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Disney's Predator prequel 'Prey' is set 300 years in the past; coming to Hulu in 2022
The project hails from director Dan Trachtenberg, his first feature film since 10 Cloverfield Lane.
Keep a close eye on your spinal columns! Disney's Predator prequel film from 20th Century Studios has a deadly new name. The project hailing from director Dan Trachtenberg — previously thought to be titled Skull — will actually go under the fitting moniker of Prey. Moreover, the movie is set to bypass theaters for a stealthy streaming release on Hulu sometime next summer, Variety reports. The announcement was among the major news revealed Friday morning in honor of Disney+ Day.
Per the official logline, the plot kicks off in the not-too-distant past of 300 years ago. The main protagonist is Naru (played by Legion's Amber Midthunder), a member of the Comanche Nation who wants to prove her worth as a skilled and deadly warrior. She gets her chance — and then some — when "a highly evolved alien predator" attacks the tribe.
Prey is Trachtenberg's first feature film since 2018's 10 Cloverfield Lane (a spiritual sequel to Matt Reeves' Cloverfield). In the years since, the filmmaker has directed episodes of Black Mirror, The Boys, and Peacock's The Lost Symbol.
"It goes back to what made the original Predator movie work. It's the ingenuity of a human being who won't give up, who's able to observe and interpret, basically being able to beat a stronger, more powerful, well-armed force," Prey producer John Davis explained during an interview with Collider over the summer. "It actually has more akin to The Revenant than it does any film in the Predator canon. You'll know what I mean once you see it," promised Fox, though Davis declined to reveal the specific time period. "You can use your imagination. It is... early."
Written by Patrick Aison (Wayward Pines), Prey is the latest attempt to revitalize the sci-fi film franchise after writer/director Shane Black's ill-fated attempt in the fall of 2018 with the release of The Predator. Disney purchased 20th Century Fox six months later, acquiring the rival studio's entire catalogue of beloved tittles that could be spun out into new projects.
While there have been many stabs at the Predator mythos over the years, none of the sequels, reboots, or crossovers have come close to matching the strange magic of the 1987 original with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers. Nevertheless, the look of the titular character (a mandible-jawed alien that enjoys hunting other species for sport) remains one of the most iconic genre designs in all of pop culture history.
Davis also claimed that the upcoming prequel "may be equal" to the original. "I feel like the first one was a wonderful, interesting movie and I know what worked about it," he said. "I feel like we kind of never got back there again. We ended up in different places. I think this is a worthy complement to the first one. It's going to be as good."
