‘Predator 5’: Producers Compare Dan Trachtenberg’s New Film To ‘The Revenant’ & Are Open To PG-13 Rating

“Predator 5” also known as “Skulls/Skull” coming from director Dan Trachtenberg (“10 Cloverfield,” “Black Mirror,” “The Boys“) has been shooting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a mostly unknown cast. Producers John Davis and David Fox have now dished to Collider about the fifth installment giving some insight into the secretive fifth installment. 

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John Fox stating that it’s comparable to Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s Oscar-winning film “The Revenant,” which is certainly a bold claim considering Shane Black‘s “The Predator” struggled to find an audience and ultimately became a box office flop. “It actually has more akin to ‘The Revenant’ than it does any film in the Predator canon. You’ll know what I mean once you see it,” Fox told Collider. 

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Cinematographer Jeff Cutter (“10 Cloverfield Lane”) posted a photo on Instagram (See below) from the Calgary set that had a Native American village in the background, confirming a period setting, the first for these movies. 

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The film is expected to focus on a group of Native American warriors facing the alien hunter, with a female protagonist (female lead confirmed by producers) possibly played by “Legion” and “The Ice Road” actress Amber Midthunder after some teases on Instagram. That included an exchange between Trachtenberg, Midthunder, and studio head Steve Asbell. It would certainly line up with the comments from John Fox linking it to “The Revenant” that had a large Native American angle and key scenes were shot outdoors in Alberta. 

Another thing they revealed is that the new sci-fi project pre-dates the merger with Disney and seemingly is one of the few projects that didn’t get scrapped in the wake of Disney’s oversight of 20th Century Studios.

“Here is the interesting thing. We started conceiving this movie while we were shooting the last ‘Predator’ movie. Dan came to me with a writer and an idea while we were shooting the movie. Emma Watts (former 20th Century executive and studio head) was really instrumental here,” Davis said of the film’s development timeline taking place before Disney acquired the studio. 

The sci-fi action franchise is predominantly known for installments having an R-rating mainly because the alien hunter skins humans and collects their skulls, but producer John Davis is seemingly open to a PG-13 cut of the film. “It all depends on how you end up cutting it, right? It was conceived as an R-rated movie. It could easily end up PG-13. I guess I’m going to find out what it has to be or what it is when it’s all cut together,” Davis said of a potential rating for “Skulls.”

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It’s worth noting while Paul W.S. Anderson‘s PG-13 film “Alien vs. Predator” did well at the box office, it’s considered a low-point for both franchises, and targeting a more family-friendly audience didn’t help things. 20th Century Fox and producers had rejected an “Alien 5” incarnation developed by Ridley Scott and James Cameron to focus on “AVP” instead.