San Diego Hall H Panels kicked off with 20th Century Fox’s 2018 release of The Predator. With a full house in attendance, everyone was ready to see an explosive re-imagining of the Predator storyline. Director Shane Black and the entire cast present except for Brody Holbrook was in attendance. After a short introduction, the audience was shown a behind the scenes clip.
The first clip shown in the panel was from the set where the cast debate who would win different matchup fights with the Predator. The list included debates of The Predator versus: The Rock, The Punisher, Bacteria, Psylocke, Johnny Utah, Wolverine, Sarah Connor, Ash from Evil Dead, John Wick, Indiana Jones, Han Solo, Harrison Ford, Captain Kirk, and last but not least Elsa.
The 1st opens with Olivia Munn passed out in a hotel room surrounded by the misfists of mercenaries. When Olivia wakes up she is confronted by the crew in a very comedic approach introducing the crew to Olivia while she debates staying with them or going out on her own to survive. Olivia Munn’s character is a biologist brought on when alien contact is made. The Predator is on the hunt for his gear that the mercs have stolen
Shane Black wanted to create a movie with the characters being very relatable and that’s why he brought on the cast that he did. Unlike the original Predator, Shane wanted this version to be realistic with the heroes in this movie.
Shane Black wanted to emphasize the characteristics of the Predator instead of recreating a new look of the Predator. The scene sets up that a new predator is stronger, faster, and bigger than the original Predators. The sets up with Olivia Munn and Brody Holbrook in a school confronted by a Predator only to be saved in a sense by the Super Predator. After a short confrontation between the two Predators ends with Super Predator victorious by decapitating the original Predator. What follows is a quick flash of other action-packed madness for the remainder of the trailer.
After the end of the trailer, Shane Black wanted to reiterate that the fight scene wasn’t complete and their would be plenty of blood and gore in this movie. Shane was very excited that The Predator received a “R” rating and was unapologetic. He believed that this series could only work if it was a “R” rating. Another focus Shane Black presented to the audience was that this movie is in the same timeline as the other Predator movies including the AvP movies. This story though is with a separate group of Predators that have no interaction with the Predators and the Xenomorphs.
The Predator comes out September 14, 2018.