Disney’s recent merger with Fox has resulted in them now owning a massive portion of the cultural landscape. The biggest acquisition, of course, is the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four, which means those heroes and their supporting characters can now be brought into the MCU. But there are a few other big franchises whose ownership by the studio might spell choppy waters ahead.
Yes, the often intertwined Alien and Predator properties are now owned by Disney and with the Mouse House’s reluctance to release anything with an R-rating attached to it, fans have wondered how they’ll handle those franchises in particular. Thankfully, CEO Bob Iger has already made clear that they won’t be watering down future films in either series but it does seem like they’ll be going back to the drawing board with both.
After hearing that Disney plans to reboot Alien, our sources – the same ones who brought us recently confirmed scoops like Aladdin is getting a sequel and that Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart had cameos in Hobbs & Shaw – now tell us that the studio will do the same with Predator, wiping Shane Black’s recent reboot from continuity and starting fresh with the property.
Exact details on what they have planned are unclear at this point, but this is definitely the right move. After all, the aforementioned film from Black was a huge letdown and failed to make a dent at the box office. Not to mention that the attempt to restart the franchise back in 2010 with Predators was also pretty underwhelming. As such, the property definitely needs a new coat of paint.
However, given that the last two outings have fallen flat, it’d be wise for Disney to sit on whatever the next film in the series will be for a while. Especially with Black’s effort only releasing in 2018. Still, it’s good to hear that they’ll be rebooting things and with any luck, the Predator will finally return to his former glory under the House of Mouse (now there’s a sentence you probably never expected to hear).