Sad, but not surprised to see another writer blame the reception on "toxic" fans rather than the poor quality of the writing itself. You can do a different approach/formula, but if said changes contradict the lore/logic established by previous movies, games, and books, then it is going to cause problems with the story and the fan's reception.
I think it's a disservice to the fans to claim that they don't understand the difficulty of getting a film made. It gives us little to no credit, and comes off as whining that the problem is the fans, not the movie.
It's somehow become alright to blame fans for not liking a movie/product, rather than the product not being what the fans/audience/customers want.
Nothing I've seen, read, or heard in the original sciript convinces me that Black/Dekker did enough research into the lore or touched base with the fans to make sure they were making a movie the fans would want to see. The fact that they had the well made suit predator quickly killed by their "awesome" Upgrade predator is evidence of this. That scene alone was enough to turn many viewers off of the film.
I'm sure Black/Dekker worked hard on the script, but there were reactions and criticisms of said script way before the filming commenced. They could have taken said criticism to heart and course corrected, but they chose not to, as was their decision. The reception the film received is directly on them, not because of so-called toxic fans.
A wise director/writer would use this experience to develop/improve their craft, rather than make excuses.