It almost seemed like every single person who watched “Prey” understood just how significant of an addition the 2022 movie was to the franchise — everyone, that is, except the actual studio. 20th Century infamously relegated the period-piece thriller to a streaming release on Hulu, robbing audiences of what surely would’ve been an adrenaline-pumping experience on the big screen. We’ll never know exactly how well the crowd-pleasing movie, made in the same vein as Dan Trachtenberg’s brilliant “10 Cloverfield Lane,” would’ve performed at the box office … but it’s easy to imagine that it would’ve been a smash hit. With the news that Trachtenberg impressed the higher-ups enough to be brought back for the next film, hopefully they’ll learn from that mistake and give this new iteration the wide release it deserves. Unfortunately, the THR report doesn’t indicate whether a theatrical release is in the offing or not.
Still, this is thrilling news for “Predator” fans, many of whom once thought the entire series had been left for dead after Shane Black’s studio-meddled 2018 sequel “The Predator.” Thankfully, “Prey” resurrected the IP and proved that there’s plenty of untapped potential for stories set in various time periods and settings. There’s always the risk that the studio could take things a little too far, of course, with today’s news possibly suggesting a potential “Predator” cinematic universe of sorts. But we’re choosing to be optimistic about the fact that Trachtenberg will now get the chance to pay off on the sequel ideas he once talked up.
Stay tuned to /Film for more details!