The Predator is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Shane Black, who co-wrote it with Fred Dekker. It is the fourth installment in the Predator franchise, set between the events of Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010). The film stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, and Sterling K. Brown. It follows a group of PTSD-afflicted soldiers and a scientist who must team up to fight off an invading pair of Predators and discover their plans for humankind.
Development of the film was announced in June 2014, with Black being confirmed as writer and director. Much of the cast signed on between October 2016 and January 2017. Principal photography took place in British Columbia from February to June 2017, with the climax being re-written and re-shot in July 2018 following poor test screenings.
The Predator premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2018, and was released in the United States on September 14, by 20th Century Fox. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $160 million against a budget of $88 million. It was followed by a prequel, Prey, released in 2022.
Plot A Predator ship crash-lands on Earth. U.S. Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna and his team are attacked by the Predator while on a hostage retrieval mission. Quinn incapacitates the Predator and has parts of its armor sent off by mail to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life. Government agent Will Traeger has Quinn captured and held for examination. Traeger also takes the Predator to a lab for experimentation and observation, recruiting evolutionary biologist Casey Bracket to study it, who discovers that the Predator's genetic makeup contains human DNA. The Predator awakens, breaks out of its restraints, and kills the lab workers and armed guards, but spares Bracket, after Brackett stripped naked to not be considered a threat, before escaping.
Quinn is bussed off with a group of other captives, including former Marines "Nebraska" Williams, Coyle, Baxley, Lynch, and Army helicopter pilot Nettles. Witnessing the Predator's escape from the lab, they hijack the bus. Taking Bracket with them, they head over to Quinn's estranged wife, Emily, where he expects to find the Predator armor he mailed off. However, Rory, Quinn's autistic son, has gone trick-or-treating in the armor in hopes of avoiding detection from bullies.
Quinn and the others find his son in time to stop a pair of Predator Hounds from ambushing the boy. Quinn blows one up by shooting a grenade into its mouth; Nebraska unintentionally lobotomizes the other dog after shooting it in the head. The Predator chases them into a nearby school and they start to give the Predator's armor back when a larger, more powerful Predator arrives and engages the first in combat. The group flees, and the second Predator kills the first before setting out to retrieve the lost technology.
Bracket concludes that the Predators are attempting to improve themselves with the DNA of humans and, presumably, other planets' inhabitants. She also suggests that Rory's autism enables him to translate and understand Predator technology. The team flees to an abandoned barn, but Traeger finds and captures them, and shares his theory that the Predators anticipate that climate change will end their ability to retrieve human DNA for further hybridization, and as such are scrambling to retrieve samples before it is too late. Seeing Rory drawing a map to the spaceship, Traeger takes the boy to the ship. The team escapes and goes after him with the help of the now docile, brain-damaged Predator hound.
Once all have arrived at the crashed ship, the second Predator arrives, kills Lynch, and explains through translation software that it will destroy the ship to keep it out of their hands and then give them all a head start before it hunts them down. The Predator quickly kills several of Traeger's soldiers while mortally wounding Baxley and Coyle, who then shoot each other. Traeger tries to use a Predator weapon on the alien but accidentally kills himself instead.
The Predator takes Rory, assuming his autism as an advancement in human evolution which makes him a worthwhile subject for hybridization, and flies away in his ship. Quinn, Nebraska, and Nettles land on the ship's exterior, but the Predator activates a force field that slices off Nettles' legs, and he falls off the ship to his death. Nebraska sacrifices himself and slides into the ship's turbine, causing it to crash. Quinn sneaks into the ship as it crashes and attacks the Predator. After the crash, Bracket arrives, and the three manage to overpower and kill the Predator with its weapons. They pay their respects to their fallen comrades with trinkets representing each one before heading off.
Later, Quinn and Rory are seen in a science lab watching the opening of cargo found on the Predator's ship, which a scientist indicates was left behind intentionally. A piece of technology floats out and attaches itself to a lab worker, working as a transformative "Predator killer" suit before deactivating. Realizing the first Predator was trying to pass it on to humanity for a fair fight against the larger Predators, Quinn indicates he will be the pilot to operate the suit.
Cast
Boyd Holbrook as Quentin "Quinn" McKenna, Emily's estranged husband, the father of Rory and an Army Ranger Captain who discovers the existence of the Predators and leads the battle against them. Trevante Rhodes as "Nebraska" Williams, a former Marine officer who joins in a special Predator-hunting operation headed up by Quinn and becomes his closest ally. Olivia Munn as Casey Brackett, an evolutionary biologist who joins the crew's mission. Jacob Tremblay as Rory McKenna, Quinn and Emily's son, who has a form of autism and is bullied in school, but becomes a key player in the fight against the Predators due to his preternatural ability to learn languages. Keegan-Michael Key as Coyle, a Marine veteran, who teams up with Quinn and Williams to fight the Predators. Sterling K. Brown as Will Traeger, a government agent and Director of the "Stargazer Project" who jails Quinn, but later needs his help with fighting the Predators. Thomas Jane as Baxley, a Marine veteran from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars whose Tourette syndrome causes tics and involuntarily swearing (see Tourette syndrome in film). His character was named after Craig R. Baxley, the stunt coordinator of the 1987 film. Alfie Allen as Lynch, a former Marine who teams with several other outsiders, including Quinn, to stop the human-hunting Predators in suburbia. Augusto Aguilera as 'Nettles', a former Huey helicopter pilot and religious zealot who has suffered a traumatic brain injury from a crash. Jake Busey as Sean Keyes, a head Stargazer scientist, the son of Peter Keyes (played by Busey's father Gary Busey in Predator 2). Yvonne Strahovski as Emily McKenna, Quinn's estranged wife and the mother to Rory.
Other cast members in smaller roles include R. J. Fetherstonhaugh as Agent Church, Peter Shinkoda as Dr. Yamada, Lochlyn Munro as Lieutenant General Marks, Nikolas Dukic as Derek, Gabriel LaBelle as E.J., Niall Matter as Sapir, Mike Dopud as Dupree, and Garry Chalk as a postal worker. The Predators were portrayed in-suit and via motion capture by stuntmen Brian A. Prince and Kyle Strauts, with vocal work by Brian A. Prince.
Françoise Yip has a brief, non-speaking role (credited as ‘Tracking Supervisor’), after previously playing Ms. Yutani in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Stuntwoman Breanna Watkins, in scenes that were filmed but not used, portrayed Ellen Ripley in one alternate ending, and an adult Rebecca "Newt" Jorden in a second alternate ending, meant to tie in to the Alien franchise in which those characters first appeared and set up an Alien vs. Predator-focused sequel film, depicted as having travelled back in time as the "Predator Killer". Edward James Olmos had a supporting role as General Woodhurst, but his scenes were cut due to time constraints.
Production Pre-production In June 2014, Fox announced a sequel. Shane Black, who also starred as supporting character Rick Hawkins in Predator, directed, and co-wrote with Fred Dekker, while John Davis produced. Davis has said of the film that he thinks it is fresh and reimagines the franchise in a "different, interesting way". In February 2016, Black stated that the title of the new sequel would be The Predator. He has referred to the project as an event film which aims to elevate the Predator series: "It's an attempt to 'event-ise' the Predator again... [An attempt to] make it more mysterious." Black also expressed that the film would mark a return to the "intimate" scale of the original film and that the filmmakers hoped to achieve “the same sense of wonderment and newness that Close Encounters had when that came out.”
The film is set in the present day and the titular character has upgraded armor. Black confirmed that the film takes place between the events of the second and third films. Jake Busey was cast as Sean Keyes, the son of Peter Keyes (a character who was portrayed by Busey's father Gary Busey in Predator 2). In February 2016, the studio revealed a teaser image of the film, confirming the title The Predator.
Chief-executive-officer of 20th Century Fox Stacey Snider shared her thoughts on The Predator and Shane Black and Fred Dekker's script:
Casting Arnold Schwarzenegger talked with Black about reprising his role as Dutch Schaefer from the first Predator film, but declined the cameo due to the short role. Rapper 50 Cent also spoke of the possibility of being involved in the film but ended up dropping out. By September 2016, Benicio del Toro had signed on to star. The following month, Boyd Holbrook replaced del Toro, who departed due to scheduling issues. In November 2016, Olivia Munn joined the cast. In January 2017, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane and Jacob Tremblay joined the cast. In February, Alfie Allen and Yvonne Strahovski were added. In March, the last main role was filled by Augusto Aguilera while Jake Busey was also cast in a supporting role.
In March 2017, Edward James Olmos was cast as Sanchez, a military general.
Filming Filming was scheduled to begin in February 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia. On November 21, 2016, Larry Fong was confirmed hired as cinematographer for the film. Black announced that filming had begun on February 20, 2017. Additional photography in Vancouver took place in March 2018.
Post-production The visual effects were provided by MPC, Atomic Fiction, Raynault VFX, Rising Sun Pictures and Proof.
Reshoots 20th Century Fox had an early cut of the film screened to test audiences, in reaction to which the studio ordered the entire third act of the film undergo reshoots. During production in Vancouver in 2017, reports indicated that the set experienced low morale, and the film underwent multiple delays and reshoots. Black stated the original ending was deemed to be too complicated, so the ending was reshot become more streamlined, as well as to take place at night instead of during the day to make the Predator seem scarier. In August 2018, Olmos announced that his role had been cut from the final film, to reduce the film's running time, as his character was deemed not integral to the plot. According to Keegan-Michael Key, approximately three quarters of the script for the final act was rewritten. Exposition about the "Project Stargazer" military initiative studying the Predators was cut, while easter egg references to Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990) were added. Françoise Yip who had previously portrayed Mrs. Yutani in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) was cast to reprise her role, however her lines were cut and she was recredited "Tracking Supervisor".