…And no, it’s not because Skynet will finally go online in 2019.
Terminator is an awesome sci-fi horror film that didn’t initially seem like it would be more than a single great film. But then writer/director James Cameron and star Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up again to make what might be the single greatest action film ever made in Terminator 2: Judgment Day seven years later. Things seemed to be tied up pretty well by that sequel, but Schwarzenegger returned Cameron-less for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines twelve years later, which was a solid return but by no means equal to the first two. Then came the nearly Schwarzenegger-less Terminator Salvation, which was about a half hour of awesomeness in a two-hour movie.
But you know Hollywood wouldn’t let a franchise go that a few more bucks could be squeezed out of die, right? Producer Megan Ellison (who currently holds the Terminator rights) and Annapurna Pictures was initially planning a fifth film starring Schwarzenegger and directed by Justin Lin, of Fast Five and the upcoming Fast Six, and Schwarzenegger has supposedly even gotten Cameron to attend some meetings regarding the latest sequel.
But Deadline is reporting that all bets are off — because Ellison will lose the rights to Cameron when the copyright expires in 2019, she can’t wait for Schwarzengger to make room in his schedule. As such, she has enlisted her brother David Ellison and his Skydance Productions to help her get the film moving. Megan has been known for producing arthouse and smaller film projects like The Master and Killing Them Softly, while David has been pumping out big-budget blockbusters like Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise, World War Z, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Star Trek Into Darkness. Obviously this project is more in David’s wheelhouse. If he can’t get this project moving in time to make two more Terminator movies by 2019, I’m not sure anyone can.
But I think it’s fair to say that Terminator is a franchise in which the story was finished by the second film. Previous rights-holders were lucky to squeeze two more movies out of the story (and a television series!), but I’m not sure if there’s any money left to be made from this franchise with anyone else in the Terminator role but Schwarzenegger. As for Cameron, could he have been playing hard to get in order to prolong the process in order to nab the rights in 2019? I wouldn’t be surprised, even if Cameron is all about Avatar these days…
Recent Comments