Disney/20th Century Studios has unleashed the first clip from Predator: Badlands, and it wastes no time throwing us into the chaos. The preview drops us right into a brutal showdown as Dek, the Yautja warrior at the center of the story, is attacked by vicious, plant-like creatures.
The film, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, serves as his follow-up to the critically acclaimed Prey and takes the Predator universe further into uncharted territory. This time, the tables are turned as the Predator himself becomes prey.
While speaking with IGN, Trachtenberg shared details about Dek’s futuristic arsenal, revealing just how much the franchise has evolved.
“He starts out with a number of really cool gadgets. I’ve always felt like there’s a link between the Predator franchise and James Bond. Part of what we enjoy about going to see it is like, what kind of gizmos does he have?
“And I’ve been stuck in the past with my entries into the franchise, with Prey set in the 1700s and Killer of Killers set in multiple different decades. But all in the past, so I’ve always had to think, what would his weaponry be if it was a little bit more pre what we’re used to seeing?
“Now I’m well into the future. So he’s got laser bows, has an awesome laser sword that has multiple modes. His sword that he uses, he holds like a classic knight or samurai would, but then it switches it into a different mode and he can use it almost like a glaive.”
Another major shift for Badlands is its rating. For the first time in franchise history (outside of AvP), a Predator movie won’t carry an R-rating. Producer Ben Rosenblatt explained how the team managed to deliver plenty of carnage while keeping things within PG-13 territory.
“We’ll see where it ends up, but our hope for it is that it can be a PG-13 that feels like an R,” Rosenblatt said. “That’s kind of our hope. And really, what that’s about is just being able to broaden out the audience for a movie like this.”
“We don’t have any humans in the movie and so we don’t have any human red blood,” he continued. “So we’re hoping that’s gonna play to our advantage. We’re going to go as hard as we possibly can within those constraints, and we think we’ll be able to do some pretty awesomely gruesome stuff. But in colous other than red.”
In this future-set story, Dek’s enemies are all alien in nature, no human victims this time. The only humanoid figures are Weyland-Yutani synths, adding a cool sci-fi edge that connects subtly to the wider Alien universe.
Set on a hostile, remote planet, Predator: Badlands follows a young Predator outcast (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who teams up with Thia on a dangerous journey to find the ultimate opponent. The film promises to expand and redefine the Predator mythos, giving fans something new while staying true to the primal, survivalist spirit that made the franchise iconic.
Predator: Badlands is set to hit theaters on November 7, showing in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, Cinemark XD, 4DX, ScreenX, and other premium formats.
