'The Predator,' 'Alita Battle Angel,' And 'Death On The Nile' Get New Release Dates
20th Century Fox has shuffled around some release dates, so break out your calendars.
Shane Black's The Predator, previously set for August, is now set for September. Robert Rodriguez's Alita: Battle Angel, once expected to arrive in July, has been pushed to December. Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express follow-up Death on the Nile will now open in November 2019.
The Predator Release Date
We're all excited for Shane Black's The Predator. It's one of our most anticipated films of the year. But sadly, we're going to have to wait just a little bit longer to see it. 20th Century Fox has shifted The Predator release date from its original August 3 release to September 14, 2018. Granted, that's not a huge difference, but still – I want it now.
Black's film is the latest entry in the Predator franchise, pitting everyone's favorite alien trophy hunter against a new set of disposable humans. Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Sterling K. Brown, Jacob Tremblay, Yvonne Strahovski, Alfie Allen, and Thomas Jane star. Jake Busey also appears, playing the son of the character played by his real-life father Gary Busey in Predator 2. The younger Busey previously provided some details on Black's film:
"This one definitely falls in line with the original franchise in that it does focus on the technology that the Predators have. It focuses on what the goal of the Predators is, and what their modus operandi, and why they come to the planet, and that type of thing. It's definitely in line with the original franchise."
Alita: Battle Angel Release Date
The Alita: Battle Angel trailer debuted in December 2017, and folks reacted with both confusion and trepidation. Director Robert Rodriguez, working with producer James Cameron, has adapted the manga series Battle Angel Alita into a strange-looking action film with a lead character trapped in the uncanny valley.
Alita: Battle Angel was originally set for a July 20 release, but Fox has pushed it all the way to December 21, 2018. This drastic date shift may have something to do with the film's many special effects. The new date will put it up against the Transfomers spin-off Bumblebee and the next DCEU film Aquaman.
Here's the Alita: Battle Angel synopsis.
Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita (Rosa Salazar) is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. Everything is new to Alita, every experience a first. As she learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield Alita from her mysterious past while her street-smart new friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson), offers instead to help trigger her memories. A growing affection develops between the two until deadly forces come after Alita and threaten her newfound relationships. It is then that Alita discovers she has extraordinary fighting abilities that could be used to save the friends and family she's grown to love. Determined to uncover the truth behind her origin, Alita sets out on a journey that will lead her to take on the injustices of this dark, corrupt world, and discover that one young woman can change the world in which she lives.
Death on the Nile Release Date
Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express was enough of a hit for Fox that they're forging ahead with a sequel, Death on the Nile. The film will bring back Branagh's Detective Hercule Poirot, as he investigates a whole new murder mystery. Death on the Nile now has an official release date: November 8, 2019.
The film, based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, will send Branagh's Poirot to Egypt. Here's the official synopsis for the book:
Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt in one of Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries, Death on the Nile. The tranquility of a cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger." Yet in this exotic setting nothing is ever quite what it seems.
Michael Green, who wrote the Orient Express screenplay, will also pen Death on the Nile.