As Hollywood has been reminded fairly regularly over the past decade or so, giving the fans what they want isn’t always a path to commercial and critical glory. Just ask the makers of Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snakes on a Plane or Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that at a time when nobody really wanted another Predator movie, the straight-to-streaming prequel Prey has reinvigorated interest in the long-running saga. Set in North America in 1719, its less-is-more strategy pays off by pitching the alien against a young Native American woman who must use guile and her understanding of the warrior code to fend off an attack from the mandible-sporting alien.
