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Much has been said about Prey, the latest installment in the ever-expanding Predator franchise, going straight to streaming. Some critics think it's a shame the action movie won't be experienced by audiences on the big screen, while others champion accessibility and suggest it'll probably get more viewers this way.
For director Dan Trachtenberg and producer Jhane Myers, there's one big benefit to the movie being launched on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK, and that's it being released with a Comanche dub alongside the English language version.
"It's a huge bonus because if you were going to see it in the cinema, you wouldn't have the option of watching it in Comanche. It's so important," Myers, who is Comanche herself, tells Total Film. "This is the first time that a film has ever been entirely in the Comanche language, ever. It's also the first time that a brand new film is coming out in the Native language. So for authenticity, for representation, it sets that bar really high. I always tell people, 'Oh, you need to watch it in English and you need to watch it in Comanche just to see it.' Just for Native people, that's a huge thing. Huge."
"The initial intention was to have the film done in Comanche," Trachtenberg added in a separate interview. "So in some regard, it's like, 'Okay, cool. there's a version of this movie that is without any artifice'. It's like, 'This is how it would sound and how it would be.' Not a lot of people speak Comanche and this could almost be like a teaching tool, to encourage people to continue to learn that language and that it's captured. So much Native American history, so much Comanche history is oral.
"So, to have a tool now, that solidifies something and makes it permanent is so cool. Movies are forever – for as long as we have the technology, anyway. I think it's sort of wonderful to have it, and to fully represent the culture and the peoples that we're portraying." You can read the full Q&A with Trachtenberg here.
Starring Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Dakota Beavers, and Amber Midthunder, Prey centers on Naru, a skilled but underestimated Comanche warrior whose skills are put to the ultimate test when her tribe becomes the target of a highly evolved alien being. Those closest to her may "hunt to live", but this thing "lives to hunt" – and it's going to stop at nothing until it's extinguished every last one of them.
Prey premieres August 5 on Disney Plus in the UK and Hulu in the US. If you've already penciled its release date onto your calendar, then check out our list of what other upcoming movies are heading our way in 2022 and beyond.
