The Hollywood Reporter has learned Olivia Munn, star of Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, is circling a key role in The Predator, the long-awaited Shane Black redo that is said to be on the cusp of development.
Negotiations are still underway, but we understand Munn is in contention to land the part of a scientist opposite Boyd Holbrook’s (Logan) Special Forces commando, Quinn McKenna. Benicio Del Toro had once been attached to the part, but a deal fell through only a few weeks ago and considering that 20th Century Fox plans to jump-start production in February, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Holbrook was appointed with haste.
Plot details are practically non-existent at this early stage, though THR does drop one intriguing morsel: The Predator will be rooted in suburbia, courting the elusive extra-terrestrial out of the jungle and onto the streets of the city not unlike Predator 2.
That said, Shane Black has continually stressed that he’s aiming to bring the cult sci-fi series back to its horror roots, starting with creating a reboot deserving of an R rating. Much of that comes down to the success of Deadpool, with the writer-director noting that Fox has been “very cooperative” behind the scenes.
“Fox has been very cooperative. I mean part of it is the success they had with Deadpool, but I also made a case—and I think they agreed—that fans of the Predator generally, probably aren’t looking to go to see a PG-13-rated version of it. It would be more of a letdown if it was sort of tailored to a family friendly audience than if it were allowed to play out to the same scale and level that the first R-rated one did.”
Shane Black will pump fresh blood into The Predator when his long-gestating reboot steps out of the shadows and into theaters on February 9, 2018. It’ll be released in IMAX formats, too.