Prey has been making big waves since arriving on Hulu and other Disney-owned platforms on Friday, and now it has become apparent just how big as the Predator prequel has racked up more watched hours than any other debut on Hulu in the history of the platform. Many long-term fans of the franchise were a not entirely convinced that Prey would be a worthy addition to the Predator series when it was first announced, but that has quickly become a thing of the past as the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score has surpassed even the original Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
The 20th Century Studios movie was originally worked on in secret by director Dan Trachtenberg, who has a long history of releasing surprise movies including his debut 10 Cloverfield Lane. When the news broke that a Disney financed Predator movie was coming, Trachtenberg revealed his disappointment that he had not been able to allow fans to discover the movie himself and that he has been working on it for around 4 years at the time. Now, two years on from that announcement, the movie has finally arrived and has surpassed all expectations.
According to the studio, Prey, which stars Amber Midthunder, has outpaced every other movie and TV series release to have premiered on Hulu in the platform’s history across its first three days on release, and has landed a similar achievement on Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ under their Star offerings across international territories. For a movie that some had written off before the trailer was even released thanks to the franchise now being Disney owned, Trachtenberg’s triumphant Predator prequel has proven that any fears of the franchise being watered down have been well and truly put to bed.
Prey Brings Something New and Raw To The Predator Franchise
The original Predator movie started a franchise that has delivered three direct sequels as well as two Alien crossover films, but has usually fallen short of the raw brutality of the Schwarzenegger classic. Prey manages to bring back what has been missing from many Predator sequels, and Trachtenberg recently revealed what he believes has been missing from other movies featuring the highly-evolved alien creature. He previously said:
“For this one, I really wanted to make this version of the Predator so much more feral and ferocious and animalistic, from its movements to its silhouette and its design. That was something that we looked at the other iterations and tried to zig where they zagged a little bit. The thing that I really wanted to do was, on the one hand, embrace the suit because I love the design of the creature and that it is a practical suit, but also, really try to make sure we weren't limited by the limitations of a physically-built suit with a man inside operating it. I sometimes feel in watching some of the Predator films that it feels very much like a professional wrestler, not literally, but a professional wrestler who's lumbering around. I feel like it's driven by a person and I never have really gotten swept away by feeling like it's an alien creature.”
Prey is now available on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in most international territories.