Predators First Look

The Predator will be returning to cinemas in July, and this weekend IGN got a sneak peak at what to expect from the forthcoming Predators, courtesy of producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antal.

Both men were attending the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas and participated in an hour-long presentation in which they screened a trailer, a clip, and spoke at length about their franchise reboot.

Rodriguez took to the stage first and revealed that this has been a project 15 years in the making, with 20th Century Fox approaching him around the time of Desperado to gauge his interest in writing a sequel.

A long-time fan of the franchise, Rodriguez jumped at the chance and set about writing a "big, crazy" Predator movie as if money was no object. He spoke to original star Arnold Schwarzenegger about returning as Dutch, and even wrote a role for the "Muscles from Brussels" himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Unfortunately, the project didn't work out, but when Fox decided to reboot the franchise last year, they dusted off that 15-year-old script, and following a few re-writes and tweaks, they were good to go.

Rodriguez then introduced his director Nimrod Antal (Armored, Kontroll) and screened the Predators trailer for the first time anywhere in the world.

And the good news is, it looks and feels like a Predator movie. Proceedings kick off with a shot of space and then cuts to a figure falling through trees in a forest.

"What was the last thing you remember?" a voice asks.

"There was a light and then all of a sudden I was falling," comes the reply.

We then briefly meet the film's human characters and their number includes a Yazuka, a former Black Ops, and someone who was about to be executed back on Earth, while title cards explain: "They are the most dangerous killers on our planet. But this is not our planet."

Instead, it's a huge game reserve and there then follows quick cuts of humans running through the booby-trapped jungle with the Predator in hot pursuit.

We get brief glimpses of cast members Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne and Walter Goggins, while Adrien Brody -- who plays a character called Royce in the film -- notices a red Predator target on his body. Another suddenly appears. Then another. And another, the point being that the threat is multiple this time around; the Predators are everywhere.

The teaser ends with a Predator letting out a primal roar, with the tagline reading: "This summer, fear is reborn."

Antal then elaborated on what screened, explaining that while previous sequels and spin-offs had gone in different directions, his film would return the franchise to its roots, and concentrate on the hunt.

Indeed, Predators will be a continuation of the original, with the aliens selecting the best-of-the-best from Earth and hunting them for sport, using tactics like flushing, driving and trapping to catch their prey.

There will be different types of Predator this time around, with Antal referencing two separate tribes and at least five different species. Hunting techniques will match each individual Predator personality, while they will be helped by Predator dogs and flying creatures that function as their "eye-in-the-sky."

The humans will also be properly fleshed out, with Antal hoping each character could conceivably be the star of their own movie. He added that were the Predators not on the planet, the humans in question would likely wipe each other out.


Creature designer and industry legend Greg Nicotero then took to the stage with a working Predator head under his arm, and described the kick he got out of re-visiting one of his most famous creations.

Making a musical analogy, he explained that if the classic Predator was an 8-track, the new, superior Predators are iPods, and the fierce production designs that then flashed up on screen would seem to support that description.

Rodriguez added that they are bigger, taller, stronger, faster and smarter than the Predator mark one, but added that the original character would appear in the film, news which elicited the biggest cheer of the night.

There then followed a clip in which Brody comes face-to-face with what appears to be a Predator, and says, "What the f**k are you?"

The figure takes off his armour-plated mask and Laurence Fishburne is revealed. "I'm alive," he says. "You talk too loud. Smelled you since you got here. If I can smell you. If I can hear you. Then they can, too."

"Who are you?" asks Brody.

"I'm the one that got away," comes the reply. "The one you don't f**k with."

The presentation finished up with a Q&A; in which the filmmakers revealed, amongst other things...

-- Calling it Predators was a nod to James Cameron's Alien sequel Aliens.
-- Cameron apparently came up with the design for the original Predator mouth.
-- The film will not be in 3D.
-- Multiple shots and music cues will be taken directly from the original.
-- Predator will also be referenced as a sort of ghost story told during the film.
-- There will be no CGI Predators -- all the effects work on that front is practical.
-- The studio supported it being bloody and badass because of the popularity of unrated DVDS.
-- Dark Horse Comics will be publishing a prequel and a sequel.
-- Both men want to continue the series, and have multiple ideas for the future of the franchise.

All-in-all the early signs look good on this one. Both Rodriguez and Antal obviously want to remain true to the source material, and the footage screened, albeit brief, looked to back up those intentions.

We'll find out whether they succeeded when the movie hits worldwide this July, and look out for IGN's extensive one-on-one video interviews with both filmmakers going live later in the week.