Terminator Reboot Offically Announced
I retract all previous statements regarding the Terminator 5 article previously published here…
But, I will make some new ones on the news that Paramount and Skydance Pictures are going to REBOOT the Terminator franchise.
According to an official joint press release by the production companies:
"Skydance Productions, Annapurna Pictures and Paramount Pictures have jointly announced they will partner on a rebooted "TERMINATOR" movie, to be released by Paramount Pictures on June 26, 2015.
The first in a stand-alone trilogy, "TERMINATOR" will be produced by Megan Ellison of Annapurna and David Ellison of Skydance. Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake of Skydance will serve as executive producers. Laeta Kalorgridis ("Avatar," "Shutter Island") and Patrick Lussier ("Drive Angry") are attached to write the screenplay.
Launched in 1984 with star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character, "TERMINATOR" spanned 3 subsequent films, which have earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
David Ellison most recently executive produced, along with his partners at Paramount, "World War Z," "Star Trek Into Darkness," "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol". A 5th installment of in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise is in active development, along with a 3rd film in the "G.I. Joe" franchise, among other films.
Megan Ellison most recently produced the Academy Award®-nominated "Zero Dark Thirty," "The Master" and executive produced "Spring Breakers" via her Annapurna Pictures banner and has David O. Russell's "American Hustle," Spike Jonze's "Her," and Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher" set for release later this year."
That's right. They just ruined everything. Or did they?
"The first in a stand alone trilogy" says a lot here. It says that James Cameron will be getting paid a hefty sum of money in a couple years when the rights to Terminator default back to him, because Megan Ellison only owns them until 2016.
According to Deadline:
"Franchise creator James Cameron — who has stayed on the sidelines since directing the first two classic films — is the beneficiary of changes in copyright law. Basically North American rights to the franchise revert back to him in 2019. That is because the copyright reversion now takes place after 35 years, and The Terminator was made in 1984."
That is brutal for everyone involved, except James Cameron really. The Ellison family is footing 66% of the bill for the first movie at least, and no matter what – in 2019 James Cameron gets to own The Terminator again. After that, it is up to James Cameron to decide if he wants to sell it again, or lock the rights up in a little vault somewhere and call them "Precious" before bedtime.
The bad part for the Ellison's is, if the movie tanks, they get hit pretty hard. Another problem is that the first movie won't release until June 26, 2015, which leaves a very bunched up schedule to make and release two more movies before the 2019 deadline of their rights. It's not impossible to make movies that fast by any means, but cranking movies out at a rapid pace leads to crappy movies nine times out of 10. Twilight did that, and while they made a ton of money from "tweens" all over the world, the movies were downright terrible. I don't think The Terminator gets quite the same "prostitot" attention these days, and I hope it's story doesn't suffer from a "get rich quick" format.
On the upside, Deadline also mentions that the original idea for the Reboot is not three individual movies, but one movie in three parts. Kill Bill just popped into my head and I was delighted, and then I thought to myself, "I even liked The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy…" shortly followed by "The Matrix Trilogy ended terribly" and I was brought back to reality. It's a serious gamble, it worked for Tarantino and Peter Jackson, but the Wachowski's didn't have the same luck.
I personally am hopeful that if some of the other rumors turn out to be true, like Arnold returning and The Rock taking the reins of the franchise, it could work. Arnold is not getting any younger and I think that after the next two or three years of film releases will find him settling down and enjoying those golden years, being a rich and crazy old man.
I know we have been praising Dwayne Johnson in most of his recent roles; Pain & Gain was magical and you can't go wrong with Fast & Furious 6, but lest we forget – The Rock had a hand in "Doom" and nobody wants to see that again. I myself have a hard time seeing a serious Dwayne Johnson, the actor – when I know full well he can lift an eyebrow and not be taken 100% seriously. Arnold never had that problem, he became The Terminator after winning Mr. Universe FIVE TIMES and Mr. Olympia SEVEN TIMES, and is the only man that can make The Rock look like a "Jabroni."
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