards humans. Looking back at the 1987 original, it can already be seen there that the creatures are best eliminated with simple but effective traps, and the bigger gun is not always the proper means of choice for successful combat. In general, there are hardly any limits to "Prey": After all, the setting of nearly 300 years ago offers countless creative and new possibilities to fight against the predators. One thing is clear, though: If "Prey" flops as badly with fans and critics as "The Predator" did, it will probably be the last movie in the franchise.

Cast

Since the conclusion of shooting in September, we also know quite a bit about the cast. The spotlight is on 24-year-old leading actress Amber Midthunder, who, being the daughter of an actor and a stuntwoman, has already appeared in movies as a child and is accordingly not an absolute newcomer. In recent years, for example, she has appeared in 4 episodes of "Fargo". Her most recent film was the Netflix blockbuster "The Ice Road", where she got to perform alongside Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne; the latter actor is an old Predator veteran himself. Also joining the cast is former pro basketball player Dane DiLiegro, who has been pursuing his acting career for a few years now. The six-foot-nine tall athlete featured in "The Walking Dead" as well as in "American Horror Stories" and is looking forward to his first big movie appearance. His exact role is currently unknown, but due to his tremendous height we see DiLiegro rather in the role of the Predator. However, this is all still pure speculation and neither confirmed nor denied. Also new to the cast is Dakota Beavers in a still unknown part. Otherwise, surprisingly little is known about the cast, which could of course also mean that they intend to surprise us with even bigger names.

A guest appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is always vehemently demanded in every sequel, is unfortunately more than unlikely due to the timeline. In addition, the star of the first part had already rejected his planned return to the franchise in the script of the previous film, because he felt that the designated guest role was too minor.