Well for everybody who loves a little bit of aliens with their predators there is great news, the two are at it again and this time………it’s for the kids. Ok, not really, but some young ones are involved. The good folks over at yahoonews.com gave us this:
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Shareeka Epps, John Ortiz and Johnny Lewis have been cast in “Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest.” “Alien vs. Predator” marks the first studio role for Epps since her acclaimed onscreen debut opposite Ryan Gosling in the Sundance Film Festival favorite “Half Nelson,”. Epps, a high school senior, will play Kendra, a young girl who must protect her little brother. Ortiz, who most recently appeared in Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice,” will play a recently elected sheriff. Lewis, a featured player on “The O.C.,” will play Ricky, a troubled kid. The next installment is set in a tranquil town where the townspeople must join together to battle a predator and an onslaught of aliens. Production begins in the fall with the studio eyeing a 2007 release.
Why are they making this? The last on got a 22 out of 100 at rottentomatoes.com. It didn’t make a ton of money. Does the world really need another?
Ok enough of my bellyaching, lets look on the bright side of this. John Ortiz is a good actor, aliens are cool, predators are creepy and maybe, just maybe this could be entertaining and scary.
What is interesting as I look at the people involved with this movie is that most of them have never done the kind of roles that they are doing. The actors have never been leads (Epps has done one lead, but in an indi movie) the directing brother duo Greg and Colin Strauss have been working their way up the ladder for quite some time and although they have done a lot of special effects supervising on big sets they have never gotten their hands on something that they could direct themselves. Add to that the writer Shane Salerno who has only assisted in writing movies in the past and this may end up being something worth watching.
When new people work together on something that nobody has big expectations for, well sometimes what comes out is surprisingly good.
