Dan Trachtenberg, who’s directed three Predator films for 20th Century Studios, has signed a three-year deal with Paramount Pictures. Whatever happens in the Predator film franchise next, it’s possible that it’ll have to happen without Dan Trachtenberg. The director who brought us Prey, Predator: Killer Of Killers and Predator: Badlands has signed a three-year, first-look ... Predator Badlands director signs three-year deal with Paramount
Dan Trachtenberg, who’s directed three Predator films for 20th Century Studios, has signed a three-year deal with Paramount Pictures.
Whatever happens in the Predator film franchise next, it’s possible that it’ll have to happen without Dan Trachtenberg. The director who brought us Prey, Predator: Killer Of Killers and Predator: Badlands has signed a three-year, first-look deal with Paramount Pictures, which means he’s likely to be busy on other projects until at least 2029.
Trachtenberg made his directorial debut, the monster spin-off 10 Cloverfield Lane, for Paramount (its distributor) before moving over to 20th Century Studios (owned by Disney) to make those Predator movies, beginning with the straight-to-streaming Prey in 2022.
The success of those films evidently impressed Paramount, a studio now flush with cash after its multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance last year.
“Dan has an extraordinary ability to deliver films that are both daring and deeply entertaining,” Paramount bosses Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg said in a joint statement given to Deadline. He has a rare instinct for tension, scale, and storytelling that connects with audiences worldwide. We’re excited to welcome him to the studio,”
Trachtenberg was similarly effusive in his statement.
“As a kid I remember seeing the Paramount logo and dreaming of the epic adventure that would follow… now to have the opportunity to bring new huge and emotional stories to giant screens is a literally a dream come true,” he said. “Ben [Rosenblatt, producer partner] and I cannot wait to join Dana, Josh, Don, and the entire Paramount team in pursuing our shared vision of making Paramount once again the apex of cinema.”
The idea, clearly, is to have Trachtenberg take the lead on one of Paramount’s biggest franchises – the question being, which one? There’s a rumour going around that he could be about to revive World War Z for a sequel its ending teased all those years ago. But other Paramount franchises include Mission: Impossible, Transformers and Star Trek.
Given the sci-fi world-building he showed off in Predator Badlands, it’s certainly possible that Paramount has Star Trek in mind – we’ll have to wait and see on that score.
Where does it leave the Predator franchise? No further sequels were announced after last year’s Badlands. Whoever makes it, it probably won’t be Trachtenberg.
