How ‘The Predator’ tried to revive ‘Alien Versus Predator’
Shane Blacks stab at reviving the Predator series ultimately failed. From the terrible odd-ball mix of casting, through to the script that just kept on trying to be funny, The Predator just failed to resonate with the masses. Some would put the blame on the last minute re-shoots that saw characters cut and the ending altered, others may point their withered fingers at the awful, almost unfathomable, CGI that was used for predator dogs and the hunter.
Even if the film was not what the series needed to revive itself, you can’t help but admire how the filmmakers tried to revive something that Predator 2 started in 1990, the Aliens vs Predator crossover. At the end of the Predator 2, Lieutenant Michael R. Harrigan (Danny Glover) enters a Predator ship and discovers a group of skulls from various creatures, including one that looks very familiar.
The inclusion of the Xenomorph skull was a genius move that propelled the two films series together. A comic book series had already been published by this time, but films were by far the biggest medium that the general public were consuming. Whilst the comics may have passed many people by, the Aliens/predator movie crossover was hard to miss. However, the comics did handle the whole affair much better than the films, with the 2004 Alien vs. Predator movie, and a sequel, were both huge disappointments.
The new Predator film attempted to revive the AVP franchise, with a couple of endings that the production team were thinking about, but ultimately never used. Clearly FOX is still interested in the crossover series. (Spoilers for the 2018 Predator film) At the end of the new film, a Predator Killer is promised, acting as the films MacGuffin. But as the credits close, we find out that it’s some sort of stupid Iron Man styled suit. The endings they dropped would have had us film geeks screaming at the screens, as either Ellen Ripley, or Newt would have been revealed as the “Predator Killer”!
These endings were filmed but dropped. Thanks to some behind the scenes screen shots from Hollywood artist Yuri Everson, we can see both the characters (with stand-in actresses) as they would have been revealed in camera. Both would have had Face-hugger styled masks, that would have handily hidden the actresses faces, but the characters names are clearly displayed on the pods monitors or on their costume.
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