Shane Black's The Predator is still set to hit movie screens in 2018, but pinning down news about the film's actual production start date has been a bit tricky. Last May, Black indicated that work would begin on the film by October. Last June it was said the movie would go before the cameras beginning in September, but September came and went with no filming on the project.

Meanwhile, news churned out about the movie's cast, which as of now is set to include Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key; with Sterling K. Brown reportedly still in talks. At some point, Shane Black has to assemble that intriguing cast and get it before the camera to start shooting the actual movie. After so many rumors that turned out to be false, is The Predator finally ready to start rolling? Maybe.

According to one casting website, The Predator does have a start date, and it's not very far in the future. My Entertainment World has a listing for The Predator, set to start shooting February 20, 2017 in Vancouver. The synopsis reads:

Described as a inventive sequel of the story about commandos who are hunted by an other-worldly assassin in a Central American jungle.

Black himself recently described his vision for the movie if not the actual plot (via Collider):

I think the Predator movies have slightly veered from typical sci-fi in that there is a sort of thriller aspect to them. I think it should be scary, I think it should be funny, and I think ultimately it should be wondrous and about perceiving things that human beings very seldom get a chance to see… I don’t mean movie audiences I mean characters in the movie. I’m not saying the movie will be nothing anyone’s seen before (laughs).

Note that the listing on My Entertainment World (which, again, is not an official synopsis) refers to the Central American jungle setting of the original Predator (1987). It's rumored that Black's The Predator is partly set in the suburbs, but that report has been shot down by select outlets. All we know right now is that some of The Predator will be filmed in Vancouver, but for all anyone knows there could be some jungle locations added down the road.

If Shane Black wishes to stay true to the spirit of the original Predator, he may try to set as much of his film as possible in real jungle. If he wants to go in the direction of Predator 2, he will change literal jungle to urban jungle. The most recent Predator film, 2010's Predators, itself returned to the actual jungle (this time, on an alien world) with mixed results.

Black has certainly been more-than-willing to tease his vision for The Predator by putting out little tidbits about its tone and backstory. The writer/director clearly has a vision for the franchise going forward, and now it appears he's finally ready to get the cameras rolling and begin capturing that vision on film.

Source: My Entertainment World