After five movies spanning more than three decades, it looks like Hollywood could soon be ready to pull the plug on Skynet and the Terminator franchise.
This weekend, news emerged that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the face of the Terminator franchise for all but one of its movies, will not be returning. The report comes from the New York Post, who state confidential sources close to the studio have told them that Paramount Pictures have passed up their option to bring Schwarzenegger back.
“It is over for ‘The Terminator’ and Arnold,” said the Post’s Los Angeles-based source. “The studio has taken the sequel off the production slate completely, meaning there is no pre-production or any plans for another sequel. The talent had been offered long-term deals, but this is not happening.
“The Genisys movie was seen as a way of reviving (the franchise), but the critics were not happy and somehow the studio bosses fell out of love with making more, even though they made huge profits,”
Those “huge profits” the report references were, unfortunately, not that that huge by modern day blockbuster standards. Terminator: Genisys made $440 million globally, but only $89 million of that came from domestic box-office, which was less than three of its four predecessors.
While the first two Terminator movies are generally considered science fiction classics, subsequent movies have failed to meet expectations. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean the Terminator has been killed off for good. James Cameron, the man behind the first two movies, has expressed an interest in returning to the franchise, going as far as to help bring Terminator 2: Judgement Day back to theaters later this year. Cameron could opt to bring Schwarzenegger back through an independent production, but it all begs the question of whether or not this franchise really needs another revival?
