It has been 19 years since the Predator last wrought havoc on the big screen minus his interspecies sparring partners from the Alien franchise, but that is expected to change in the not-too-distant future.

Robert Rodriguez, recently mentioned in connection with an assortment of hotly anticipated projects – among them, his proposed Barbarella reboot, Sin City 2 and a full-length treatment of Machete, the revenge fantasy he hinted at with a faux trailer in Grindhouse – has announced plans to direct Predators, tentatively scheduled for a July 9, 2010, release.

The Predator, whose last solo gig found him battling Danny Glover (not Arnold Schwarzenegger) in the streets of downtown Los Angeles, has been slumming it in recent years, coming out of studio-mandated retirement only for AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and its 2007 sequel, the far bloodier Requiem. With Rodriguez determined to resurrect the franchise – he’s written a script just for the occasion – fans might reasonably expect bigger, better things going forward.