It’s nearly impossible to get a genie back into the bottle. Even more so when that genie has thermal imaging and plasma weapons. But Dan Trachtenberg, director of the new Predator sequel Prey, is attempting just that by asking fans to ignore the recently (probably) leaked trailer and wait for the real McCoy.
There’s already been a fair amount of good buzz surrounding the upcoming sequel, with many fans believing it may be one of the best entries in the franchise since the much-beloved and critically acclaimed original. A teaser trailer released last month generated even more positive fan reactions. Now the whole fandom is in a frenzy following a supposedly leaked trailer alleged to be the full-length version over the weekend. Online reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, but Trachtenberg, perhaps counterintuitively given the widespread embrace of fans, took to Twitter to tell everyone to chill.
Trachtenberg’s tweet seems to indicate that the trailer is probably legit, but also that an officially stamped and vetted version will be making its way online ASAP. One can never tell just exactly how or why a leak occurs, but studio standard operating procedure is to get out an approved trailer in front of the market as soon as it can, as happened in the wake of the Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning leak earlier this year.
That said, it seems Trachtenberg and the studio have nothing to worry about over the “oopsie-whoops” premature release of the trailer. While the Predator franchise seemingly has the shelf life of a Twinkie in a fallout shelter, none of the various reboots and franchise tweaks over the years have really sparked the public’s interest in the way the original did. Given fan response to the leaked trailer, Prey may be the first Predator property to duplicate the success of the original since the Schwarzenegger vehicle debuted in theaters back in 1987.