Predator (franchise)

The Predator film series is a science fiction horror film franchise. Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series started in 1987 with the film Predator, which led to two sequels and novel, comic book and video game spin-offs.

Included in the franchise are the Alien vs. Predator films, based on the related franchise which combine the titular Predator with the creatures from the Alien film series.

Development

Predator was John McTiernan's second studio film as director. The studio hired screenplay writer Shane Black to not only play a supporting role in the film, but to keep an eye on McTiernan due to the director's inexperience. Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the film's creature, the idea being that the physical action star would use his martial arts skills to make the creature an agile, ninja-esque hunter. When compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura, actors known for their bodybuilding regimes, it became apparent a more physically imposing man was needed to make the creature appear threatening. Eventually, Van Damme was removed from the film and replaced by the actor and mime artist Kevin Peter Hall.

The predator creature's design is credited to special effects artist Stan Winston. While flying to Japan with Aliens director James Cameron, Winston, who had been hired to design the Predator, was doing concept art on the flight. Cameron saw what he was drawing and said, "I always wanted to see something with mandibles". Winston then included them in his designs. Schwarzenegger recommended Winston after his experience working on The Terminator.

The film's creature was originally designed with a long neck, a dog-like head and a single eye. This design was abandoned when it became apparent that the jungle locations would make shooting the complex design too difficult. Originally, the studio contracted the makeup effects for the alien from Richard Edlund's Boss Film Creature Shop. However, with problems filming the creature in Mexico and attempts to create a convincing monster of Van Damme, wearing a much different body suit, failing, makeup effects responsibilities were given to Winston and his studio, R/Greenberg Associates. According to former Boss Film Creature Shop makeup supervisor Steve Johnson, the makeup failed because of an impractical design by McTiernan that included 12-inch (300 mm) length extensions that gave the creature a backward bent satyr-leg. The design did not work in the jungle locations. After six weeks of shooting in the jungles of Palenque, Mexico, the production had to shut down so that Winston could make the new creature. This took eight months and then filming resumed for five weeks.

The sound of the creature was provided by Peter Cullen. Despite his resolution not to voice any more monsters following injuries to his throat sustained during the ADR of King Kong, his agent convinced him to audition. The bubbling sound was inspired by a mixture of the visual of the creature and his recollection of a dying horseshoe crab.

R/Greenberg Associates created the film's optical effects, including the creature's ability to become invisible, its thermal vision point-of-view, its glowing blood, and the electric spark effects. The invisibility effect was achieved by having someone in a bright red suit (because it was the farthest opposite of the green of the jungle and the blue of the sky) the size of the creature. The take was then repeated without the actors using a 30% wider lens on the camera. When the two takes were combined optically, a vague outline of the alien could be seen with the background scenery bending around its shape. For the thermal vision, infrared film could not be used because it did not register in the range of body temperature wavelengths. The filmmakers used an Inframetrics thermal video scanner as it gave good heat images of objects and people.^{[citation needed]} The glowing blood was achieved by green liquid from chem-lite sticks used by campers. The electrical sparks were rotoscoped animation using white paper pin registered on portable light tables to black-and-white prints of the film frames. The drawings were composited by the optical crew for the finished effects.

Also, in an interview on Predator Special Edition, actor Carl Weathers said many of the actors would secretly wake up as early as 3a.m. to work out before the day's shooting, in order to look "pumped" during the scene. Weathers also stated that he would act as if his physique was naturally given to him, and would work out only after all the other actors were nowhere to be seen. It was reported that actor Sonny Landham was so unstable on the set that a bodyguard was hired; not to protect Landham, but to protect the other cast members from him.

According to Schwarzenegger, filming was physically demanding as he had to swim in very cold water and spent three weeks covered in mud for the climactic battle with the alien. In addition, cast and crew endured very cold temperatures in the Mexican jungle that required heat lamps to be on all of the time. Schwarzenegger also faced the challenge of working with Kevin Peter Hall who could not see in the creature's suit. Hall could not see out of the mask and had to rehearse his scenes with it off and then memorize where everything was. The outfit was difficult to wear because it was heavy and off-balance.

The film was particularly successful and subsequently inspired a number of comic books, video games and popular anecdotes within the media. Schwarzenegger was asked to reprise his role in a Predator sequel, but was already attached to Terminator 2: Judgment Day and could not accept the role. The character was rewritten from the developing sequel's script, and the sequel to Predator, directed by Stephen Hopkins, was scheduled for 1990.

Due to excessive violence, Predator 2 was the first film to be given the newly instituted NC-17 rating in the United States. It was eventually rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America after being re-cut to its final theatrical length. The film cast Danny Glover in the lead role, and reprised Kevin Peter Hall as the Predator. Also, returning to the role of Anna in the sequel, Elpidia Carrillo was slated to be in two scenes but was cut back to a brief appearance on a video screen in the government agents' surveillance trailer. Her character is showing damage to the Central American jungle caused by the explosion at the conclusion of the first film.

Films

Following is a plot summary for the entire Predator series. For additional plot details, see the movies' specific pages.

Predator (1987)

Main article: Predator (film)

An alien spacecraft enters the Earth's atmosphere and jettisons a pod, which descends to Central America.

Sometime later, at a secret operations base on the coast of Guatemala, a Covert-Ops U.S. Special Forces Unit, led by Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, is ordered to rescue a cabinet minister. Dutch makes a point to remind the assigning General and CIA agent Dillon that he leads a rescue team, not assasins. On their way to find the rebel base where the minister is being held, they come across the remains of another American military unit headed by Maj. Jim Hopper, all killed in combat. They find the guerrilla post, including multiple rebels and Soviet military advisers, and launch an attack, destroying the base and killing the rebels with little effort and no casualties.

Dutch puts together the intelligence items, learning that the "cabinet minister" story was false and angrily confonts Dillon, who reveals that the slain soldiers (they discovered) were the second mercenary unit ordered to attack the base before disappearing. With a female prisoner, Anna, in their custody the group proceeds to their rendezvous point by the border to be extracted. When Anna attempts to escape, Hawkins chases and secures her but is killed by a transparent creature and disappears. Blain is killed moments later while searching for Hawkins' body. When Sergeant "Mac" Eliot rushes to assist Blaine, he sees the creature's eyes flash. Frightened and enraged, he immediately opens fire, joined by the remaining members of the unit as they arrive. Afterwards, the team cannot locate any signs of the attacker and proceeds on, taking Blain's body in tow. Later that night the creature uses a boar as a distraction on the team's "night defensive position" to collect Blain's body as well.

At daybreak, the team stages a booby trap with Dutch figuring that the creature is a hunter, using the trees for cover and manages to net their attacker. Through struggling to get free, it shoots in all directions and hits a dead vined log that falls and seriously injures Poncho. Vengeful, Mac and Dillon pursue the creature, only to find it waiting for them as they are tricked, separated and killed by its advanced weaponry. With the hunter in hot pursuit, Billy makes a suicide-stand against the creature, which buys the trio of survivors time to flee. It quickly dispatches of Billy, kills Poncho and slightly wounds Dutch after a brief exchange of gunfire. Dutch realizes that the hunter won't attack an unarmed Anna as it would be "no sport" and tells her to "get to the chopper" at the rendezvous point.

Dutch flees through a closure of trees and the hunter gives chase. Although panicked, Dutch escapes after falling and sliding down a steep bank, going over a waterfall, and then swimming to the pool's edge. Hidden and covered in cold mud, Dutch finally sees the hunter when it emerges from the pool behind him, minutes later. The water interferes with its cloaking device and the creature doesn't appear to see him. Once it leaves, Dutch realizes it could not see him because the mud shielded him from its thermal radiation-based vision. Without firearms Dutch prepares to fight the hunter by setting more traps and creating a variety of primitive weapons, including bow and arrows, and two remaining M203 grenades, converting the shells into improvised explosive arrows. After nightfall, he surprises the creature using the arrows, once again making it visible, this time permanently. Dutch follows a trail of the creature's blood, but retreats and falls in a river after springing the trap, promptly washing away his mud disguise. Cornering Dutch, the hunter removes its equipment in favor of more sporting hand-to-hand combat, showing its true face when it sheds the now familiar bio mask. Physically overpowered and outmatched in a bloody beating, Dutch retreats, luring the hunter into a double log trap that mortally injures and crushes the creature. The dying Predator activates a self-destruct device attached to its wrist. Dutch immediately runs for cover from the massive explosion that ignites the jungle. By daybreak, Anna and the General arrive in the rescue helicopter on the scene to find Dutch standing alone on the scorched terrain.

Predator 2 (1990)

Main article: Predator 2

The year is 1997 and Los Angeles is suffering from a vicious heat wave and a gunfight between a Colombian drug gang and police is ongoing. Detectives Leona Cantrell and Danny Archuleta await the arrival of veteran Lieutenant Michael Harrigan. When the gunfire stops, the criminals retreat to a nearby building. A series of explosions and mysterious gunfire rock the structure. Detectives and police pursue the criminals into the building and finds all but one of the criminals dead. The lone surviving criminal escapes to the rooftop and open fire at the unknown creature. Gunfire from the lone surviving criminal is fired in the direction of Harrigan, which he interprets himself to be the target of. He shoots the criminal dead, sending him falling from the rooftop. Harrigan suddenly turns and takes aim at something. He is not sure what it is and is unsure of what he saw.

Jamaican drug gang members invade a drug lord's home, capturing him and hanging him upside down from the ceiling. Unaware the creature is inside the home with them, the lead Jamaican gang member kills the drug lord. The creature begins killing the gang members one by one, then reveals himself to the gang leader before eventually killing him. Harrigan and his team of detectives enters the drug lord home after being ordered to stay out. They find all the gang members bodies, noting the manner in which they were killed and comparing it to the manner in which the drug lord was killed. They also find a woman murmuring in Spanish. Harrigan declares "we have a new player in town." Peter Keyes and his team suddenly appears and declares the drug lords home "a restricted area."

Harrigan and Archuleta plan to return to the crime scene for further investigation into the murders, but Archuleta who arrives early, finds a spear tip in the rafters of the drug lords home. He is startled by the creature and is killed by it. Harrigan is devastated, vowing to destroy the perpetrator responsible for his friend's death. A pathologist discusses the origins of a weapon found at the crime scene, noting the weapon's molecular structure does not correspond with the periodic table of elements. Harrigan arranges a meeting with the Jamaican drug lord [King Willie], who says the perpetrator of the killings is not of this world; the creature kills the drug lord immediately after Harrigan leaves.

Cantrell and officer Jerry Lambert are traveling by subway to meet Harrigan when a group of thugs threaten a man. A tense standoff of each side drawing their firearms ensues when the creature suddenly attacks. In the pandemonium, Cantrell herds the survivors down the subway cars while Lambert stays to face the creature. She soon doubles back to find Lambert dead. She also encounters the creature who scans her body with infrared technology and finds a fetus within her, causing it to refrain from attacking. Harrigan soon arrives at the scene and following a blood trail down the subway tunnel, witnesses the creature mutilating Lambert's body. He pursues the creature, only to be captured by Special Agent Peter Keyes' team, revealed to be Black Ops following the creature's encounter sites in hopes of capturing and studying it.

Armed with immobilizing weaponry, they set a trap in a vacant slaughterhouse. However, this is based on the assumption that the Predator can only see in the infra-red spectrum; when the creature hears the Black Ops moving around inside the warehouse, it simply switches its helmet's scanners to ultraviolet and can see them clearly. The creature then attacks and kills everyone except Keyes. Harrigan is able to escape custody and immediately arms himself; a short battle follows, resulting in the death of Keyes.

Harrigan and the creature exchange attacks as the battle moves to the rooftop. The creature gets knocked off and hanging from a ledge, attempts to activate the self-destruct device contained in its wrist gauntlet. However, Harrigan steals the creature's weapon, a "smart disc", and uses it to cut the creature's forearm off, destroying the device in the process. The creature retreats to its spacecraft underground, followed closely by Harrigan. The two have a showdown, ending with Harrigan killing the creature with its own smart disc. Harrigan realizes that there are additional creatures onboard, and prepares for further fighting, though recognizing his obvious defeat. However, the creatures take their comrade's body away, and an elder gives Harrigan an antique pistol inscribed "Raphael Adolini 1715" as a trophy for his victory, implying that the creatures have been visiting Earth for centuries.

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

Main article: Alien vs. Predator (film)

In 2004, a Predator ship arrives in Earth orbit to draw humans to an ancient Predator training ground on Bouvetøya, an island about one thousand miles north of Antarctica. A buried pyramid which gives off a "heat bloom" attracts humans led by Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen), who unknowingly activates an alien egg production line. Three Predator hunter initiates enter the structure, killing all humans in their way with the intention of hunting the newly formed alien warriors. Two Predators die in the ensuing battle, while the third allies itself with the lone surviving human, Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) in order to battle the escaped Queen Alien. The Queen is defeated, but not before she fatally wounds the last Predator. The orbiting Predator ship uncloaks and the crew retrieve the fallen Predator. A Predator elder gives Alexa a spear as a sign of respect, and then departs. Once in orbit it is revealed that a chestburster was in the corpse, though this specimen has Predator mandibles.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Main article: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

Set immediately after the previous film, the Predalien hybrid on board the Predator scout ship, which just separated from the mothership from the previous film, has grown to full adult size and sets about killing the Predators on-board the ship, causing it to crash in Gunnison, Colorado. The last survivor activates a distress beacon with a video of the Predalien, which is received by a veteran Predator, who sets off towards Earth to "clean up" the infestation. When it arrives, the Predator tracks the Aliens into a section of the sewer below town. He removes evidence of their presence as he goes by using a corrosive blue liquid. It uses a laser net to try to contain the creatures, but the Aliens still manage to escape into the town above. The Predator fashions a plasma pistol from its remaining plasma caster and hunts Aliens all across town (accidentally cutting the power to the town in the process). During a confrontation with human survivors, the Predator loses its plasma pistol. The Predator then fights the Predalien singlehandedly, and the two mortally wound one another just as the US military drops a tactical nuclear bomb on the town, incinerating both combatants as well as the few remaining humans in the city. The salvaged plasma pistol is then taken to Ms. Yutani.

Predators (2010)

Main article: Predators (film)

On April 23, 2009, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez would relaunch the franchise. Rodriguez had written a script titled Predators before he had filmed Desperado. In 2009, 20th Century Fox studio executive Alex Young called Rodriguez to consider using his treatment as the basis of reviving the individual Predator franchise. Rodriguez is seeking a director and writer. Fox has announced a July 7, 2010 release date. On May 5, 2009, it was reported that unknown writer Alex Litvak has been hired to pen the film. In a recent MTV Blogs Interview, Rodriguez stated that his reboot is to be the direct sequel to the previous two films, possibly ignoring Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, saying “Maybe people will forget all the bad sequels and only think this one and the original exist” and mentions his attempts to snag Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of Dutch. However, Schwarzenegger has not yet been contacted to reprise his role from the first film. On June 12, it was revealed that British director Neil Marshall was in talks to direct the film. However, it was later reported that Fox and Rodriguez were eyeing Nimród Antal as director. On July 1, 2009, Nimród Antal was officially signed on to direct the film. The story would be set on the Predator Game Reserve Planet, where a group of soldiers will battle for their lives against the creatures. The film stars Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Walt Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Topher Grace, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Louis Ozawa Changchien and Laurence Fishburne.

Future

Nimród Antal has talked about a sequel and said he would love to do one. Rodriguez has said that he has interest in a sequel because of the large number of potential ideas the Predator planet setting provides:

There are so many great ideas... Just following Laurence Fishburne's character (Noland) around in a prequel would be a great movie. Just the tales he tells in this movie alone, I want to see those experiences... That's why I wasn't precious even about the original script I had, because once you come up with the idea of a Predator Planet, that Predators use as their hunting grounds and humans are involved somehow, the story ideas that you can come up with are so numerous that you can come up with any approach. So we already have several ideas that we can go with for a sequel. They would all be good ideas but we would probably put them together to see which one rises to the top, if we made another one.

Rodriguez confirms that there will be a Predators sequel:

"[The studio] said, 'Let's do some other ones. What other story ideas do you have?'" says the filmmaker. "Because it was like, let's test out the market with this one. They really wanted it to be pretty contained, pretty scaled-back. They didn't want to put too many of the ideas into it that we could save for a second one. So we could see what the appetite was, because the bigger movie would actually be what comes following that. That kind of sets up a new storyline, new location and world, and then you can really go crazy from there."

Adrien Brody also spoke about reprising his role in a possible sequel:

"I think a lot of that is determined by the success of the film. And I don't think that far ahead. The idea of reprising the role and going farther into that character is interesting to me… It would be exciting to watch a character progress or deteriorate. That's exciting for an actor. I thoroughly enjoyed playing Royce. Again, part of the attraction is I'm oddly drawn to material that affects me on an emotional level, and characters that are dealing with things that are challenging that I would question, that I'm not so familiar with. Royce has his emotional arc in this that most of the characters I've played don't come close to possessing. That's an interesting thing to cultivate."

Spin-offs

There have been a number of spin-offs in other media including a large number of crossovers within the Aliens fictional universe. These include:

Novels

As well as the novelizations based on the various films there are a number of novel series:

• Predator by Paul Monette
• Predator 2 by Simon Hawke
• Predator: Concrete Jungle by Nathan Archer
• Predator: Cold War by Nathan Archer
• Predator: Big Game by Sandy Schofield
• Predator: Forever Midnight by John Shirley
• Predator: Flesh and Blood by Michael Jan Friedman
• Predator: Turnabout by Steve Perry
• Predator: South China Sea by Jeff VanderMeer
• Predator: Prey to the Heavens by John Arcudi and Javier Saltares
• Aliens vs. Predator
  • Aliens vs. Predator: Prey by Steve Perry
  • Aliens vs. Predator: Hunter's Planet by Dave Bischoff
  • Aliens vs. Predator: War by S.D. Perry
  • Alien vs. Predator: the Movie Novelization by Marc Cerasini

Comic books

Main article: Predator (comics)

• Predator
• Aliens versus Predator
• Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator
• Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness: Mindhunter
• Batman versus Predator
• JLA vs. Predator
• Predator vs. Judge Dredd
• Predator vs. Magnus, Robot Fighter
• Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator
• Superman vs. Predator
• Tarzan vs. Predator at the Earth's Core
• Aliens/Predator: Deadliest of the Species

Games

Main article: List of Alien and Predator games

Further reading

• Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McIntee, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)

See also

• List of characters in the Predator series