The last Terminator film didn’t do too well at the box office, but the franchise may—as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic T-800 likes to say—”be back” again, according to director James Cameron, who recently sat down with the SmartLess crew for a podcast dated December 19 and shared some news regarding the property, which might be rebooted yet again following previous attempts that include 2015’s Terminator Genisys, starring Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese and Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor.
“If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try and to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy,” the 68-year-old filmmaker revealed.
Cameron hasn’t directed a Terminator film since Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which released in 1991 and remains not only one of the best movies in the franchise, but also in the sci-fi action genre, according to critics.
In a recent interview with Deadline, Cameron suggested that Terminator: Dark Fate failed because he insisted on putting Arnold into the film, something that director Tim Miller (Deadpool) wasn’t thrilled about:
I think the problem, and I’m going to wear this one, is that I refused to do it without Arnold. Tim didn’t want Arnold, but I said, “Look, I don’t want that. Arnold and I have been friends for 40 years, and I could hear it, and it would go like this: ‘Jim, I can’t believe you’re making a Terminator movie without me.’” It just didn’t mean that much to me to do it, but I said, “If you guys could see your way clear to bringing Arnold back and then, you know, I’d be happy to be involved.”
Cameron went on to suggest that Terminator: Dark Fate was bogged down by having too many old people, noting the ages of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, who are now 75 and 66 years old, respectively.
I think what happened is I think the movie could have survived having Linda in it, I think it could have survived having Arnold in it, but when you put Linda and Arnold in it and then, you know, she’s 60-something, he’s 70-something, all of a sudden it wasn’t your Terminator movie, it wasn’t even your dad’s Terminator movie, it was your granddad’s Terminator movie. And we didn’t see that. We loved it, we thought it was cool, you know, that we were making this sort of direct sequel to a movie that came out in 1991. And young moviegoing audiences weren’t born. They wouldn’t even have been born for another 10 years.
Terminator: Dark Fate has been described as a flop by both critics and analysts, having earned a relatively disappointing $261.1 million worldwide, according to numbers shared by Box Office Mojo.
Terminator: Resistance, a first-person shooter set during the Future War that was first introduced at the beginning of the original Terminator film, was released by Teyon on November 14, 2019, and has since received positive reviews from Terminator fans.
Discussion (11 replies)
Join Discussion →Just let it be, just let it be.
First two. First two.
Yeah, saying the last one didn't do too well is an understatement. They've pretty much all tanked since the 2nd. This and Aliens are two franchises I'd like to see retired but I admit I'm open-minded to a space marine AVP movie like the comics. I've heard good things about the Sarah Connor chronicles but never got around to watching it.
I had huge hopes after the first two.
Having huge hopes is a problem on itself. Honestly either movie ( 1 or 2) on its own were movies hard to beat . The fact that T2 was such an iconic movie, makes that bar so effin high, but even then, we got no bueno at all after the first two, just no good.
They need to be left alone.
Please let it die. But just like sharks when blood hits the water, if Hollywood thinks there is $$$ to be made, it probably will happen.
I would rather see a colonial marines reboot/spinoff (you can even leave the main xenomorphs/aliens out of it if you want, or introduce different aliens).
Or you know, Jim, maybe do something else? Sci Fi doesn't have to be endless reboots and sequels (one assumes).
That is a good point. There is a lot of Sci-Fi out there, and I started off by writing that only the big franchises were still going (Star Wars this or Star Trek that).. but then I got to thinking -- well, that's exactly what you are talking about - only the big franchises get attention.
Not all of this Sci-Fi is good, but there's a good bit of it out there.
A few examples, just off the top of my head:
Westworld
Raised by Wolves
Avenue 5
His Dark Materials
The Expanse
BSG (nothing here for a while now, but it was huge when it was out)
There is a ton more out there. I guess you could say Avatar was his attempt to bring a new SciFi IP around, so it's not that Cameron is stuck on doing endless reboots... but if Avatar 2 doesn't make out spectacularly, he may be looking for something safe to bring the money back in and regain the trust of the investers.
Meh.
I feel like Terminator 2 hit the high point and that it should have ended there. Would have been better if they had quit while they were ahead.
I tried watching 2003's Rise of the Machines and the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series, and I thought they were both awful. I turned the film off probably less than halfway through. The TV series, I don't think I got throuhg more than one or two episodes. I can't remember anymore.
When I think about the Terminator franchise I really think of it in terms of two movies, Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and that's it.
At this point, Schwarzenegger is too old to reprise the role, and without him, it just won't be the same.
I'd suggest creating something new, instead of trying to cash in on and further dilute older franchises.
I thought the first installment of "Space Pocahontas with Blue People" was bad enough. I can't believe someone greenlit a sequel...
As they say, the key to happiness is having low expectations.
This is why there can never be a Half-Life 3
As far as I'm concerned the Terminator franchise ended with the original movie. Other than Arnold going from bad guy to good guy and a few good action scenes, Terminator 2 didn't do much for me. It had a small fraction of the suspense of the original which is what made that movie great and replaced it with a lot of action which didn't interest me as much.
I never re-watch T2 and I've never watched any of the sequels more than once. They were almost completely forgettable. The Sarah Connor Chronicles in some ways were even more farfetched than some of the bad movies but they did a good job with the series itself. I always thought of it as its own universe and enjoyed it for what it was. It was also different in how it didn't focus on John Connor which was quite refreshing.
A reboot doesn't need to be done. They've already tried it with some of the later movies and it doesn't work. If they try it yet again it will fail yet again. The suspense and mystery of the original movie gave it the power and legacy that the franchise has. There is no way that mystery can be brought back and any additional movies will suffer from the same problem of the current sequels. They make the premise about time travel and changing the past and each movie makes the story less coherent and makes each previous movie mean little or nothing.
Anything to make a buck nowadays. Just let it die already.
If you are into sci-fi horror style films, the first one definitely hit the spot better than the second. It had more of the feel of the first Alien film. There is this unstoppable thing that is trying to kill you.
I still think the second was great, but in a different way. Instead of sci-fi horror it was a classic straight up action film, and it really captured the zeitgeist of the late 80's/early 90's when it was filmed and released, so I think it has merit and though I'm not generally the type of person who watches any film more than once, this is one of those select few I'd watch again. I think I saw it in theaters back when it came out, then on VHS at various friend's houses. At this point I don't think I e seen it since the late 90's, but I'd totally rewatch it.