Prey is a prequel to the very successful 1980s Monster/Action film- Predator. The film was directed by John McTiernan and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role of Dutch. The immense success of the film resulted in the studio becoming greedy and greenlighting too many sequels to exploit the IP created by the first one. The sequels weren’t anything but worthless additions to the franchise. They simply declined in quality but the studio learned nothing. The studio in this case is 20th Century Fox. What’s funny is all the sequels were named after the numerous permutations and combinations of the first film’s title.
Predator 2, Predators, The Predator, Alien vs Predator and Alien vs Predator: Requiem. Each worse than its predecessor. So when I heard there is another Predator film in the works, I was not excited. However, the early reviews make it sound an absolute delight. The film released on 5th August on Hulu. Let’s take a look is the film performing there.
Prey: The Biggest Hulu Original?
Prey unlike the other Predator sequels is set 300 years before the original film. It is set in 1719 and follows the story of Naru who belongs to the Comanche Tribe. Right around this time a Predator comes to Earth and as we know it lives to hunt. This is an extremely intriguing premise as how can you survive a Predator when you don’t even have a gun at your disposal. The film has been lauded by critics and the audience seems to love it as well. The prequel currently has a 7.2/10 score on IMDb and a 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Prey was officially announced as the biggest release on the Disney’s streaming service. No viewership data was revealed but it was confirmed that no film or TV show has ever gotten the numbers that Prey drew in. The film was not only no.1 on Hulu but also the most watched on Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ under the Star Banner in all other territories. The film is roaring success until now. People were skeptical when the film released on streaming instead of theatres.
They thought it another terrible film that is being dumped on a streaming platform. The film was directed by the talented Dan Trachtenberg who also helmed 2016’s amazing 10 Cloverfield Lane. It seems like he has also done amazing with this film as well. He has hit it out of the park. Its funny because the Cloverfield franchise was struggling as well before he made 10 Cloverfield Lane. Similar to the Predator franchise. I think he has a positive effect on any struggling franchise he touches.
Dan Trachtenberg Talks About Sequel Possibility!
Dan Trachtenberg, the director of the film in a recent appearance on THR, talked about the possibility of a sequel to the very successful Hulu film. Now that the prequel has become the most successful film on Hulu, the possibility of a sequel have gone up by 1000%. I’m aware that fans wish to see such movies on the big screen but after the first Predator all the others have miserably failed to impress even die hard fans of the franchise.
This change of pace has worked brilliantly for the film. I have no doubt that the streaming platform is in early stages of developing a sequel to the film. In fact, I’m sure they’re thinking of building a franchise on the basis of this film’s success. I hope the upcoming films don’t drop in quality like it had happened after the first Predator film. I would like to see the Predator in different points of human history like they did in this film. Hopefully the sequels aren’t worthless additions to the franchise.
Trachtenberg told to THR, “The nerd in me looked that far ahead, as far as he could look, before we started writing this movie, but the adult in me said, ‘Don’t count your chickens and just be careful. Try and make the best movie possible, straight away.’ End-credit sequence aside, there is something refreshing about seeing a movie that is not really intended to be just a part one to something else. There’s something nice about seeing a complete thought. On the complete other hand, I love that what would’ve been a post-credit scene in other movies, is an animated end-title sequence in our movie. Our end titles are still storytelling.”
The Predator prequel, Prey is currently streaming on Hulu.
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