'Predator' sequel seeks to 'reinvent' the franchise

Predator producer John Davis says his upcoming sequel seeks to reinvent the franchise.

The 61-year-old Davis Entertainment founder revealed as much in an interview with Collider at the TCA summer press tour this week. Davis produced the original 1987 movie and its sequels, as well as the Alien vs. Predator crossover films.

"I think [writer and director Shane Black's script is] genius and I think it's entertaining, and what it did is recreate a famous franchise in a different, interesting way -- looking at it from a different light," he lauded. "He's got a way of looking at this that makes you excited again."

"[Black and writing partner Fred Dekker], the two of them together ... the writing is so fresh, the perspective is so fresh," he added. "I'm telling you you're going to get something you don't expect, and you're going to say, 'This is the most entertaining way to reinvent a franchise.'"

Word of the new installment broke last June, with the film initially being reported as a reboot. Black subsequently clarified the movie will be an "inventive sequel," telling Collider, "Why start over when you've all this rich mythology to mine?"

Black portrayed the ill-fated Rick Hawkins in Predator, and is known for directing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3. The original film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as an Army major who faces sentient alien beings while tasked with recovering an abducted minister.