Original predator I have come to similar conclusions about where fox stand with the predator franchise myself. While I think the film will be a lot better than what people think it will be , I think you are right in that it isn't really commercial anymore. I'm die hard for predator and nothing tickles me the way our predator friend does , however I do accept I'm in the minority, and that's where probably where the problem lies. They won't invest heavily because of fear of failure, like you said fox have pi$$ed the franchise up the wall, to many gimmicks, to many throw backs to the original, it never managed to create a coherent story. And to your average joe , predator has become another monster movie that you take or leave. Fox have rinsed what was special about the alien in the first place imo.