Here’s some VERY unexpected news. Dan Trachtenberg, the man credited with reviving the Predator franchise with Prey and Predator: Badlands, will direct a new Sleeping Beauty movie for Disney. Say wha?
Trachtenberg and Raya McClendon came up with the story, while Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf are writing the script. The plan is to reimagine the classic fairy tale and go in a completely new direction. There will be no connection to Disney’s successful Maleficent films starring Angelina Jolie.
The ties between Trachtenberg and Disney are tight following Prey, the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, and Predator: Badlands.
Trachtenberg recently signed a three-year first-look deal with Paramount, and is currently developing a mystery project for it. He’s also directed the animated horror-comedy Freddy the 13th.
This should put the kibosh on any hope for a new Predator film any time soon. As much as critics and audiences loved Badlands, it only banked about $180M on a $101M budget, so it makes sense for Trachtenberg to move on for now. [Deadline]
