Robert Rodriguez's PREDATORS Movie Thread - SPOILERS

[TwelveMonkeys]

Re: the new predators movie!

From this months Empire magazine, who are usually very reliable:

THE TALENT: Nimrod Antal will be waving the director's megaphone, but the real draw is the producer/writer, Robert Rodriguez. Predators is in fact based on a treatment Rodriguez wrote back in 1994 - he finally pulled it out of his sock drawer when Fox execs approached him last year and offered full creative control.

THE STORY: Intriguingly, this will be the first Predator movie not set on Earth. Rodriguez's script involves a group of abducted humans that find themselves in a zoo on the Predator's homeworld. "This is as big a budget as I've ever worked with", he told Empire at Comic-Con. "And I can make money stretch pretty far." It'll shoot in Texas, away from studio eyes, and Rodriguez promises it'll be as violent as its predecessors, with "unspeakable horrors".

 

[Matt13]

Re: the new predators movie!

I think the biggest problem with all the big franchises we love is that we aren't there for the human factor anymore. In predator 1 and even 2 to some extent it was about the human and we did root for dutch to get out of there. Now a days we just want to see the predator or alien doing what they do best. None of that excuses crappy story but we are rooting for the bad guy in these movies now a days.

 

[THE IMMOBILIZER]

Re: the new predators movie!

if U got A nice plan 4 a movie, where do U go with it?

 

[superboink]

Re: the new predators movie!

I would like to see some Female Predators.

Ain't they all?

 

[wookster]

Re: the new predators movie!

You'd need to have an absolute idealist epic A-class director, writer and production team and publisher to not make any Alien or Predator film flop in this day. Simply because back in the day, the things you saw in the original films were never seen before - you have yourself a winner when you can successfully merge great directing, design, suspsense and fear of the unfamiliar.

We've seen our fair share of aliens and predators in all sorts of mediums through the decades, it isn't something new for us anymore. And the fact that Hollywood is reproducing classics like Alien, Predator, Robocop and milking Terminator, goes to show that they've run out of good ideas. And if they've run out of ideas, exactly how great can their ideas be for a rehashed franchise? Likely no good.

Gone are the days when visionary filmmakers produced works of art - you can never find another Bladerunner for example. The amount of creative effort that went into that film is just mind boggling. Nowadays, people just wanna make money - they don't give a rat's ass if the film sucks, so long as it brings profit.

And we've got a pansy rating culture these days, which partly has to do with profit as well since the general perception is that a PG-13 rating can garner a higher audience, hence higher earnings. Aliens, predators, robocop and terminators have invaded the children's toy scene... makes sense not to make them PG-13 wouldn't it? Yeah... and that almost always makes films from these horror/sci-fi franchises suck.

Before I go too far, I do actually agree with some of what you said. I don't however think 'we' have run out of ideas... hell if that's true then very little has changed since Shakespeare laid down his quill.
There will always be rays of hope like D9 or Children of Men, but as you say, it is now purely business.
And business likes to invest in corporate whores, not visionary artists.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: the new predators movie!

Gone are the days when visionary filmmakers produced works of art - you can never find another Bladerunner for example. The amount of creative effort that went into that film is just mind boggling. Nowadays, people just wanna make money - they don't give a rat's ass if the film sucks, so long as it brings profit.

Nothing has changed. We still have visionary directors and writers, but the major driving force in the movie industry has always been profit above all else, even waaay back in the 1980s!

When a movie like Bladerunner or Alien gets greenlit, it isn't because the film company wants to help an artist fulfill some vision. It is because they want to make money, and innovative films are good gambles from time to time. If the producers thought that a crappier movie would have made more money, then they would have financed them back in the day, instead (and they probably did finance 10 crappy, derivative, "safe" films for every half-way decent, creative gamble).

 

[wookster]

Re: the new predators movie!

Nothing has changed. We still have visionary directors and writers, but the major driving force in the movie industry has always been profit above all else, even waaay back in the 1980s!

When a movie like Bladerunner or Alien gets greenlit, it isn't because the film company wants to help an artist fulfill some vision. It is because they want to make money, and innovative films are good gambles from time to time. If the producers thought that a crappier movie would have made more money, then they would have financed them back in the day, instead (and they probably did finance 10 crappy, derivative, "safe" films for every half-way decent, creative gamble).

True, for every Blade Runner there is a 'Masters of the Universe', and yet, even back then classics like Brazil still got overlooked by many.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: the new predators movie!

Fairly off topic, but boy am I glad that Gilliam's films made enough money that they kept letting him make more. Though I appreciate Brazil as an adult, as a kid, I loved Tim Bandits and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Too bad his Don Quixote never got finished

 

[DeltaForceChung]

Re: the new predators movie!

So does this mean there will never be a GI JOE Vs. ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR Vs. TERMINATOR?

 

[wookster]

Re: the new predators movie!

Fairly off topic, but boy am I glad that Gilliam's films made enough money that they kept letting him make more. Though I appreciate Brazil as an adult, as a kid, I loved Tim Bandits and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Too bad his Don Quixote never got finished

Amen to that! He's one of a very small band of auters that keep working.
Lynch, Burton, Allen and even Del Torro could be counted... but who else?

So does this mean there will never be a GI JOE Vs. ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR Vs. TERMINATOR?

Probably!

 

[prefused]

Re: the new predators movie!

So does this mean there will never be a GI JOE Vs. ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR Vs. TERMINATOR?

well, there's an aliens vs predator vs terminator comic. eventually someone will throw gi joe in there. they are pretty much space marines now anyway.
its like every time when dc comics ran out of ideas they made someone fight aliens or predator.

so, there's no reason to think some enterprising director with a history of ^^^^ty movies *cough*paul anderson*cough* won't take up the chance to cash in.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

Re: the new predators movie!

I need to correct myself . . .

I meant to say . . .

GI JOE Vs. TRANFORMERS Vs. ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR Vs. TERMINATOR Vs. ROBOCOP Vs. RAMBO

 

[Mike the Wolf]

Re: the new predators movie!

Silentsurfer,

There is no more SWS, after Stan died his family sold out and the new name is "legacy effects". My older brother lives in cali and sells CNC machines and he was at SWS/Legacy the day Stan's family was selling all the different character statues that was in the front office.

I know what your saying, Predator #orno!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:chew

 

[Faken]

Re: the new predators movie!

Silentsurfer,

There is no more SWS, after Stan died his family sold out and the new name is "legacy effects". My older brother lives in cali and sells CNC machines and he was at SWS/Legacy the day Stan's family was selling all the different character statues that was in the front office.

I know what your saying, Predator #orno!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:chew

Did you know those statues are actually up for auction right now? They are all going on sale in October... all the pieces from the famous conference room.

https://www.profilesinhistory.com/index.php?option=com_auctions&catid=37

Click on "End >>" under the lot numbers and start from the end... prepare to drool. EVERYTHING is in there... the PHead, the predator statue, the full size T-Rex head, all of it...

Lot #890 is the pred from the office.

 

[prefused]

Re: the new predators movie!

i'm gonna go ahead and guess the chances of all that stuff going straight to ebay are pretty fair.

 

[nathanial91]

Re: the new predators movie!

Quick interview I found

MovieHole caught up with KNB's Howard Berger whose company are doing the special effects on Predators. He basically just says they're going to be faithful to Stan Winston's work in the original movies.

“I just saw some photos today and they look absolutely fantastic!”, says Berger, who got his start working with Stan Winston on films like “Predator” and “Aliens”. ‘’Greg [Nicotero] is supervising and masterminding that one. So we're in pre-production on [it] right now...

...we wanted to have the Predator look as it did in the original film. We went back and looked at the original. I actually worked in the shop with Stan Winston on the first film. It was great to be able to go back to the series having not been involved in any of the sequels, and it was also great to be able to make sure we built them as Stan Winston did... They look really fantastic. There's a whole bunch of cool [Predator's] in the film, and everyone's going to be very happy that we've been very faithful to the Stan Winston designs. It's out next year. It's shooting very soon.’’

In related news, Big Island Weekly spoke to Ron Schmidt, the unit production manager on Predators, about shooting in Hawaii. Casting still hasn't been completed and sets haven't been finished. He says the story takes place with nine characters running through the jungle escaping the predator. Thanks to Darkoo for the news.

 

[Furious1]

Re: the new predators movie!

Nice to hear that someone involved with SWS is in on this. I feel alot better now! At least the Preds will look cool!

 

[Station]

Re: the new predators movie!

So is Rodriguez not attached to this anymore?

 

[Biojex]

Re: the new predators movie!

i really hope this turns out good. I'm starting to get a bit excited for it.

the part where he says "there are a bunch of cool predators in the film" has me even more excited about the prospect of a lot more Hot Toys Predators.

 

[prefused]

Re: the new predators movie!

So is Rodriguez not attached to this anymore?

depends on your definition of "attached". he was never going to direct it. as far as i can tell the movie is based on a script treatment he wrote in the 90s. he's still doing interviews about it and talking about the director. so, i guess he's kind of "producing" it at this point.

the good news is there won't be any aliens in it.
the bad news is the one movie i've seen by the director was kinda boring.
maybe he's getting pointers from Rodriguez.