The Predator screenwriter Fred Dekker isn’t a fan of the movie’s Predator Killer super-suit ending. A lot of information has recently come to light about the various endings that were planned for The Predator, with a few filmed - but unused - variations crossing over with the Alien franchise. The movie currently ends with humanity learning the Fugitive Predator’s mysterious pod contains the Predator Killer, an Iron Man-style suit of armor that can be worn in combat against the titular hunters.
This ending was a last minute reshoot for the production, and an attempt to get audiences invested in a potential sequel. There were three other versions of this sequence shot. One featured an unidentified sleeper in the pod, whose face was obscured by a Facehugger-style breather mask. The next revealed it was actually Ellen Ripley in the pod, and the final version had a grown-up version of Newt from Aliens. The Predator’s current ending features no links to Alien, but the fact these tags were shot at all shows Fox gave them serious consideration.
Related: The Predator Reshoots Explained
The studio ultimately opted for the Predator Killer super-suit ending, which was met with derision by most fans. It turns out The Predator’s own co-writer isn’t fond of this scene either, with Fred Dekker revealing to a fan on Facebook that he hates this element of the movie. In a Facebook comment response, Dekker wrote:
We live in a culture that's so cacophonous we sometimes cling to our opinions as our only voice in the din. Or we're so married to our childhood memories of things we love that when the formula is contradicted, some feel betrayed by any attempt to take a different approach. In all candor, I have lots of issues with the movie (I also hate the super-suit ending!), but I spent three years on it and to have it trashed by toxic fans who don't have the first clue how hard it is to get anything on the screen, well...that hurts.
Dekker also talks about the overall response to The Predator, and how it hurts to have a project he spent three years on being so roundly bashed by fans. Dekker and co-writer Shane Black intended The Predator to be a reinvention of the series, and bring fresh ideas to the long-running franchise. Unfortunately, mixed test screening results led to a large portion of the movie being retooled. Major plot elements like two ‘friendly’ emissary Predators and a bunch of vicious hybrid monsters were dropped, and a more traditional battle scene in a forest was added to the final act during reshoots.
It was felt The Predator’s original cut drifted simply too far from the series formula, so an effort was made to simplify the story. Despite the large amount of excised footage, Black doubts an alternate cut will happen due to the cost of finishing the VFX for these sequences. While the movie received good notices for its great ensemble cast, some fans reacted badly to the movie’s sense of humor and controversial new additions to franchise lore. The Predator Killer scene was also regularly cited as a bad ending, and while Dekker is - understandably - upset by some of the more toxic reactions to the movie, it’s nice to see he’s no fan of this particular sequence either.
More: All The Predator's Alternate Endings Explained
Source: Fred Dekker