In case you missed it, Robert Rodriguez is going to re-boot the Predator franchise with a project he’s calling “Predators.” Over the weekend, I found myself telling people the history of this project a few times, so I thought I’d pass on a few key points so you too can sound awesomely smart. And when your friends are like: “Where did you get this awesome info?” you can tell them to visit this site and keep me in business…

Robert Rodriguez sold his body to science to make his first ultra-low budget indie film El Marachi. The entire chronicle of this story is documented in Robert’s journal, re-printed in his book Rebel Without A Crew. After taking El Mariachi to Sundance and entering into the Tarantino wave of new filmmakers, Robert took on many projects on spec trying to figure out what his sophomore effort was going to be.

It ended up being Desperado, the sequel to El Mariachi with Antonio Bandaras on as the main character and Salma Hayek showing her boobs as the damsel in distress. Desparado was all written out and ready to be shot when Predator-alum Arnold Schwarzenegger bombed in Last Action Hero, making all of Hollywood nervous about action franchises. Therefore, execs told Robert to take some time before unleashing Desperado. He passed the time writing projects on spec, including Predator 3, which he called Predators.

Now, Rodriguez is on board with a full-scale reboot, which he will possibly co-direct, but at very least produce (Robert’s next directing gig is Nerverackers). He talked to AICN about how this new re-boot isn’t exactly going to be his Predator 3 spec script:

With a nod toward Cameron’s ALIENS I decided to call it PREDATORS. I set it on a jungle-like Predator planet. It was just a writing assignment, so I didn’t have to worry about budget constraints or how the movie would actually get made with the technology that existed back then, so I just wrote any cool thing I could come up with.

Fast forward 15 years to when I got a call from Alex Young over at Fox, who had been digging around and found my original treatment. He was eager to get it made and re-invent the Predator franchise using the treatment as a guide. So he contacted me to see if I’d be interested in being involved, and it seemed like the perfect project for us over at Troublemaker Studios.

I’ve built up an amazing team over the years at Troublemaker, and they’re all huge PREDATOR fans. (I know this because Predator model kits litter our offices and workstations.) So the next stage is finding a writer and director to come in and work with us to bring it to life. Whether or not it will ultimately be based on the treatment or not is still unknown at this time.

I can safely say that the Predators script that exists probably isn’t going to be made as is. Though it was also announced that Rodriguez’s Predators will be hitting the screen July 7th 2010, meaning there is probably a script out there for the reboot in some sort of “almost done” form (or they are going to speed through pre-production while drafting - and I wouldn’t put this past Robert and Troublemaker).

All that being said, the thing your friends are going to want to know about is just how much a departure this Predator film is going to be from what has come before, Danny Glover and all.

Here’s what we know about the mid-90s spec script:

Dark Horizons - “Oh, “Predators”, yes we’re the “Predator 3″, it’s call “Predators”. It was back when I was doing “Desperado”. I wrote “Desperado”, it was going to get made like end of September, and then “Last Action Hero” bombed, so they said we’re not making any movies for a year, like next year. So I was like what am I going to do until then? So I took a writing assignment, and one of the writing assignments that was out was “Predator” sequel. “So I said, yes I’ll write a version of that. And it was just — it was just crazy, it was huge, it was a big, big, big budget. Because I didn’t have to direct it, I just had to write it. So I didn’t really think about the budget, I was just like wrote this, wrote that. And it was really a cool script, it’s floating around somewhere. But it’s huge, and will never be made, the studio edited it and said there’s no way we can make this, this would cost — even at that time — 150 million, and no women would ever go see this movie. It’s too big, and they’ve now combined alien versus “Predators”. So they’re putting two franchises together, which is probably a smarter way to go since both of those franchises are pretty much dying down. It’s the only way to really revitalize it at all. But yes, the — I don’t think that’d ever make it, it was just too expensive”.

Total Film - “It’s kind of a fantasy script. I don’t know if it’s ever going to be made. I wrote the opening scene on a Spanish galleon on another planet being attack by invisible shapes that turn out to be humans in Predator gear. But the heroes go to the Predator planet - a breeding ground for species from other planets - and the Predators hold gladiator-like games. Since I knew I wasn’t going to be doing, I just went for it - a 150-million dollar bloodfest with a gigantic Jean-Claude Van Damme/Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrity death match at the end.”

 A review of the mid-90s script from ScreenWritersUtopia - I’ve heard that Robert Rodriguez wrote this partially for fun’s sake. And while I’ll admit that it’s at times, “fun” to read. It meanders and goes nowhere fast. It doesn’t hold with continuity established by the first Predator movie with Ah-nuld. The main problem is that there is no beginning and the ending is too obvious ahead of time. Basically, a team of Marine commandos have captured Dutch (Ah-nuld from the first film…pay attention!) and are taking him back to a prison colony on another planet. (yeah, i know. Right away I was confused too but you have to suspend major belief) Anyway, when the commandos arrive on the planet they find a crucified Predator and the remains of the prison. The commandos are quickly overwhelmed and captured (a few are killed) and are taken back to the predator encampment where we see not only humans but other various creatures and monsters in cages. The other predators then have the random creatures fight each other. The entire middle is devoted mainly to attempting to develop each Marine’s character but after awhile, you lose interest. Anyways, during this gruesome sports combat, Dutch escapes as do a few other commandos who go after him. Dutch somehow knows why the one predator was crucified and releases him (he wasn’t dead, just strung up). This predator was basically an outcast, a bad seed and proceeds to run roughshod over the encampment battling side by side with Dutch to kill all the other predators. Once that’s done, we meet the predator king and hundreds of other predators arrive. It turns out that one of the commandos, JC, can actually communicate with the predators and this whole plan was to sacrifice Dutch to the predators because he had killed one way back on earth (the first movie, again). After a vicious battle between the two, and then between the predator king and Dutch, he manages to escape in a drop-ship along with the outcast predator. As they fly away, Dutch sees a monitor on the ship with coordinates to Earth. The realization dawns on him that Earth is the next target of the predators. Fade out.

The problem is an overlying “so what” to this whole script. First, I’d eliminate half of the commando team. Too many players to keep track of. Secondly, too many creatures that the predators have captured. When a story falls into “look at the cool CGI creatures and special effects we made” then the story suffers BIG time. This is the same reason why I really hope there is never an Aliens Vs. Predator movie. It, like this, would be just 2 hours of special effects. I’m not worried about PREDATORS being made in my lifetime. Which is a good thing. And that’s the bottom line.