Predators: Everything We Know

It's been 15 years in the making

This is no flash-in-the-pan remake, but a labour of love, more than 15 years in the making.

Schwarzenneger turned it down and the script has since been revamped, but rumours persist about a possible cameo…will he be back? We wouldn’t rule it out…

Click here to watch the Predators trailer

The Predators will face the world's deadliest killers

The film will follow a motley crew of criminal-types, who have been abducted from earth and dumped on the Predator home-world to provide the locals with a bit of hunting practice.

It has a brilliant cast

Happily, the film looks set to devote a fair bit of time to the human side of the story, with Rodriguez keen to create a set of characters we’ll actually care about.

Rodriguez will act as producer and fanboy-in-chief

Despite having written the script, and acting as the film’s head cheerleader, Rodriguez will only be acting as producer on Predators .

The Predators have evolved

It’s been over 20 years since the original movie was released, and it looks like the Predators have evolved!

Production art displayed at the South By Southwest film festival showed the luckless humans having to face a Predator dog and even Predator birds, in their attempts to hang on to their innards. As Antal points out, “we went out of our way to stay true to the fact that they are hunters.”

Rodriguez has also referred to a giant, specialised Predator known as “Mister Black”, who will be indicative of the new breed of Predators.

It's a sequel, not a remake

The film will represent a direct follow-on from the original, with the script apparently name-checking events the audience will already be familiar with.

The whole story is based around the Predators’ need to sharpen up their hunting skills, which would presumably be a response to the pasting they received at the hands of Arnie and friends.

It has also been confirmed that the original Predator will make an appearance in some capacity, with Rodriguez referring to it as, “our old friend”. Whether it will appear in flashback or alongside the newer breed is unclear, but its’ a nice touch, and one that should convince the doubters that Rodriguez knows his stuff.

There will be plenty of splatter

Unsurprisingly, given Rodriguez’s previous output, Predators won’t pull any punches when it comes to the inevitable lashings of gore.

The Predators will look familiar

Creature effects will be headed up by Greg Nicotero, part of the team that designed the original Predator.

Rodriguez has gone back to basics

Although 3D was apparently discussed in production, Predators will not be taking the Avatar route, and will in fact be quite old-school in the way it’s filmed.

20th Century Fox want it to be cool...

According to Rodriguez, Fox told him that they wanted him to, "'make it a non-studio studio movie. Do it the way you do. Make it cool.' They just want a bitchin' movie. They really just want a great movie. That's all they want."

It could be the start of a new franchise...

Robert is reportedly very keen on the idea of Predators sequels. And, apparently, so are Fox...

Rodriguez says they told him, "they didn't like the direction they went before, but they know it's a great franchise.

It's like Jaws, no matter how many bad Jaws movies there are, you're always going to remember the original Jaws, it still has its power. You still want to recapture that spirit."

With just four months to go until the film’s July release date (it'll hit the UK on August 11), we’ll soon be able to see whether he's managed it. But at the risk of jinxing it, we’ve got a good feeling about this one…