Last weekend Robert Rodriguez debuted a new poster and footage for his highly anticipated Predators, the latest addition to a sci-fi film franchise that began with Schwarzenegger in 80s.

Today, we have a full blown trailer for the movie, and it looks amazingly faithful to the spirit and sense of adventure of the original. In fact, this looks like the sequel we wanted all along.

Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne and Topher Grace may not initially sound like they belong in the arena with the galaxy’s most fearsome hunters, but once you get a look at Brody, grime-covered and sweat stained, battling it out with the titular beasties, any thought of improper casting goes out the window. Throw in the always welcome Danny Trejo as a gnarly warrior and it’s gonna be a good time for sure.

I’m personally digging Fishburne in the hardened survivor role. The plot isn’t anything amazing, and the Predator home world looks surprisingly like the jungles of the first film, but there’s an old school feel to the fx, the cinematography and even the acting style that suggests a return to the basics.

I’m guessing Nimrod Antal, the director, is more responsible for this than Rodriquez. Antal, the foreign filmmaker who gave us the exquisite Kontrol, and the serviceable American thrillers Armored and Vacancy, has an artist’s touch for gritty and believable settings.

Personally, this has just jumped to the very top of my summer must-see list.

What do you think? Adding an s  to the title worked wonders for Alien back in 79. What will it do here?

The Robert Rodriguez-scripted sequel/reboot for the cult classic Predator series  got underway this week, and they’ve just released the first pictures from the set.

Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Armored) is helming the project which stars Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo, Alice Braga, and Laurence Fishburne.

Look for Predators to start preying on box offices July 7th.

The infamous space Rastafarian will soon be setting his three red dot sights not only upon Danny Trejo, but also upon Adrien Brody (King Kong) and Topher Grace (Spiderman 3).

That’s right, director Nimrod Antal’s Predators, scripted and produced by Robert Rodriguez for Troublemaker Studios, seems to have gone off the deep end as far as casting decisions go — alongside Trejo, Brody, and Grace, we’ll also have Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, I Am Legend‘s Alice Braga and the UFC’s Oleg Taktarov.

The film will deal with a group of manly warriors (of which Brody is inexplicably a part) as they fight off a group of Predators, while the plot is thickened by Grace’s role as “an accountant-type whose unassuming facade masks a dangerous serial killer.”

This is definitely shaping up to be a project more akin to Rodriguez’s catalog than anything we’re familiar with in the past Predator series. It sounds like just the shot in the arm the series needs, too, after Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.

Predators starts shooting next month in Hawaii, then will move back to film in Austin, TX at Troublemaker, and will be released on July 9, 2010. More info on the film here at AtomicPopcorn.net as the project further de-cloaks.

Confirmed by the guys over at Ain’t It Cool News, the director to take part in the latest eighties remake has been chosen. Director Nimrod Antal, and no that is his real first name, who’s most recent work Armored will crash into theaters December 4th is filling up the seat. Previous work of the filmmaker includes the 2007 thriller Vacancy.

In an interview with Robert Rodriguez, he discloses a tiny bit of information in regards to the plot:

But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning.
Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in it’s own right, and that’s what we want to do with this.

As to how this movie will be viewed, one of the guys at Fox told me “No one is ever going to talk about AVP again after this film, I will stake my life on it.”

Rodriguez is currently attached as a producer on this film, also with his well known company Troublemaker Studios.