The New Predator Film is Still Coming From Iron Man 3 Director

It's been five years since the last Predator movie graced our screens, but it seems that the franchise is far from dead. Last year it was reported that Iron Man 3 director Shane Black had been hired to co-write and direct a new entry in Fox's sci-fi action series, but there has been virtually no news since then. However, in an interview with Collider, producer John Davis has confirmed that the project is still very much happening.

"I've read a lot of his script and I think it's genius," Davis said. "It's entertaining, and what it did is recreate a famous franchise in a different, interesting way; looking at it from a different light. He's got a way of looking at this that makes you excited again.

"The writing is so fresh, the perspective is so fresh. I'm telling you, you're going to get something you don't expect and you're going to say, 'This is the most entertaining way to reinvent a franchise.'"

This certainly chimes with Black's comments, made last year when the film was first announced. He stated that his approach, written with cult Monster Squad director Fred Dekker, wouldn't be to reboot the series, but to make an "inventive sequel". "Why start over, when you've all this rich mythology yet to mine?" he asked.

Black himself appeared in the original Predator, the 1987 smash starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John McTiernan. To date there have been four further films, including a direct sequel, 1990's Predator 2, two Alien vs. Predator movies, and 2010's Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators.

The Predator was recently added as DLC to the latest release in the Mortal Kombat game series, Mortal Kombat X. The character is part of a Kombat Pack alongside Jason Voorhees, Tanya, and Tremor, and is also available as an individual purchase.