The Predator concept artist Michael Vincent has shared a closer look at the hybrid “menagerie” cut from the final movie. When Shane Black came onboard as writer and director of The Predator, his aim was to expand the universe of the franchise and get fans excited about it again. He wanted to break away from the standard formula and explore the Predator’s true goals on Earth. The movie also explored the concept of the Predators upgrading themselves with DNA from other species they’ve hunted to craft the perfect warrior.

The original third act of The Predator revealed the mysterious government agency Project Stargazer was actually working with two Predator emissaries who were scientists back on their home planet. They came to Earth to warn of an impending invasion from rival members of their own clan, and they teamed with the heroes to battle the Upgrade Predator. This led to a major action sequence where the Upgrade unleashed a horde of hybrid “menagerie” creatures from a crashed ship, resulting in the deaths of several major characters. After test screenings, it was decided this storyline strayed too far outside of traditional formula, so the majority of the final act was reshot to feature a more traditional stalk and slash hunting scene instead.

Related: The Predator Reshoots Explained

This led to the emissaries and menagerie being cut from the final edit. Since the release of The Predator, various pieces of artwork and behind the scenes images have provided a look at this deleted final act, and now concept artist Michael Vincent has shared a closer look on Instagram at some of these creatures. He also provides context for what these beasts would have been doing, such as the bulletproof rhino-style hybrid capable of flipping a truck.

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Another beast from the Predator’s “Menagerie”. The prompt was a creature that could flip a truck. I imagined a rhino-beetle-esque creature with a bulletproof metallic exoskeleton. I aimed to design each menagerie beast with an adaptation that the Predator would find useful to incorporate into his own DNA. @thestudioadi #conceptartist #conceptart #predator #thepredator #creaturedesigner #creaturedesign #studioadi

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More art from #thepredator! I was asked to take a pass at the Predator’s attack dogs. They were originally going to be the size of horses… The colored render I did after the fact, swipe for the original sketch. #conceptart #predator #predatordog #conceptartist #creaturedesign #creaturedesigner #studioadi

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THE PREDATOR Concept Art…. Another beast from the early script’s “Menagerie”, a series of apex carnivores the predator collected to augment their own DNA with… I designed this creature with all the mandibular-ness of the predator universe and a clam-esque ring of eyes… #creaturedesign #thepredator #creaturedesigner #conceptart #conceptartist #menagerie

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Creature designs for THE PREDATOR!!! In its early stages, the script called for a variety of beasts collected by the Pred for their DNA called “The Menagerie”. I was so wonderfully surpised when @thestudioadi’s very own @alec_gillis asked me to take a crack at them. I was ECSTATIC, and i’m still oozing thankfulness for the opportunity 3 years later. Here the first few sketches… an 8 armed arachnid-ape beast, and a big bug-somethin’… #thepredator #predator #menagerie #studioadi #conceptartist #conceptart #creaturedesigner #creaturedesign

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While The Predator is an entertaining movie, it has telltale signs of re-edits and the final hunt between the Upgrade Predator and the heroes feels rushed and choppy. It would be very interesting to see the original cut featuring the hybrids and emissaries re-inserted, but both Black and co-writer Fred Dekker have confirmed the VFX on these sequences weren’t finished, and it would be too expensive to go back and complete them.

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The failure of The Predator likely means the franchise will go away again for a few more years, and the direct sequel teased at the end of the movie will never happen. To celebrate the recent home release of the film, Fox recently released a stop-motion Holiday Special, featuring the Predator hunting Santa Claus and his elves. It’s a short, loving tribute to the series, and there’s even a literal Alien Easter egg for fans of a certain rival franchise.

More: The Predator Wasn’t A Box Office Success – Here’s Why

Source: Michael Vincent (via AVP Galaxy)

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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