“Schwarzenegger plays the same character, even if his name changes”: Predator is actually a secret sequel to another movie!

In 1987, Arnold Schwarzenegger encountered a new kind of monster that would become one of the most successful creatures in the fantasy bestiary: the Predator. This alien hunter with an arsenal as developed as his taste for human trophies (originally played by a very young Jean-Claude Van Damme, who left the project during filming) allows Schwartz to deliver an epic and epic duel in front of the camera. The brilliant John McTiernan.

Crowned with great critical and public success ($100 million in revenue worldwide, 1.4 million viewers in France), the feature film, at the crossroads of science fiction and war films, is released without a franchise that continues twenty-seven years later. . Thus, after the Alien saga of Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018), Prey (2022) and two crossovers, a new opus called Badlands is being prepared for Disney+.

The hunt is on

Predator Born from the pens of brothers Jim and John Thomas. According to Hollywood legend, the tandem was inspired by a joke that circulated at the time about an improbable encounter between Sylvester Stallone (then Schwarzenegger’s arch-rival) and an extraterrestrial in the Rocky Mountains. was baptized a hunterTheir script ended up on the desk of producer Joel Silver… and the rest is science fiction history.

What is less well known is that the concept Predator It was almost reworked into a sequel script: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s previous success, Commando. In this action feature film, released two years earlier, “Austrian Oak” stars as John Matrix, a former special forces officer forced out of retirement after his daughter is kidnapped by the deposed dictator of Val Verde. However, Commando is not the best in his filmography, although it is distinguished by the iconic punch and the record number of deaths for Schwartz (81, the highest figure in his career).

Predator is Commando 2!

Therefore, what can be the relationship between Commando and Predator ? It was screenwriter Jeph Loeb, a well-known writer of comics and series and the screenwriter of Commando in the early days, who answered AlloCiné as part of the Paris fan festival, where he was invited (read our entire interview here). Thus, the original Predator script was close to being reworked Commando 2John Matrix vs. Alien:

“It wasn’t our idea, but I thought it was a good idea. The studio took the Predator script and they initially thought the best way to do it was to make it Commando 2. (…) If you look at Commando and then Predator, you will see that it is the same character, even if his name has changed (John Matrix becomes Dutch Schaefer, editor’s note). But this is John Matrix, the hero of Commando. He even wears the same camouflage outfit. (…) I have a version of Predator that says Commando 2.”

“And then somebody woke up and said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that.'” The first movie started shooting later, which was more successful than the first movie, like Terminator 2..

“Then the people at Fox told us, ‘We shouldn’t take Predator and turn it into Commando 2, because that would only make half of Commando. Why don’t we start another franchise?” It was a smart idea and that’s how Predator was born, they didn’t need Arnold Schwarzenegger to make other movies and that’s why they never made Commando 2, but they did a lot of Predator that means there can’t be another Commando Let’s see! (Rumoured for Summer 2023, Editor’s Note).

Crystal Trap almost became Commando 2!

Thus, this wise choice by Fox executives deprived John Matrix of a new mission, but offered sci-fi fans an unforgettable creature. hero Commando He even experienced a second disappointment after the novel Nothing is eternal Written by Roderick Thorpe in 1979, it became almost the foundation Commando 2In an urban approach, a soldier is confronted by a group of German terrorists who have taken hostages in a Los Angeles building. This story, which you probably recognized, will become a crystal trap with Bruce Willis.

Meanwhile, this incredible and little-known connection between Commando and Predator may explain why they share the same fictional country: Val Verde. A fictional country in Central America that is also mentioned in… 58 Minutes to Live, the sequel to The Crystal Trap. Everything is connected!

History of origin – predator

Comments collected by Yoan Sardet on April 28, 2024 at the Paris Fan Festival – thanks to the entire press relations team for the welcome