Like its titular cybernetic killers, the “Terminator” franchise keeps crawling out of the ashes of an exploded tanker to fight another day. This time, things look somewhat more promising, since it’s not some other director taking the reins of Cameron’s franchise; it’s Cameron himself returning to cap things off for good.
Fresh from his departure from the “Deadpool” sequel after falling out with star Ryan Reynolds, director Tim Miller (who, much like Cameron when he made the original “Terminator,” only has one feature Film under his belt to date) is onboard with him.
The ‘Terminator’ series has never found consistent success
After the original “Terminator” film was a breakout success for hotshot young director James Cameron, he went all out with a costlier sequel named “Judgement Day” that fans adored and it became an instant classic and made over $500 million at the box office, and things were looking up that we had a great franchise on our hands.
However, after that, the franchise kind of died a death. Look at the decline in critical response to the “Terminator” films. After the impressive 100% and 93% Rotten Tomatoes scores garnered by the first two, respectively, the sillier “Rise of the Machines” dipped to 70%, and then the point-missing, Arnie-less “Salvation” got only 33%, while 2015’s disappointing reboot “Genisys” received a paltry 26%.
The future has never been certain
As John Connor says in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” “The future has not been written.” Just like he thought he could avoid Judgement Day, studio executives have always jumped the gun on “Terminator” sequels. “Salvation” was supposed to be the beginning of a trilogy but it disappointed financially and the trilogy never happened.
They reimagined the whole thing and churned out “Genisys,” which was supposed to lead to a trilogy and a TV series, but yet another financial disappointment led to no trilogy and no TV series.
And now they’ve reimagined it again, but Cameron and Miller are going with a different approach. Instead of ambitiously deciding that their new “Terminator” film is the first instalment in a trilogy, they’re definitively saying that after this one, they’re done.
They’re giving “Terminator” the ending it deserves, and then calling it a day.
Miller will direct
Miller will be directing the new film, with Cameron at hand presumably in a consulting or advisory position, since he’ll have his hands full with the multitude of “Avatar” sequels that are on their way for the next few years. The new film will be a reboot, but it has yet to be made clear if it will follow on from Cameron’s last “Terminator” film, or “Genisys” (hopefully not).
One thing’s for sure: the promise of no sequel will not be broken by studio executives, since Cameron now has the rights to “Terminator” back, after once selling them to a producer for $1 when he was desperate enough. Now he has a net worth of $700 million and the two highest grossing films of all time under his belt.