'The Predator' movie release date, latest news: motion poster accompanying reboot

A Predator is stalking its prey in a promotional photo for one of the franchise's crossovers with "Alien."Steam/Aliens vs. Predator

The Predators are back on the prowl on Earth, as "The Predator" has just released a promotional motion poster to tease its arrival on the big screen.

The teaser is an animation of a lighting storm atop a metropolis where the forks form a pattern of the Predator's head and its iconic helmet and dreadlocks. The lightning forks pause forming the silhouette of the big screen alien hunter along with its title and 2018 release. The film is to be directed by Shane Black and will supposedly be the first film in a "Predator" movie series.

Black also announced that he wanted to take inspiration from how director Ridley Scott approached his "Alien" franchise taking note of the two previous "Alien" movies, "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant."

"How can I follow in the footsteps of someone who re-invents and brings that much event-ised quality to a pulp franchise? How do you get people to know about the Predator and buy their tickets a month before it comes out? Hopefully [we can] re-infuse it with a sense of mystery," says Black in acknowledgment to Scott's "Alien" franchise.

It's worth noting that the "Predator" franchise has had numerous crossovers and tie-ins to the "Alien" franchise, pitting the high-tech apex hunters against the nigh-invulnerable Xenomorphs.

Black will also reportedly try to keep the story coherent with what happened in the first two "Predator" movies in the franchise. In addition, the director hopes that the new Predator movie and series will not share the same critical fate of the previous one from 2010, which was directed by Nimrod Antal, as it was poorly received compared to the very first "Predator" movie from back in 1987, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The upcoming film's protagonist will be former marine McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) who comes across a Predator hunting on Earth. As per usual, the US Government did not want to welcome the foreigner with open arms and sought to rid the Earth of the alien hunters. Other stars in the upcoming film includes Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, Yvonne Strahovski, Alfie Allen, and Sterling K. Brown.

"The Predator" will be arriving in cinemas on Aug. 3, 2018.