As ’80s and early ’90s action movie franchises continue to get the reboot and remake treatment, it was only a matter of time before Predator was seen as a financial opportunity to take advantage of, and today that news is officially set in stone thanks to 20th Century Fox.

Word is coming out that Predator is indeed getting “rebooted”, though there is no word as to exactly what that truly means, and talent has already been attached to the film. Shane Black, who wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3, will be taking on directorial responsibilities for the movie. He will also provide the basic treatment for the movie. Fred Dekkar, known chiefly for directing Night of the Creeps and The Monster Squad, will provide the screenplay.

The only other name currently attached to the movie at the moment is producer John Davis, who also co-produced the original 1987 film.

The Predator movies have had a rather disjointed timeline, with the original film, 1990’s Predator 2, and 2010’s Predators each acting as their own standalone story within a larger universe populated by the hunting behemoths, and could be enjoyed (to a point) without seeing the other films. Outside the movie universe, which also includes the Alien franchise thanks to Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predators: Requim, there is also a rich library of reference material from comic books and video games.

It is the singular word “reboot” that is quite worrisome and should be noted very closely by fans. This is a universe that has already established that Predators have been around a very long time and have traveled quite extensively across the galaxy. Why throw reboot out there when you can just pick up a new story and new characters within the existing universe?

More so than the story, reboot also implies that we could see a completely re-envisioned Predator. It is true the films have shown us different races of Predators so far, but a reboot could bring us a totally new design. Do you really want to see Predator get a slimmed-down tactical-black style reimaging a la this year’s Robocop or a Predator without its extending mandibles? The Predator design is iconic, and is not to be tampered with!

With any luck whatsoever, “reboot” is simply being used as buzzword, and what Black, who actually starred in the original Predator, is working on will be a film within the existing universe that will be designed as a jumping off point for newer fans, and give the franchise a second chance at a film jump start to continue telling great sci-fi adventure stories.

We’ll have more as this story continues, but in the meantime sound off below on what you would like to see in the next Predator movie!

[Source: THR]