Relatively low budget sci-fi horror movies are everywhere you look these days, so whoever first came up with the idea of refitting Dan Trachtenberg’s initial concept into Predator reboot Prey deserves either a raise or a medal, perhaps both depending on how it fares at the upcoming Primetime Emmys.
As well as being the best-reviewed installment in the history of the 36 year-old franchise, the riveting period piece scooped an impressive six nominations at the aforementioned ceremony, including Outstanding Television Movie and Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Trachtenberg admitted that he didn’t initially head in with notions of finally delivering a Predator story that didn’t disappoint, but it would be an understatement to say the pieces ended up coming together very nicely indeed.
“I was first thinking of how to tell a story about someone trying to prove themselves and what they could be up against. I already had a good idea for a movie separate from the IP. When the IP came into the equation suddenly it made our movie better.”
He’s not lying, either, especially when there were eye-rolls of derision when the cat was first let out of the bag, solely for the reason that after being burned by two dire Alien vs. Predator crossovers, Shane Black’s weak The Predator, and the only one of the follow-ups that actually merited a sequel but didn’t get one, the prospect of Disney taking on the property was viewed with huge skepticism.
In the end, Prey was a phenomenon, and hopefully there’s plenty more to come.