The director of Prey explains how they originally intended to reveal it as a Predator film to audiences. Prey is set for release on Hulu on August 5, 2022, and is the fifth film in the main Predator franchise. It's set in 1719 and focuses on a battle between a Comanche warrior named Naru (Amber Midthunder) and the Predator. The film is the first film in the franchise since 2018's The Predator and the first Predator movie to not get a theatrical release, instead being a Hulu exclusive.
In 2019, it was reported that Dan Trachtenberg was developing a movie titled Skulls for Disney/Fox and it would follow a Comanche woman. Rumors immediately began to circulate that the film was actually a new Predator movie, which was confirmed in 2020. The original plan was to downplay the connection to the Predator franchise, with the original name Skulls and eventually Prey, being the first time the titular monster was not in the title as an attempt to surprise audiences.
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Trahhctenberg reveals his original plans to market Prey and reveal it as a Predator movie. Tractenberg had been developing the film for some time, reportedly first pitching the concept when Shane Black's The Predator was still in production. The original plan would put out a teaser that didn't reveal any connection to the Predator franchise, with a second trailer attached to The Predator that would finally reveal the film was secretly a Predator film. While Trachtenberg wishes they could have kept the connection a secret, he acknowledges the difficulties and thinks the marketing team has done a solid job with the movie. Read Trachtenberg's comments, below:
"We started developing this when 2018's The Predator movie was still prepping - or maybe it was in production. My pitch to the studio was, "What if we put out a trailer that is just the first act of this movie? That is just the story of this Comanche girl who sets out to prove herself and ends up in the woods, and then sees a fire in the sky?" And that would be it. It wouldn't have a title, or it would have a fake title or something.
"And then when that last Predator movie came out, we would attach the full trailer. And that would include the bear sequence, where the bear is lifted up and the blood drips down and reveals the Predator. And then you would know, 'Oh, this is a Predator movie.'
"Certainly, it would have been amazing if we could have kept it secret the whole time and the movie announced itself while you're watching it. But I think that's a little less realistic, so I thought maybe marketing could have done that trick."
A teaser that is just the opening of a movie is certainly a strong hook, one that worked wonders for Disney back in 1994 with The Lion King teaser that was just 'The Circle of Life" sequence and catapulted The Lion King to become one of the most successful films of all time. It was a trailer method so effective that Disney replicated with both 2000's Dinosaurs and the 2019 remake of The Lion King. Trachtenberg's previous film, 10 Cloverfield Lane, was announced to the public in January 2016 when its trailer was released, just two months before the film opened.
It is interesting that Fox was considering the pitch for Prey as far back as before the release of The Predator. In 2018, The Predator was set to be a new turning point in the franchise and was meant to set up sequels, and threw around ideas ranging from bringing back Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch to introducing the Xenomorphs to even including a cameo from either Ripley or Newt from the Alien franchise. The Predator was a box office and critical disappointment, though, and the studio went back to Trachtenberg's pitch for Prey. Early word of mouth for Prey has been incredibly strong, suggesting it's the best entry in the franchise since the original, so The Predator franchise may have found a new direction after all.
