Predator 5 producer, John Davis, said that the upcoming film is just as good as the original. The sci-fi action franchise started with the 1987 classic, which was directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard) and written by brothers Jim and John Thomas. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of a team of commandos. As they pursue their mission set in Central America, they find themselves being hunted by a powerful extraterrestrial creature with technology that's far beyond that of humans.
The film ultimately spawned three sequels and two crossover films with the Alien franchise in Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The upcoming installment is titled Skull, which is still finishing up in production. The story will follow the main Predator's first trip to planet Earth. While little is known about the film otherwise, it has been confirmed that the movie will have a female lead and will take place further back in history. Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) directs the film from Patrick Aison's screenplay.
During an interview with Collider, producers Davis and John Fox talked about Skull while promoting Jungle Cruise. Davis stressed how good the upcoming film is, noting how it matches the level of the 1987 original. He admitted that the other sequels in the franchise lost their way, but that Skull gets the series back on track. See below for his full statement:
"It's going to be, I believe, the second best -- or the first... or it may be equal to the first one. Right? I feel like the first one was a wonderful, interesting movie and I know what worked about it. I feel like we kind of never got back there again. We ended up in different places. I think this is a worthy complement to the first one. It's going to be as good."
Over the course of 31 years, 20th Century Fox created three sequels to the original before Disney ultimately purchased the studio. They each have different directors and varying tones. Three years after the original, Predator 2 hit theaters in 1990. Predators wouldn't be released until 2010 and another sequel would hit theaters eight years later in 2018 titled, The Predator. Hopefully Trachtenberg's Skull is the beginning of consistency for the franchise.
While the creature of the Predator and the original film are iconic, the sequels are not looked upon fondly. There was clearly no particular direction that the franchise was moving in, as none of the films mend well together. They're all different visions with various directions. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem's creature mythology is particularly strange. Given that the film is still not even completed, it's a bit difficult to take Davis on his word here, especially as he mentioned that Predator 5's preconceived R-rating could potentially end up being PG-13. Hopefully, it still remains to be an R-rated project and offers a coherent direction for the franchise.
Source: Collider