Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action horror film directed by John McTiernan and written by brothers Jim and John Thomas. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Dutch, the leader of a paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in a Central American rainforest, who encounters a deadly Predator (Kevin Peter Hall), a skilled and technologically advanced extraterrestrial that stalks and hunts down his team. The film also features Elpidia Carrillo, Carl Weathers, Richard Chaves, Sonny Landham, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura and Shane Black.
Predator was written in 1984 with a working title of Hunter. Filming ran from March to June 1986 with creature effects devised by Stan Winston and a budget of around $15 million. 20th Century Fox released the film on June 12, 1987, in the United States of America, and it grossed $98 million worldwide. Initial reviews were mixed, but the film has since been considered a classic of action and science fiction genres and one of the best films of the 1980s, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The success of Predator inspired a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It spawned six additional films: Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018), Prey (2022), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) and Predator: Badlands (2025).
The Predator franchise had a crossover with the Alien franchise which produced the Alien vs. Predator film series: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). The character Dutch made his return in the video games Alien vs. Predator (1994) and Predator: Hunting Grounds (2020), with Schwarzenegger reprising his role in the latter.
Plot
An extraterrestrial spacecraft deploys a shuttle to Earth. Sometime later, Major Dutch and his paramilitary rescue team—mercenary Mac Eliot, explosives specialist Poncho Ramirez, heavy gunner Blain Cooper, expert tracker Billy Sole, and radio operator Rick Hawkins—are tasked with rescuing a local cabinet minister whose helicopter was shot down in a Central American jungle. Dutch's Vietnam War ally, Al Dillon, now a CIA agent, accompanies the team to oversee the mission.
The team finds the helicopter wreckage and traces of guerrilla soldiers, as well as three skinned corpses hung high in the trees nearby. Dutch identifies the corpses as Green Berets and becomes suspicious of Dillon's intentions after learning the helicopter was outfitted for surveillance. Dutch's team attacks the guerrilla camp, killing the soldiers and their Soviet military allies, and learning the hostages were CIA agents. Dillon admits the cabinet minister story was a lie to convince Dutch—who refuses to use his team for assassinations—to eliminate the camp and prevent a Soviet-sponsored invasion. Dillon also discloses that the original mission team disappeared and the Green Berets had been sent to find them. Dillon takes a surviving guerrilla, Anna, prisoner, and the team travels towards the extraction point.
Unbeknownst to the team, a technologically advanced, humanoid predator has stalked them since their arrival, remaining invisible with a cloaking device, and using thermal imaging vision to see their body heat. Billy senses the presence of something inhuman, but cannot confirm his suspicions. Anna flees when the team is distracted, and although Hawkins catches her, he is killed by the predator while Anna is spared. As the team searches for Hawkins' body, the predator kills Blain. Mac catches a glimpse of the predator's cloaked form and, enraged at Blain's death, provokes the team into blindly firing their weapons into the jungle, wounding the predator. The team sets up camp for the night, booby-trapping the perimeter. A wild boar triggers a trap, and the predator uses the ensuing confusion to steal Blain's corpse.
The following day, Dutch deduces that the creature is stalking them from the treetops. Dutch releases Anna, needing her to work with them to survive. She recounts local folktales of a monster that kills men and takes trophies from their corpses, typically when the weather is hot. The team booby-traps the treetops to force the predator into a net, but it escapes and Poncho is injured. Mac and Dillon, who both want to make amends to the team, pursue the predator, but are outmaneuvered and killed. The predator soon catches the survivors, killing Billy and Poncho. Realizing the predator only attacks those it considers a threat, Dutch warns Anna to relinquish her weapon and run to the extraction point. Dutch distracts the predator before falling from a cliff into a waterfall and washing up on a muddy shore. The predator pursues Dutch, but is seemingly unable to see him, and leaves to collect the skulls of the others as trophies. Dutch concludes that the mud masked his body heat, making him invisible to the predator.
Seeking to avenge his team, Dutch creates makeshift traps and weapons. As night falls, he covers himself in mud and lets out a war cry to lure the predator toward him. Dutch uses his invisibility to wound the predator and disable its cloaking device, but subsequently falls into a river which washes off his mud camouflage. Deeming Dutch a worthy opponent, the predator removes its weapons and mask—revealing a monstrous visage—to face him in hand-to-hand combat. Easily outmatched by the larger and stronger creature, Dutch attempts to goad it into a trapped tunnel, but the predator suspects his plan and circumvents it. Dutch triggers the trap himself, releasing its counterweight, which crushes the predator. Mortally wounded, the predator activates a wrist-mounted self-destruct device. Dutch flees, barely escaping the enormous resulting explosion that razes the area.
As dawn breaks, the extraction helicopter arrives with Anna to collect the exhausted and traumatized Dutch.
Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Alan "Dutch" Schaefer Carl Weathers as Al Dillon Elpidia Carrillo as Anna Gonsalves Bill Duke as Mac Eliot Jesse Ventura as Blain Cooper Sonny Landham as Billy Sole Richard Chaves as Jorge "Poncho" Ramirez R. G. Armstrong as General Homer Phillips Shane Black as Rick Hawkins Kevin Peter Hall as the Predator Hall also portrays a helicopter pilot
An uncredited Peter Cullen provides the vocal effects for the Predator.
Production
Development Jim and John Thomas's script for Predator was initially titled Hunter. The original concept, centered on a plot of "what it is to be hunted", concerned a band of alien hunters of several species seeking various targets. That concept was eventually streamlined to one extraterrestrial hunting the most dangerous species, humans, and the "most dangerous man", a combat soldier. Additionally, the setting was chosen as Central America for having constant special forces operations during that time.
As the Thomas brothers were first-time screenwriters with little credibility in Hollywood, they struggled to attract attention for their proposed film and eventually resorted to slipping the script under the door of 20th Century Fox producer Michael Levy (who would go on to serve as executive producer on the film's sequel, Predator 2). Levy then brought the screenplay to producer Joel Silver who, based on his experience with Commando, decided to turn the science fiction pulp story line into a big-budget film. Silver enlisted his former boss Lawrence Gordon as co-producer and John McTiernan was hired as director for his first studio film. At one point, New Zealand director Geoff Murphy was also considered to direct.
Casting
Silver and Gordon first approached Arnold Schwarzenegger with the lead role. Schwarzenegger said:
He previously starred in Commando, on which Silver had served as the producer. To play the elite group of soldiers, both Silver and Gordon, with co-producer John Davis, searched for other larger-than-life men of action. Carl Weathers, who had been memorable as boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, was their first choice to play Al Dillon while professional wrestler and former Navy SEAL Jesse Ventura was hired for his formidable physique as Blain Cooper, co-starring with Schwarzenegger the same year in The Running Man. Also among the cast were Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves and Bill Duke, who co-starred alongside Schwarzenegger in Commando.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the Predator with the intent that the physical action star would use his martial arts skills to make the Predator an agile, ninja-like hunter. However, when the 5'9" Van Damme was compared to Schwarzenegger, Weathers and Ventura—actors over 6 feet tall and known for their bodybuilding regimens—it became apparent a more physically imposing man was needed to make the creature appear threatening. Additionally, it was reported that Van Damme constantly complained about the monster suit being too hot and causing him to pass out. He allegedly had also repeatedly voiced reservations about only appearing on camera in the suit. Additionally, the original design for the Predator was felt to be too cumbersome and difficult to manage in the jungle and, even with a more imposing actor, did not provoke enough fear. Van Damme was removed from the film and replaced by the 7'2" Kevin Peter Hall, who had just finished work as the titular sasquatch in Harry and the Hendersons.
Filming Commitments by Schwarzenegger delayed the start of filming by several months. The delay gave Silver enough time to secure a minor rewrite from screenwriter David Peoples. Principal photography eventually began in the jungles of Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, during the last week of March 1986, but most of the movie was shot near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.Predator | Film Locations That same month, art director Augustin Ytuarte and location manager Federico Ysunza were among the passengers killed in the crash of Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940. A dedication to their memory was later included in the film's closing credits. Much of the material dealing with the unit's deployment in the jungle was completed in a few short weeks and both Silver and Gordon were pleased by the dailies provided by McTiernan. On Friday, April 25, production halted so that Schwarzenegger could get to his wedding on time, flying to Hyannis Port in a Learjet chartered by Silver. Schwarzenegger was married on April 26, 1986, to Maria Shriver, and honeymooned for only three days while the second unit completed additional filming. The production resumed filming on May 12 and ended in late June 1986.
Both McTiernan and Schwarzenegger lost 25 pounds during the film. Schwarzenegger's weight loss was a professional choice while McTiernan lost the weight because he avoided the food in Mexico due to health concerns. Unlike McTiernan, most of the cast and crew suffered from travelers' diarrhea since the Mexican hotel in which they were living had problems with its water purification. In an interview, Carl Weathers said the actors would secretly wake up as early as 3:00 a.m. to exercise before the day's shooting. Weathers also stated that he would act as if his physique was naturally given to him and would exercise only after the other actors were nowhere to be seen.