New Predator Movie: Dan Trachtenberg's Prequel Gets A Clever New Title

If it bleeds, we can kill it; if it's greenlit, we can hype it. 

In 1987, John McTiernan's "Predator" blew up big screens with the story of a paramilitary rescue mission interrupted by a strong-jawed, invisible-at-will, tech-savvy extraterrestrial. Four sequels and some crossovers later (not to mention all of the comic books, novelizations, and video games), a new predator has emerged and is ready to take some trophies.

Production wrapped on the fifth film in the beloved, bloody "Predator" franchise in September of 2021, and fans have been keeping ears to the ground for any word on developments ever since. On Disney+ Day, Deadline revealed that the "Predator" sequel is officially titled "Prey," and is set for release in summer 2022. The first promotional still from the movie and an official logo will be released later on today.

Dan Trachtenberg (he of the taut alien thriller "10 Cloverfield Lane") is at the helm of "Prey," with Amber Midhunter (of FX series "Legion") starring as — last we heard – "a Comanche woman who goes against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior." The movie marks the screenwriting debut of Patrick Aison, but he's no stranger to action; he previously worked as a co-executive producer for the "Jason Bourne" franchise spin-off series, "Treadstone," and as a supervising producer and writer for Amazon's "Jack Ryan" series. John Davis continues his streak of producing every single "Predator" movie in the franchise under his Davis Entertainment banner.

The film narrowly arrives before a copyright courtroom showdown. The original writers of the first two "Predator" films, Jim and John Thomas, have filed a series of termination notices that challenge Disney's claim on the rights to the headhunting alien and all stories therein. The brothers are exploiting a provision in copyright law that lets the authors of a piece of copyrighted media (or their heirs) terminate the grant of a license transfer for a work the author has a copyright claim on, then reclaiming the work for themselves. This provision can override certain contracts — like, say, Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox. The Thomas Brothers, if successful, would reclaim the rights to their work in 2023, according to the third termination notice filed (which marks 35 years after the 1987 release of "Predator"). 

Disney has not challenged this third notice, but they did file a countersuit in April, likely to keep the rights to "Hunters" until after the series drops. Until then, "Prey" has been cleared to grace our screens. The movie is set to release on Hulu in the United States and on Star internationally in summer 2022. It's currently unclear whether it will also get a theatrical release.