The fourth movie in the Predator series entitled 'The Predator' may see the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the franchise. The sequel is set to be released in 2018, a year after the release of Ridley Scott's 'Alien: Covenant.'

There are speculations that Schwarzenegger may be returning to the science-fiction franchise after he hinted that he plans to meet with director Shane Black to discuss the project. "I haven't talked with him yet, but I'm going to meet with him for lunch sometime soon... If there is any news, we'll of course let you know right away," he said.

Like Us on Facebook

Schwarzenegger portrayed Major Alan Schaefer in John McTiernan's first film in the franchise, which was released in June 1987. Major Schaefer, nicknamed "Dutch", was introduced as the leader of a special ops team hired by the U.S. Military and the CIA to rescue a hostage in the dense jungles in the Republic of Val Verde in Central America.

Dutch and his team were unaware of an extraterrestrial creature silently preying on their group. It stalked and killed his subordinates one by one.

According to MovieWeb, Black has signed with 20^th Century Fox to direct and write the film's screenplay. The studio reportedly tasked him with re-writing the original script from McTiernan's film.

"They called me and I was reluctant. I said, 'Look. You guys at Fox, I mean, I enjoy these movies, but we've been churning out these AVP whatever, they each cost a certain amount of money, they're okay, but there's no effort to elevate them or make them any kind of an event," Black revealed.

However, he eventually yielded as they gave him a good amount of creative control to reinvent the original cult classic.  

McTiernan's 1987 film grossed $98 million against a $15 million budget and went on to spawn two sequels, 'Predator 2' and 'Predator 3', as well as two crossover films, 'Alien vs. Predator' and 'Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.' Schwarzenegger did not reprise his role in any of the follow-ups.

'Predator 4' is set to debut in theaters on March 2, 2018 - a year after Ridley Scott's upcoming 'Alien: Covenant' film. It was rumored to be originally scheduled for a June 2017 release.

Tagspredator 4, science fiction movies, 2018 movie releases, action films, Reboots, Arnold Schwarzenegger