The Predator Star Weighs in on the Film’s Disappointing Reception

When The Predator was first announced, fans of the franchise were excited as it was directed by Shane Black, the acclaimed director of Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, who also starred in the original Predator, but with the film only earning $160 million worldwide and sitting at 33% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it is largely considered a disappointment. The lesson that star Boyd Holbrook took from that lackluster reception to the film is that, despite the passion for the early entries into a franchise, attempting to replicate that success is often a fruitless endeavor that shouldn’t have been attempted in the first place.

“I just think the first one [Predator] caught lightning in a bottle,” Holbrook shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “And with people wanting to do more, maybe you should just let a sleeping dog lie, sometimes. That was a big takeaway for me.”

Even before the film landed in theaters, audiences were apprehensive about the adventure, as the project earned a number of reshoots, with reports claiming the entire ending was altered. Understandably, the discovery that a film’s third act needed to be completely reworked following what was initially shot ignites speculation about what went wrong the first time, or, in some cases, what was too ambitious for a movie studio to support.

According to Black, however, the reshoots were merely an effort to make the film scarier than what was originally shot.

“The first time we shot the third act it was daytime,” Black said to Empire Magazine back in 2018. “It’s all this spooky stuff but then it’s bright sunlight. It just didn’t work. So I said, ‘Ummm, can we do this again at night?’”

The series launched back in 1987 and, while it inspired a proper sequel in 1990, the following years saw the lore expanded into a number of different mediums. In 2004, the series crossed over with another famous sci-fi series in AVP: Alien vs. Predator, which earned the sequel Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007. The franchise also earned the 2010 film Predators, though all of these endeavors outside of the original entry failed to capture the public’s attention as effectively as the debut.

Sadly, 2018’s The Predator was even meant to launch multiple sequels.

Ahead of that film’s release, producer John Davis noted that this film was meant to be the first chapter in a trilogy, though Black noted he was just taking things one day at a time.

There are currently no announced plans for a new Predator film.

What do you think of the actor’s reaction? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!