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Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Predator: Killer of Killers: Animated film's release date, plot and where to watch
20th Century Studios has revealed the upcoming release of Predator: Killer of Killers. This original animated film will be available on Hulu from June 6. The studio also shared first-look footage. Plot The film follows an anthology format, telling three separate stories. Each story features a skilled warrior from a different point in human history. These characters face one common threat — a Predator. The first story is set in the Viking age. A Viking raider leads her son on a path of revenge. In the second tale, a ninja in feudal Japan turns against his brother, a Samurai. They fight in a violent struggle over leadership. The final story takes place during World War II. A pilot investigates a mysterious presence that could affect the Allied forces. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Top 25 Most Beautiful Women In The World Car Novels Undo Human Warriors Become Prey All three characters are fighters in their own worlds. Each is known for their skills and strength. But in this film, they face something beyond their own experience. The Predator, known as the killer of killers, becomes their true enemy. These warriors must survive as they become the hunted. Creative Team Dan Trachtenberg directed the film. He previously directed Prey, released in 2022. Josh Wassung from The Third Floor served as co-director. The script was written by Micho Robert Rutare. The story came from a concept developed by Rutare and Trachtenberg. The film is based on characters originally created by Jim Thomas and John Thomas. Live Events The producers include John Davis, Dan Trachtenberg, Marc Toberoff and Ben Rosenblatt. Executive producers are Lawrence Gordon, James E. Thomas, John C. Thomas and Stefan Grube. FAQs What is Predator: Killer of Killers about? The film tells three stories of skilled warriors from different times who must face the deadly Predator, a creature that hunts the strongest fighters. Where can I watch Predator: Killer of Killers? You can watch the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers exclusively on Hulu from June 6.
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Predator: Killer of Killers' Just Rules
After two divisive and ultimately failed attempts to revitalize the Predator franchise in the 2010s, 20th Century Studios found its stride with 2022's Prey. While sadly locked to Hulu as a result of the Disney-Fox merger, that film was met with such a strong reception that it gave the sci-fi horror franchise the boost it'd been needing. Now, the studio is keeping that momentum going with two projects in 2025: Predator: Badlands in November, and this week's animated Killer of Killers. Beyond their being linked by returning Prey director Dan Trachtenberg (co-directing here with Josh Wassung, and working off a script by Micho Robert Rutale from a story by Rutale and Trachtenberg), this future trilogy seems to have been made with the intent of bringing a specific set of ideas and concepts for the Predator franchise to fruition. On its own, that's not surprising, as the franchise tried this before with its 2018 film, and its sibling series Alien also recently made this same play with 2024's Alien: Romulus. What makes all the difference is how much Trachtenberg, Wassung, and Rutare make an earnest effort to let Killer of Killers function as its own work that's informed by, but not reliant on, its predecessor, even as the two can't help but be in conversation with one another. And as with Prey, the end result is a project that succeeds at nearly everything it sets out to do, so much that it's a shame it can't get the full, theatrical rollout something as fun and sublime as this almost definitely deserves. Like prior films, Killer focuses on a cast of humans enacting violence on their fellow man just before a technologically superior alien from another world suddenly arrives looking to shed some blood. Whereas Prey took its time showing how Naru and its Predator both moved through the space of the 1719 Great Plains, Killer is more fast-paced. This is a movie that prioritizes action and gore over tension, but that's not as much of a betrayal as it sounds. That action can often be tense, both in how viscerally violent it is and in how relentless the Predators are in pursuit of their targets. It helps that co-directors Trachtenberg and Wassung have brought over a key part of what made that previous film such a delight: the continuously shifting power dynamics between the hunters and the poor souls they've set their sights on. Each of the three stories—841 AD's 'The Shield;' 'The Sword,' set in 1629 Japan; and 'The Bullet,' set in WWII's North Pacific—run 20 minutes and play out more or less as you'd expect based on their setting. That predictability and narrative slightness ends up working in Killer of Killers' favor, since main characters Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy), ninja Kenji (Louis Ozawa), and pilot John Torres (Rick Gonzalez) get just enough backstory to inform their personal plights and make them compelling even before their respective Predators enter the picture. Ursa and Kenji's tales are more somber, not entirely unlike Naru's in Prey. Conversely, Torres is a considerably chattier character, and his story has more humorous beats. That has the potential to feeling like too sharp a contrast, but by the time his story comes, the film's earned enough goodwill that it doesn't undermine things, and the eventual payoff for what everything has built up to is satisfying and fun in its own right. What unites the trio thematically is their ability to outwit the aliens looking to add some new spines to their collections. Predator movies have always been considered slashers where the victims are just as capable as they are helpless, and that through line continues in Killers. The film takes full advantage of its individual settings to show how the humans come to understand and quickly adapt to the Predators' bag of tricks, and the solutions they each come up with to turn the tide of battle (or even just to get a breather) are pretty clever. The Predators themselves are a nice, diverse bunch, and while not as characterized as Prey's Feral hunter, they have a similar curiosity and mean streak that imbues them with just enough personality. Visually, Killer is a pretty nice movie to look at, made more impressive by this being the series' first full foray into animation. The CG/3D art style is reminiscent of Arcane, but animated at a frame rate similar to Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, giving individual movements a particular weight. For a movie with a lot of action, 20th Century Animation and Third Floor have come up with several impressive battle scenes that'll feel familiar but are pulled off with an impressive amount of flourish and gore that it won't matter. (A long take involving Ursa and her raiders is just one of several fist-pumping highlights throughout.) And when it's not showing off how bloody fights with the Predator can be, the film is showing off impressive vistas and providing such scale that it's again a shame this can't ever come to the big screen. The strength of its individual stories would make Killer of Killers worthwhile on its own, but its final act brings things home with one fun beat after another that feels like the team wanted to get everything they could into this project. By the time it's laid down all the cards and revealed what everything's all been building up to and where it could go next, it's easy to come away impressed at how self-assured and confident it carries itself the entire time. Live-action franchises can stumble when they take exotic vacations to the world of animation, but that's not the case here—this film's more than got the goods and is a fine addition to the Predator's recent resurgence. Also starring Michael Biehn, Predator: Killer of Killers arrives June 6 on Hulu.
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Where the Hell Did the Awesome Animated ‘Predator' Movie Come From?
Most movie fans were surprised to hear we were getting not one, but two new Predator movies this year. We knew that Dan Trachtenberg, the director of Prey, was working on a live-action Predator movie with Elle Fanning. But then we heard, seemingly out of nowhere, that we were also getting an animated Predator movie. It's called Predator: Killer of Killers, and it comes to Hulu June 6. Clearly, animated movies take some time, so this has been the plan all along, but we talked to both Trachtenberg and his co-director Josh Wassung about where this incredibly surprising and overly ambitious idea came from. 'After Prey, I was trying to figure out what I would potentially do with the sequel,' Trachtenberg told io9 via video chat. 'So often the sequel is just 'the next installment of the thing that was cool' rather than being 'a thing that is cool in and of itself.' So it's really forcing myself to figure out what could I possibly do that could be cool also in the Predator franchise or in the sci-fi space [in general]. Just me wanting to do a movie I could care about as much. And in thinking about that, three cool ideas came to mind. One of them is Predator: Badlands, which comes out in November. The other was Killer of Killers, and then the third is something that has yet to be made.' With Badlands in November and Killer of Killers this week, it's clear that executing those ideas meant Trachtenberg would have to make both movies at the same time. That meant bringing on some help, and he found that person in Josh Wassung. Wassung is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Third Floor, one of Hollywood's leading visualization companies. He and Trachtenberg worked together on multiple projects, including Prey, and felt a spark of inspiration once the Third Floor began developing a pipeline to work in animation as well as live action. 'We were developing this new division of the company,' Wassung told io9. 'I was showing [Trachtenberg] stuff and he would get just as excited as I got at it. We're just like, 'Man, this is gonna be so awesome.' And then during one of those excited, nerding-out conversations, someone said, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we made an animated Predator movie?' And we were like, 'Oh, that is almost too cool to hope for.' Fast forward to after Prey and it did so well that it actually became a reality. And so he invited me to be co-director on the [animation and] technical side [as well as] the artistic side. And he's bringing his franchise, live-action experience, and his storytelling expertise. And then we merged together.' But saying 'Wouldn't it be cool if we made an animated Predator movie?' is just the first step. Killer of Killers is more than that. It's three separate stories that seem like an anthology, and then come together to form one huge story. With Prey, Trachtenberg and his team saw that the idea of doing a Predator movie in a different time period worked. So, the idea of telling stories in three different time periods—one following a Viking raider, another a feudal Ninja, and the third a World War II pilot—was the easy part. It was that next part that really brought it all together. 'Truly, the great key turn was 'Oh wait a second. It's not three stories. It's one story,'' Trachtenberg said. 'First thinking of Twilight Zone: The Movie and then realizing, 'No, no, there's another kind of anthology.' Pulp Fiction is also an anthology, and that really does feel like one story. So yeah, then the champions all coming together in an arena suddenly felt like 'Wow, this gets wider at the end.' It doesn't just get bigger and longer, it gets wider and covers stuff that was already happening theoretically in the franchise that we didn't even know about.' We'll dive a bit more into that statement later this week once people have seen the movie because, yes, Predator: Killer of Killers changes the Predator franchise in some radical new ways. One way it doesn't change it, though, is in keeping with the DNA of the best Predator movies. It's got great, visceral action. Lots of cool gadgets. Powerful characters on a personal journey. And, most importantly, it messes with audience expectations. 'It's one movie that turns into another,' Trachtenberg said. 'Predator starts out as… Rambo. I'm seeing an action movie in the jungle with [Arnold Schwarzenegger] fighting bad terrorists or whatever and then an alien creature shows up. So you're in a movie, and then an alien creature shows up, and that's very much a part of Killer of Killers and of course, Prey and in Badlands in a way that no one's expecting.' Another thing no one is expecting is that this animated Predator film would be so good. But it is. Check out Predator: Killer of Killers on Hulu June 6 and then swing back to io9 where we'll talk about some of its biggest spoilers.
Express Tribune
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Predator: Killer of Killers brings animated action to Hulu this June
20th Century Studios' animated film Predator: Killer of Killers premieres June 6, 2025, exclusively on Hulu. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (Prey), with Josh Wassung of The Third Floor serving as co-director, Predator: Killer of Killers explores three brutal time periods through an anthology-style narrative. Written by Micho Robert Rutare, the story follows a Viking raider seeking vengeance alongside her son, a ninja in feudal Japan battling his samurai brother, and a WWII fighter pilot investigating a mysterious airborne threat. While each warrior is deadly in their own right, they all become prey to the ultimate enemy: the Predator—an extraterrestrial hunter known as the 'killer of killers.' The film is produced by John Davis, Dan Trachtenberg, Marc Toberoff, and Ben Rosenblatt, with executive producers including Lawrence Gordon, James E. Thomas, John C. Thomas, and Stefan Grube. Predator: Killer of Killers builds on the success of 2022's Prey and aims to expand the Predator franchise into bold new creative territory through animation. By blending historical action, sci-fi, and horror with stylized animation, the film offers a fresh take on the legendary Predator mythology. With high-caliber talent behind the project and an exclusive Hulu release, Predator: Killer of Killers is positioned to be a standout streaming event for fans of action, animation, and the Predator legacy.
