WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.620 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We have got a really 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:04.879 fantastic mission for you today. Yeah, we really 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.540 do. Because if you're joining us to get like 00:00:07.540 --> 00:00:11.179 a quick summary of a sci -fi movie, you are in 00:00:11.179 --> 00:00:13.580 for a massive surprise. A very big surprise, 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:16.280 yeah. We are using the Wikipedia page for the 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:21.140 2018 film The Predator as a basically... a completely 00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:23.879 fascinating case study in Hollywood blockbuster 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:26.199 filmmaking. Right. It's the perfect anatomy of 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:28.339 a franchise movie. Exactly. Our goal is to give 00:00:28.339 --> 00:00:31.239 you a shortcut to understanding the incredibly 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:33.640 chaotic ecosystem of the entertainment industry. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.859 Looking at a film's messy production, the behind 00:00:36.859 --> 00:00:39.100 -the -scenes struggles, and the intense studio 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:41.780 pressure, it often teaches us so much more about 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:44.219 how movies are actually made than a flawless 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:46.960 masterpiece ever could. It really lifts the curtain 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:49.310 on the business of art. And this specific production, 00:00:49.549 --> 00:00:51.609 I mean, it literally has it all. We're talking 00:00:51.609 --> 00:00:54.750 about an $88 million budget. Which is huge. A 00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:58.189 legacy franchise with a massive, very vocal fan 00:00:58.189 --> 00:01:01.350 base and a wildly ambitious attempt to blend 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:04.829 high -octane action, gory horror, and family 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:08.069 melodrama all into one package. Yeah, that is 00:01:08.069 --> 00:01:11.069 a lot to juggle. It is. But what actually resulted 00:01:11.069 --> 00:01:15.150 was a roller coaster of drastic reshoots, totally 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:17.950 unhinged alternate endings featuring some extremely 00:01:17.950 --> 00:01:22.829 famous characters and serious real world controversies. 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:25.569 OK, let's unpack this, starting with the original 00:01:25.569 --> 00:01:28.829 creative vision for the 2018 film, who was actually 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:31.560 steering the ship here. So to understand the 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:33.280 initial vision, you really have to look at the 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.239 director, Shane Black. He returned to co -write 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.680 the script with Fred Decker, and he also directed 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:41.739 the feature. Okay. But what makes this so poetic 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:44.719 for franchise fans is that Shane Black actually 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:48.219 starred in the original 1987 Predator film. Wait, 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:50.780 he was in it? Yeah, he played the character Rick 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:53.519 Hawkins. The commando reading the comic books 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:56.760 with the massive glasses. That is him. So he 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:58.980 has this very deep foundational connection to 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:01.340 the lore from the very beginning. Oh, wow. I 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:03.480 didn't realize that. Yeah. And his goal for the 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:05.959 2018 installment was to make it an event film 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.439 again. But surprisingly, he wanted to do that 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:10.479 by returning to a more intimate scale. Intimate 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.699 for a Predator movie. Exactly. He explicitly 00:02:13.699 --> 00:02:16.400 stated he was aiming for a close encounters of 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.319 the third kind sense of wonder and mystery. He 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:21.740 didn't just want to deliver nonstop mindless 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.860 explosions. Which is, I mean, a huge swing for 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.280 a franchise that's literally known for alien 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.960 hunters ripping people's spines out. Right. It's 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:32.080 quite the pivot. Let's talk about the plot mechanics 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:34.280 they built to achieve that intimate scale. It 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:37.539 starts with Army Ranger Sniper, Quinn McKenna, 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.960 played by Boyd Holbrook. During a hostage retrieval 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:43.960 mission, he encounters a predator, manages to 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:46.819 incapacitate it, and steals its advanced technology. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.080 And then makes a very interesting choice. Yeah. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.780 In a very bizarre move, he literally mails the 00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:56.120 alien armor to his own house to prove extraterrestrial 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:58.520 life exists. It is an intentionally grounded, 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.740 almost mundane, suburban inciting incident. You 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:03.580 take an intergalactic threat and just drop it 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:05.979 on a front porch. Exactly the kind of contrast 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:08.080 they were going for. So the package arrives at 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:11.319 his home and son, Rory, played by Jacob Tremblay, 00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:14.659 finds it. Rory has a form of autism and deals 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:17.889 with heavy bullying at school. To hide from the 00:03:17.889 --> 00:03:20.349 bullies, he actually wears the alien predator 00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:22.509 armor while out trick -or -treating. Which is 00:03:22.509 --> 00:03:25.849 a great visual! It really is. Meanwhile, Quinn 00:03:25.849 --> 00:03:28.169 gets captured by a government agent named Will 00:03:28.169 --> 00:03:31.159 Traeger, played by Sterling K. Brown. who runs 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:33.639 a secret operation called the Stargazer Project. 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:36.759 And Traeger is essentially the human antagonist 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:39.180 of the story here. He represents the military 00:03:39.180 --> 00:03:41.919 -industrial complex and the government's intense 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:45.460 desire to weaponize this alien technology for 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:47.979 our own use. Right, so Traeger throws Quinn onto 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:50.740 a prison bus with a group of PTSD -afflicted 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:53.960 military veterans. In the film... They refer 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.740 to themselves as the Loonies. And this is an 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.159 incredible ensemble cast they put together. Totally. 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:01.520 You have Trevante Rhodes playing Nebraska Williams, 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:05.379 Keegan -Michael Key as Coyle, Alfie Allen as 00:04:05.379 --> 00:04:08.080 Lynch, and Thomas Jane as Baxley. And there's 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.479 a fun bit of trivia there, too. Oh, yeah. Baxley's 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.300 Tourette syndrome in the film was actually named 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:14.659 after the stunt coordinator of the original 1987 00:04:14.659 --> 00:04:17.319 movie. That's a great little nod. They end up 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:20.000 hijacking this prison bus, teaming up with an 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.660 evolutionary biologist named Casey Brackett. 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:26.000 played by olivia munn and rushing to suburbia 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.079 to save quinn's son from the aliens what's fascinating 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:31.899 here is how the film uses this sprawling suburban 00:04:31.899 --> 00:04:34.560 setup to fundamentally alter the franchise's 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:38.319 mythology how so well for decades the lore was 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:41.990 simple Predators are intergalactic big game hunters. 00:04:42.230 --> 00:04:44.949 They travel from planet to planet hunting dangerous 00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:47.509 prey for sport and honor. Just for the thrill 00:04:47.509 --> 00:04:51.430 of the hunt. Exactly. But this 2018 film introduces 00:04:51.430 --> 00:04:54.889 a massive lore extension. The predators are no 00:04:54.889 --> 00:04:57.269 longer just hunting for trophies. They are actively 00:04:57.269 --> 00:04:59.970 using human DNA to upgrade themselves. But they 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:02.209 are doing full blown gene splicing. Precisely. 00:05:02.209 --> 00:05:04.350 For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, gene 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:06.490 splicing in science fiction is the idea of taking 00:05:06.490 --> 00:05:08.910 the genetic code from one species and literally 00:05:08.910 --> 00:05:11.529 weaving it into the DNA of another to adopt their 00:05:11.529 --> 00:05:14.310 best traits. Wow. And the urgency behind this, 00:05:14.370 --> 00:05:16.490 according to the government agent Traeger's theory 00:05:16.490 --> 00:05:19.110 in the film, is actually climate change. Climate 00:05:19.110 --> 00:05:21.870 change. Yeah. Traeger hypothesizes that the aliens 00:05:21.870 --> 00:05:24.490 anticipate global warming will soon end humanity's 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:27.589 viability. So the predators are scrambling to 00:05:27.589 --> 00:05:30.050 harvest our DNA before we go extinct and the 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:34.279 resources lost. That is incredibly dark. And 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.360 that ties directly into the autism angle in the 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:38.899 plot, right? It does. Because Rory's autism is 00:05:38.899 --> 00:05:42.259 framed as a preternatural ability to learn complex 00:05:42.259 --> 00:05:45.199 patterns and languages. This allows him to instantly 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.579 translate and understand the alien technology. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.620 Right. Because of this, the Predators view Rory 00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:53.459 not as a target for a hunt, but as a prime subject 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:56.839 for this hybridization. They see his neurodiversity 00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:59.160 as an evolutionary leap forward for humanity. 00:05:59.339 --> 00:06:01.720 So... What does this all mean? Well, they have 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:04.839 this massive ambitious suburban setup. Huge lore 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.079 drops about climate change and DNA. And a very 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:09.100 specific tone in mind. But I know the production 00:06:09.100 --> 00:06:11.720 was notoriously difficult. How did that vision 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:13.920 actually fare when it hit the editing room? It 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:16.259 was completely dismantled. Dismantled? Yes. The 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:18.519 movie audiences actually saw in theaters was 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:20.560 drastically different from what Shane Black originally 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:23.199 shot. It is a textbook example of studio panic. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.860 Oh no. What happened? 20th Century Fox screened 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:29.019 an early cut of the film for test audiences. 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:31.800 These are everyday people brought in to watch 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:34.500 an unfinished movie and fill out reaction cards. 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:36.959 And I'm guessing it didn't go well. The reaction 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.120 was remarkably poor. In response, the studio 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.959 mandated that the entire third act of the film 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:47.560 be completely reshot. The entire third act. You're 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.660 telling me they basically threw out the climax 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:52.339 of the movie. Pretty much. Just to give you a 00:06:52.339 --> 00:06:55.269 sense of the scale of this pivot. Actor Keegan 00:06:55.269 --> 00:06:57.649 -Michael Key stated that roughly three quarters 00:06:57.649 --> 00:06:59.930 of the finale script was entirely rewritten. 00:07:00.089 --> 00:07:02.750 That is practically a brand new movie grafted 00:07:02.750 --> 00:07:04.850 onto the end. It really is. What actually got 00:07:04.850 --> 00:07:06.790 left on the cutting room floor during this massive 00:07:06.790 --> 00:07:10.149 overhaul? So much was abandoned. First, the original 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:13.050 finale was shot during the daytime. Okay. But 00:07:13.050 --> 00:07:15.389 the studio executives felt the upgrade predator, 00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:19.829 the massive new genetically enhanced alien, just 00:07:19.829 --> 00:07:22.649 didn't look scary enough in the sunlight. So 00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:24.819 they changed the time of day. Yeah, they moved 00:07:24.819 --> 00:07:27.259 the entire final battle into the woods at night 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:30.339 to hide the seams. Shane Black actually wanted 00:07:30.339 --> 00:07:32.620 the home video release to include both versions, 00:07:32.819 --> 00:07:36.259 an AM cut and a PM cut, but the studio flat out 00:07:36.259 --> 00:07:38.740 refused to pay the money required to finish the 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:41.480 digital effects for the daytime scenes. I cannot 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:44.360 imagine the frustration of shooting a massive 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:47.100 action sequence and being told it has to be completely 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:50.000 redone in the dark. It had to be agonizing for 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.180 the crew. But it wasn't just the lighting that 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:55.189 changed, was it? The actual story of the finale 00:07:55.189 --> 00:07:57.990 shifted entirely. Radically. In the original 00:07:57.990 --> 00:08:00.490 version, there were emissary predators. Emissary 00:08:00.490 --> 00:08:02.810 predators? Yes. These were actually human allied 00:08:02.810 --> 00:08:05.230 predators who had come to Earth to help humanity 00:08:05.230 --> 00:08:08.829 prepare for an impending larger alien invasion. 00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:11.569 No way. They were military fatigues and were 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:14.050 literally riding on top of an armored personnel 00:08:14.050 --> 00:08:16.670 carrier, fighting alongside the human heroes 00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:19.389 in a massive chase scene. Teaming up with the 00:08:19.389 --> 00:08:22.250 humans. That completely changes the dynamic of 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:24.790 the franchise. What were they fighting if they 00:08:24.790 --> 00:08:26.709 were teamed up with the humans? They were fighting 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:29.629 a menagerie of mutant hybrid creatures. Remember 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:31.829 the DNA splicing we talked about? Right, the 00:08:31.829 --> 00:08:34.350 upgrades. The original cut featured all these 00:08:34.350 --> 00:08:36.570 failed genetic experiments breaking loose from 00:08:36.570 --> 00:08:40.049 a pod. This included multi -limbed, tentacled 00:08:40.049 --> 00:08:42.110 hybrids, and even spider predators attacking 00:08:42.110 --> 00:08:45.450 a military convoy. Wait, spider predators? Yes, 00:08:45.590 --> 00:08:49.169 spider predators. It completely abandons the 00:08:49.169 --> 00:08:51.169 stealth and hunt genre at that point. It goes 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:54.049 from a tense thriller to a full -blown creature 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:57.070 -feature monster mech. That is wild. And because 00:08:57.070 --> 00:08:59.269 they cut all of that out to streamline the ending, 00:08:59.450 --> 00:09:02.570 they also had to completely delete acclaimed 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:05.429 actor Edward James Olmos from the movie. Wait, 00:09:05.450 --> 00:09:07.730 he was in this? He played a military general 00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:10.769 named Woodhurst, but his scenes were axed entirely 00:09:10.769 --> 00:09:14.090 just to reduce the runtime of this newly stitched 00:09:14.090 --> 00:09:16.710 together ending. Deleting Edward James Olmos 00:09:16.710 --> 00:09:19.289 just to save time is wild, but I have to bring 00:09:19.289 --> 00:09:21.690 up the craziest piece of trivia from these reshoots. 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:24.269 Oh, the alternate endings. Because they didn't 00:09:24.269 --> 00:09:36.899 just... Ah, the ultimate cinematic universe attempt. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.659 Yes, but on a level that sounds like fan fiction. 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.700 They brought in a stuntwoman, Brianna Watkins, 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.159 and they filmed her wearing this high -tech mask 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:48.039 that looked exactly like a facehugger from the 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:50.820 Alien movie. Okay. In the first alternate ending, 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:54.039 she takes the mask off and is revealed to be... 00:09:54.299 --> 00:09:56.440 Ellen Ripley Sigourney Weaver's iconic character. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:59.559 Wow. In the second alternate ending, she is revealed 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:02.519 to be a grown -up Rebecca Jordan Newt from the 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:05.360 movie Aliens. That is just bizarre. The implication 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:07.960 was that they had traveled back in time to act 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:10.419 as predator killers to help humanity fight the 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:12.679 invasion. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:15.399 it perfectly illustrates the immense struggle 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:18.200 of balancing a director's creative vision with 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:20.960 a studio's thirst for franchise expansion. Because 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.539 they're just pulling in completely different 00:10:22.539 --> 00:10:25.179 directions. Exactly. You have Shane Black trying 00:10:25.179 --> 00:10:27.259 to make a quirky, intimate, character -driven 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:30.620 story about PTSD veterans in suburbia. And then 00:10:30.620 --> 00:10:33.279 you have the studio trying to force in time -traveling 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.360 franchise crossovers and massive CGI monster 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.019 battles to set up sequels. It's oil and water. 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:42.059 And the ending they ultimately went with in theaters 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:45.460 was still pretty bizarre. Instead of Ripley or 00:10:45.460 --> 00:10:48.899 Newt, a piece of alien tech attaches to a random 00:10:48.899 --> 00:10:51.980 lab worker and transforms into an Iron Man -style 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:55.710 exosuit. a wearable robotic armor literally called 00:10:55.710 --> 00:10:58.370 the predator killer suit setting up humanity 00:10:58.370 --> 00:11:01.370 to fight back So with all these moving parts, 00:11:01.450 --> 00:11:03.750 the chopped up finale and these massive tonal 00:11:03.750 --> 00:11:06.029 shifts, how did critics react when they finally 00:11:06.029 --> 00:11:08.529 saw those scenes? The critical reception reflected 00:11:08.529 --> 00:11:12.169 that exact behind the scenes chaos. It currently 00:11:12.169 --> 00:11:15.169 sits at a 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch. 00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:18.950 Critics really honed in on that tonal war. Outlets 00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:21.610 like Nerdist and Variety called it an exhaustingly 00:11:21.610 --> 00:11:23.889 energetic mess. That is quite the phrase. They 00:11:23.889 --> 00:11:26.289 pointed out that the movie felt like three different 00:11:26.289 --> 00:11:28.429 films fighting for screen time. It was trying 00:11:28.429 --> 00:11:31.210 to be a. gory horror film, a fast -paced action 00:11:31.210 --> 00:11:34.450 movie, a rapid -fire comedy with constant quips, 00:11:34.450 --> 00:11:37.149 and a sentimental family melodrama all at the 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:39.730 exact same time. I mean, the characters are literally 00:11:39.730 --> 00:11:42.529 running for their lives from an apex alien predator, 00:11:42.690 --> 00:11:44.830 but they're constantly pausing to deliver these 00:11:44.830 --> 00:11:46.629 rat -a -tat comedy punchlines. It completely 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:49.190 neutralizes the tension. It really does. But 00:11:49.190 --> 00:11:51.730 the criticism wasn't just about the genre mashing, 00:11:51.730 --> 00:11:54.740 was it? There was a significant real -world backlash 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:58.200 to the science and the lore expansions, specifically 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:01.159 that autism angle. Yes, that is a very important 00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:04.100 piece of the film's legacy. Publications like 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:07.679 Sypha Wire, The New York Post, and Uproxx heavily 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:10.860 criticized the film's depiction of autism. What 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:13.000 were their main concerns? They took issue with 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.720 the movie's thesis that neurodiversity represents 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:18.320 a forward step on the human evolutionary path, 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:21.100 with reviewers calling the scientific basis for 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:24.750 that theory, I read that there was a lot of scolding 00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:27.029 for the movie, falling back on the autism equals 00:12:27.029 --> 00:12:29.710 really smart trope. Yes, that was a major point 00:12:29.710 --> 00:12:32.330 of contention. Critics felt it was a deeply flawed 00:12:32.330 --> 00:12:34.950 way to represent the autistic community, reducing 00:12:34.950 --> 00:12:37.450 a complex real -world spectrum to a convenient 00:12:37.450 --> 00:12:40.149 plot device just to explain why a child could 00:12:40.149 --> 00:12:42.490 read an alien computer terminal. It highlights 00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:45.600 a common trap in screenwriting. A sci -fi concept 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.279 might sound fascinating in a writer's room, using 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:50.379 neurodiversity as an evolutionary advantage, 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:53.320 but it fails to consider the lived experiences 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:55.559 of the audience and the nuances of the condition 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.179 when it actually hits the screen. As heavy as 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:00.679 that critical pushback was, there was an even 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:04.120 larger, much more serious real -world controversy 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:06.980 that broke just days before the film was totally 00:13:06.980 --> 00:13:09.960 finished. Yes, and this had to do with a casting 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:12.480 decision. Right. This was a highly publicized 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:15.059 scandal at the time. Director Shane Black had 00:13:15.059 --> 00:13:17.620 cast his longtime friend Stephen Wilder Striegel 00:13:17.620 --> 00:13:20.259 in a minor, unauditioned role. Just giving a 00:13:20.259 --> 00:13:22.460 friend a part. Right. He shared a brief scene 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:24.899 with Olivia Munn's character where he repeatedly 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:26.840 tries to flirt with her while she's jogging, 00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:30.250 and she rebuffs him. But just days before PictureLog, 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:32.610 things exploded. For anyone who doesn't know 00:13:32.610 --> 00:13:35.190 the industry term, PictureLog is the absolute 00:13:35.190 --> 00:13:38.009 final stage of editing, where no more changes 00:13:38.009 --> 00:13:40.070 are supposed to be made to the visual cut of 00:13:40.070 --> 00:13:42.009 the film. It means changing anything at this 00:13:42.009 --> 00:13:44.009 point is incredibly difficult and expensive. 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:47.830 Exactly. Right before this deadline, Olivia Munn 00:13:47.830 --> 00:13:49.669 discovered that Wilder Striegel was actually 00:13:49.669 --> 00:13:53.299 a registered felony sex offender. He'd been convicted 00:13:53.299 --> 00:13:56.259 back in 2010 of enticing a minor via computer 00:13:56.259 --> 00:13:59.279 after attempting to lure a 14 -year -old girl 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:02.120 into a sexual relationship. When Munn found this 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:04.379 out, she immediately took the information directly 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:07.179 to Fox executives and insisted that the scene 00:14:07.179 --> 00:14:09.679 be completely removed from the film, regardless 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.539 of how close they were to finishing the movie. 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:14.669 And Fox did cut the scene. They released a statement 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:16.590 saying they were completely unaware of his legal 00:14:16.590 --> 00:14:19.570 status when he was hired. But the public fallout 00:14:19.570 --> 00:14:22.669 was incredibly messy. Very messy. Initially, 00:14:22.809 --> 00:14:25.169 Shane Black actually defended his casting decision 00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:27.769 and defended his friend, which caused a massive 00:14:27.769 --> 00:14:30.720 public outcry. Black did eventually issue a public 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.179 apology and rescinded those earlier defensive 00:14:33.179 --> 00:14:36.399 comments amidst the intense backlash. But the 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:38.879 situation really fractured the cast's promotional 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.379 tour right as the movie was supposed to be hitting 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:43.940 theaters. It put the cast in a terrible position. 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:47.360 Co -star Sterling K. Brown tweeted out in support 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.019 of Olivia Munn. But initially, a lot of the other 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.350 cast members remained silent. Which didn't go 00:14:52.350 --> 00:14:55.009 unnoticed by the public. Right. It wasn't until 00:14:55.009 --> 00:14:57.649 there was mounting public pressure that others 00:14:57.649 --> 00:14:59.710 started releasing statements regarding the situation. 00:15:00.269 --> 00:15:03.850 It cast a very tense, dark cloud over a movie 00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:06.070 that was supposed to be a fun popcorn blockbuster. 00:15:06.230 --> 00:15:09.470 It completely overshadowed the release. When 00:15:09.470 --> 00:15:11.289 you have a production that is already struggling 00:15:11.289 --> 00:15:14.350 with tonal issues, a chopped up third act, and 00:15:14.350 --> 00:15:17.789 dubious scientific lore, a real world scandal 00:15:17.789 --> 00:15:20.649 of that magnitude makes it nearly impossible 00:15:20.649 --> 00:15:23.429 for the film to succeed purely on its own merits. 00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:26.840 Which brings us to the box office reality. After 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:29.779 all that chaos, how did the financial math work 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:32.080 out when the movie finally premiered in September 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:37.860 of 2018? The film grossed $160 .5 million worldwide. 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:39.980 Which sounds like a lot of money, but you have 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:42.399 to put it against that $88 million production 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:45.039 budget. Ah, right. Once you factor in the massive 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.860 marketing costs and the fact that movie theaters 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:48.899 take a significant percentage of ticket sales, 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.059 a movie usually has to make twice its budget 00:15:51.059 --> 00:15:53.799 just to break even. So it was certainly not the 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.840 massive franchise restarter the studio was banking 00:15:56.840 --> 00:15:59.480 on. It actually finished first at the box office 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:02.740 in its opening weekend. but then suffered incredibly 00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:05.879 steep drop -offs in the following weeks, audiences 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.899 just didn't stick around. The cast and crew have 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:11.419 been quite reflective about why it failed to 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:14.679 connect. In 2022, Shane Black took the blame 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:17.120 for the film's failure. What did he say? He said, 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.740 and I quote, we tried something different. In 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:22.450 retrospect, talking a finger on the pulse. I 00:16:22.450 --> 00:16:24.590 guess we just didn't have that finger. That's 00:16:24.590 --> 00:16:27.110 a very honest assessment. He openly acknowledged 00:16:27.110 --> 00:16:29.490 that their attempt to reinvent the franchise 00:16:29.490 --> 00:16:32.210 with all these new elements just didn't match 00:16:32.210 --> 00:16:34.509 what audiences actually wanted from a Predator 00:16:34.509 --> 00:16:37.269 movie. Boyd Holbrook, the lead actor, also had 00:16:37.269 --> 00:16:39.509 a great perspective looking back at it. He said 00:16:39.509 --> 00:16:42.210 that the original 1987 film caught lightning 00:16:42.210 --> 00:16:45.179 in a bottle and that sometimes. No matter how 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.620 much people want more, you should just let a 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:49.860 sleeping dog lie. Which is often the hardest 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:51.840 lesson for the Hollywood machine to learn. They 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.320 rarely let a valuable intellectual property sleep 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.240 for long. No, they do not. Yeah. Here's where 00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.820 it gets really interesting. Because despite this 00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:03.480 massive stumble in 2018, the franchise absolutely 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:06.539 survived. It did. But it only survived because 00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:09.240 it completely abandoned the path it was on. After 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:12.180 the sale of 21st Century Fox, the franchise fell 00:17:12.180 --> 00:17:14.599 under Disney's new ownership of 20th Century 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:17.059 Studios. And instead of moving forward with that 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:19.599 Iron Man exosuit ending and the DNA splicing, 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.380 they went completely backwards. They greenlit 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:24.960 a prequel. And what is brilliant about this pivot 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:27.980 is that director Dan Trachtenberg actually developed 00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:30.339 the project in secret under the working title 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:33.519 Skulls. Oh, to hide what it was. He specifically 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:36.079 did this to avoid the heavy baggage and audience 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:38.450 expectations associated with the pre - franchise 00:17:38.450 --> 00:17:41.549 name during production. That secret movie, of 00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:45.250 course, became the 2022 film Prey, starring Amber 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:47.529 Midthunder as a Comanche warrior taking on a 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:51.049 predator in the 1700s. And it was a massive critical 00:17:51.049 --> 00:17:53.109 and commercial success. Because it learned the 00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:55.849 exact right lessons from the 2018 failure. By 00:17:55.849 --> 00:17:58.759 stripping it all back. Exactly. By stripping 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:01.259 away the bloated lore, the gene splicing, the 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:03.500 climate change ticking clocks, and the futuristic 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:06.539 exosuits, Prey returned to the primal essence 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:09.759 of the series. Survival. Right. By giving the 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.059 human characters bows and arrows instead of assault 00:18:12.059 --> 00:18:14.720 rifles, it restored the terrifying power imbalance. 00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:17.819 It proved that the core concept still had incredible 00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:20.640 value, provided the execution matched the simplicity 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.039 of the premise. It is such a stark contrast. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.180 And that successful back -to -basics pivot with 00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:28.809 Prey... is what paved the way for the most recent 00:18:28.809 --> 00:18:32.230 entry in the universe, Predator, Badlands, which 00:18:32.230 --> 00:18:35.130 hit theaters in November 2025. They really figured 00:18:35.130 --> 00:18:37.089 out the formula. They course corrected by looking 00:18:37.089 --> 00:18:38.970 at exactly what went wrong when they tried to 00:18:38.970 --> 00:18:41.150 do too much. It's the ultimate Hollywood ecosystem 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:43.930 at work. The overwhelming failure of the Predator 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:46.190 was practically necessary to create the creative 00:18:46.190 --> 00:18:48.869 space for the stripped down success of Prey. 00:18:48.869 --> 00:18:50.750 Which brings us to the ultimate takeaway for 00:18:50.750 --> 00:18:53.559 you listening right now. The Story of the Predator 00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:57.500 from 2018 is a masterclass in blockbuster overreach. 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:00.920 It really is. It proves that just throwing everything 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:04.160 at the wall, bigger CGI monsters, incredibly 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:07.720 deep scientific lore, complex evolutionary theories, 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.319 and wild franchise crossovers like Ripley and 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:14.039 Newt, none of it matters if the core tone of 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:16.500 the story is lost. You can't just patch a movie 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:19.069 together with tape. You cannot just mash up a 00:19:19.069 --> 00:19:22.730 rapid -fire comedy, a gory horror film, and an 00:19:22.730 --> 00:19:25.410 intimate family drama in the editing room and 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:28.329 expect audiences not to notice the structural 00:19:28.329 --> 00:19:30.950 damage. This raises an important question and 00:19:30.950 --> 00:19:32.349 it is something I want to leave you to mull over 00:19:32.349 --> 00:19:34.769 today. I'd love to hear it. We see this trend 00:19:34.769 --> 00:19:37.990 constantly where Hollywood franchises try to 00:19:37.990 --> 00:19:41.069 modernize classic movie monsters by meticulously 00:19:41.069 --> 00:19:43.529 explaining their biology. Like the gene splicing. 00:19:43.650 --> 00:19:46.250 Exactly. They add complex scientific lore like 00:19:46.250 --> 00:19:49.130 DNA splicing or they tie the monster's motivations 00:19:49.130 --> 00:19:51.630 to massive real world issues like climate change 00:19:51.630 --> 00:19:53.789 to make them feel relevant. Right. But at what 00:19:53.789 --> 00:19:55.829 point does over explaining the monster destroy 00:19:55.829 --> 00:19:58.190 the primal fear and the mystery that made it 00:19:58.190 --> 00:20:00.160 so terrifying? in the first place. If you know 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:02.240 exactly how the nightmare's genetics work, is 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.200 it still a nightmare? Oh, that is an incredibly 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:08.380 fascinating question to leave on. Sometimes the 00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:10.339 scariest thing in the jungle is the thing you 00:20:10.339 --> 00:20:13.880 absolutely do not understand. Well said. Thank 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:15.839 you so much for joining us on this deep dive 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:18.720 into the chaotic, fascinating world of blockbuster 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:22.650 filmmaking and The Predator. We love unpacking 00:20:22.650 --> 00:20:24.509 these wild behind -the -scenes stories with you 00:20:24.509 --> 00:20:26.410 to give you those crucial insights into the media 00:20:26.410 --> 00:20:28.650 we all consume, and we cannot wait to dive into 00:20:28.650 --> 00:20:30.049 the next one. Catch you next time.