SXSW 2010: Robert Rodriguez Plans 'Predators' Preview

What exactly do producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antal have up their sleeves that will re-vitalize the Predator franchise after suffering increasingly lukewarm installments? SXSW attendees will get to find out on March 12 at 10:15pm, when Rodriguez and Antal take the stage at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, Texas for a special extended sneak preview of this Summer's Predators.

The sci-fi action film stars Adrien Brody as a mercenary who bands with a group of cutthroat human survivors on an alien world, awaiting their turn as the Predators' game. The film co-stars Topher Grace, Alice Braga, and Lawrence Fishburne. "My director Nimród Antal and I are excited to bring this first look at Predators to Austin's SXSW Film Festival, an event that's become vital to the filmmaking scene," said Rodriguez in a press statement. "Austin is my home and I'm proud that Predators was conceived and filmed here."

Most are viewing Predators as the second sequel to 1987's Predator, and not the fifth in the series -- ignoring the two AVP films all together. One of the problems with the franchise has been finding a decent foil for the Predator to hunt. No one has come close to the swaggering, larger-than-life hero that Arnold Schwarzenegger played so well in the original film. On paper, it doesn't seem like Brody is any better a choice than Danny Glover or Sanaa Lathan, but we'll know if Brody's got the goods by the time Predators hits theatres on July 9, 2010.