Watch the Predator chase scene Prey’s director hated to cut
This week, the 2022 hit from 20th Century Studios Prey comes to 4K Blu-ray. This might be an obvious milestone for a blockbuster Predator revival, but for Prey, it’s an unexpected twist – and for physical media enthusiasts, it’s a glimmer of hope. Originally produced and distributed on Hulu, the film is now part of a Blu wave, as parent company Disney renews its focus on physical releases. The studio’s 4K summer slate includes everything from a Cinderella restoration to WandaVision. Prey joins the fray with a tricked-out disc that includes the kind of special features that were beginning to seem lost to time.
Now outside 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD – Also a soft and arty Steelbook – THE Prey The disc comes with a behind-the-scenes documentary, audio commentary, a panel with below-the-line art, an alternate opening scene, and several deleted scenes. Maybe it doesn’t put Prey on the base with THE Fight club DVD in paper bag and other great home video releases of all time. But these days, it’s a great gift for a film that we thought was locked in the direct-to-streaming release box. Director Dan Trachtenberg told Polygon that he never in a million years expected to own a copy of his Predator film adorned with stunning artwork, but it’s a pleasant surprise.
“It’s super cool,” he said by phone in September. “Who knows…if the cloud is destroyed one day when Skynet takes over, there will at least be a physical representation of something I created that exists in the apocalypse.” You can throw it as a deadly weapon or (watch it) as entertainment! »
To coincide with this release, 20th Century Studios has released one of the disc’s deleted scenes, a pre-visualized version of a spectacular action sequence that would have pitted Naru (Amber Midthunder) against the Predator in the trees of the Great Plains. It was a scene that Trachtenberg didn’t necessarily want to cut, but he also knew it might not even fit into the movie he was making.
“The pre-visual sequence… I was so happy. But I was afraid that (the treetop chase) would be too sophisticated for the movie. And we really had to get the execution right so that it didn’t seem ridiculous when a lot of the film and its action is quite grounded. As excited as I was for this kind of physicality, Naru and this style of chasing on screen, I was quite nervous. But I loved the way the clipped pincer was used in this sequence, and I thought it was a pretty clever thing on Naru’s part. So I’m happy that this can exist now.
Even if Trachtenberg remains discreet about the possibility of a Prey 2, he is not afraid to reveal his best ideas on a 4K version. If anything, he hopes deleted scenes like the treetop chase will inspire a new generation of filmmakers like the feature-length specials of old did for him.
“I grew up wanting to be a filmmaker and wanting to know as much as I could about film. And the special features were an access point to that,” he said. “So having a pre-viewable sequence, which is what we see all the time in film and TV, and which fans from outside can’t see…I thought it was really fun to to be able to include it in the film. disc.”
Prey is now available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD.