Shane Black’s Predator Bumped to August 2018

Shane Black’s name has been synonymous with the term “blockbuster” since the filmmaker first kicked off his career in Hollywood in 1987 with the screenplay for director Richard Donner’s definitive buddy action comedy Lethal Weapon. The Mel Gibson-Danny Glover smash not only raised Black’s profile as a screenwriter – he also co-wrote the cult favorite The Monster Squad in 1988 and the hit sequel Lethal Weapon II in 1989 – it opened up opportunities for the scribe to act. After an uncredited role in 1986, Black made his official big screen debut as Hawkins opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch in director John McTiernan’s 1987 alien hunter classic Predator.

Fast-forward 30 years later, and Black is hired as the co-writer and director of the newest film in the franchise, The Predator. Billed as a sequel to 1987’s original, Black has assembled an impressive cast that includes Boyd Holbrook, Sterling K. Brown, Yvonne Strahovski and Edward James Olmos.

While originally slated for a March 2018 release date, the film was moved up to February 2018 about a year ago, but now according to Bloody Disgusting, Fox is pushing the release date of The Predator back from February 2018 to August 2018. Normally, a big delay like this signals some sort of trouble with the production, but in this case, the delay is a good thing. Generally, the movie marketplace experiences a lull in the two months after the holiday movie season, and the box office starts to ramp up once March hits. Of course, the biggest time for a film release – especially for a potential blockbuster like The Predator – is the summer, and August is not a bad place to be.

Granted, fans anticipating the new Predator movie will be disappointed for the extended wait, but ultimately, it’s a good thing for the film. It will give Black that much more time to fine tune the film, which Brown says is “very different than the original Predator” and has “a really wicked sense of humor to it.”

One thing that will certainly make The Predator different from the original is the absence of Schwarzenegger, who says he turned down a chance to be in the film. But fans familiar with Black’s work know that the filmmaker is exactly what this reboot needs to be successful.

While his career behind the camera has had box office highs (Iron Man 3) and lows (The Nice Guys and the massively underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Black has consistently proven that he’s a gifted director with a keen sense of originality. Expect his return to the Predator franchise to be monstrously entertaining, especially considering he co-wrote with script with The Monster Squad’s co-writer and director Fred Dekker.

http://screenrant.com/shane-black-pr...e-august-2018/