Predator: Badlands’ Director Has the Perfect Sequel Idea for Kevin Costner’s Misunderstood Sci-Fi Masterpiece [Exclusive]

Dan Trachtenberg brought the once-moribund Predator franchise back to life with the acclaimed Prey in 2022, and kept the momentum going earlier this year with the animated anthology movie Predator: Killer of Killers. Now, he’s looking to salvage a movie that’s been in the depths for over thirty years. He wants to see the world of 1995’s would-be blockbuster Waterworld brought back to life…but with a twist. Trachtenberg recently spoke to Collider’s Aidan Kelley on the red carpet at the premiere for Predator: Badlands

Waterworld was a vehicle for Kevin Costner, who was coming off a string of critical and box office successes. However, the filming of Waterworld was troubled by the precarious nature of filming on the water, and the budget ballooned to $175 million, making it the most expensive movie ever made at the time. It grossed 264 million, and became a byword for fiasco; the one-two punch of Waterworld and the similarly apocalyptic The Postman hindered Costner’s career for years.