Benicio Del Toro Won’t Be Chasing the PREDATOR
[featured image: cosplayer Dennis Butt photographed by Jason P Hunt]
The Predator, rebooting the franchise launched in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger, is swapping out the lead. Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) will replace Benicio Del Toro.
Del Toro was in talks until scheduling issues pulled him out of consideration. Holbook’s other projects include The Skeleton Twins, Gone Girl, Hatfields & McCoys, and will play the villain opposite Hugh Jackman in the upcoming Wolverine sequel Logan.
Plot details are scarce, but it’s already got a release date from Fox: February 9, 2018. Shane Black is directing from a script by Fred Dekker. Original Predator producers John Davis, Joel Silver, and Lawrence Gordon are back to produce this installment.
The original story follows a group of commandos on a rescue mission in South America. One by one, they get hunted down by an alien hunter. The sequel was set in Los Angeles and starred Danny Glover. No word on whether this will be a straight-up retelling of the first, or if it will try to follow the Predators model and be a combination reboot/sequel.