Sub-Zero

‘Terminator’ Sequels On Hold Indefinitely Despite Worldwide Box Office Success

Posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2015 by Ethan Anderton

Even though Arnold Schwarzenegger has touted the iconic line “I’ll be back” in the Terminator franchise over and over again, it turns out that might not end up being true after this latest round of the sci-fi film series.

This past summer, Terminator: Genisys didn’t do so hot at the domestic box office, and the future of the series was uncertain. But its performance in international markets, especially China, indicated that the franchise continuing might still be a possibility. However, a small mention of future Terminator sequels has revealed Paramount Pictures has put any future Terminator sequels on hold indefinitely.

In a recent report about movie financiers at THR (via The Playlist), there’s some talk about Terminator: Genisys still losing money even after raking in $440 million worldwide. That’s a good chunk of change, but with a budget that came in at $155 million before marketing came into play, that made any profit a little difficult to obtain for Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

And it’s in that explanation that the trade says “the notion of a Terminator universe is on hold indefinitely.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that the franchise is dead, but Paramount probably won’t be rushing into Terminator 6 or Terminator 7 anytime soon, despite previously setting release dates in 2017 and 2019.

However, that doesn’t mean we won’t see another attempt at a Terminator movie come together. The rights to the franchise revert back to James Cameron in 2019, and if Paramount wants to make the most out of the rights to the iconic title while they have them, it might be worth taking one more crack at a proper Terminator. But if fans still have the bad taste in their mouth from Terminator: Genisys, then they may not be all that interested.

At this point, it may be time to just let the Terminator franchise die. The track record for good sequels is reason enough to just let the franchise go away for awhile until James Cameron sells the rights to another studio and they decide to remake the first movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger involved at all. That kind of thing is probably inevitable, and it this point, I’d much rather see Schwarzenegger do something different anyway.

It’s a tough market out there right now, and it seems that sequels may become a little less abundant, even when the overseas numbers indicate success. Pacific Rim 2 was just taken off the 2017 release calendar at Universal even though the studio is still reportedly dedicated to making it happen at some point. Maybe Paramount will end up supporting the Terminator franchise just the same.

Anyone out there disappointed by this news?

http://www.slashfilm.com/terminator-...-indefinitely/

E Unit

Thank goodness. End it now.

TGM

try again in another 15 years when Arnie is really really REALLY old.

Sonic

What I find messed up is how Arnie dissed Terminator Salvation saying it's not a good movie and Genesyd not pulling any strong strings either.

GoldenJCJ

This series has started and stalled so many times I don't even think the filmmakers know what the movies timeline is anymore.

Frankly, Arnold doesn't have many more films in him and playing an ageless robot is becoming absurd at this point. Just let the series die already. They obviously can't get their shit together with this series.

TheMovieman

dhmac

I want someone to travel back in time to prevent Terminator 3, Salvation, and Genisys from ever being made.

(And also prevent the Star Wars prequels and SEs while they are at it)

inri222

Hazel Motes

The silver lining: Hopefully a proper Blu Ray box set for all 5 films can come together.

I liked Genisys and Rise of the Machines. Didn't care for Salvation. But when you look at them in contrast to 1&2, its clear they need to stop. Its just a shame Eddie Furlong never got his act together enough to follow up T2. Say what you will about both of them as actors, but Arnie and Eddie had undeniable chemistry. Furlong coming back for T3 would have elevated the picture. IMO.

Alan Smithee

We REALLY don't need any more Terminator movies. #3 was kind of like grasping at straws, and I haven't seen the other 2 yet.

Jaymole

I would have been glad to hear that if I thought they were going to make a sci-fi original instead, but I doubt that is going to happen

fumanstan

I liked Genisys enough that I wish the franchise continued, just wish it had a better cast.

Sean O'Hara

About the best that can be said for the non-Cameron movies is that they're better than Alien 3, Resurrection, etc. The only halfway decent thing to come out of the franchise after T2 was The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Mike86

Genisys honestly was a decent film. Not as good as the two Cameron films but still entertaining. I'm curious how many people in here trashing it have actually seen it because most people in the threads for the film were bitching about how it looked like the worst thing ever and how they were never going to see it.

stingermck

I saw it and enjoyed it. But unfortunately tent pole pictures these days need to make 500 million bajillion dollars to "break even"

Shannon Nutt

Genisys was a lot better than I thought it would be, given all those awful trailers we saw for it.

That said, yeah - let it sit on the shelf for 5 to 10 years and then start thinking about a total reboot - with no ties to the previous movies/TV series. And when they do a reboot, they need to design/tweak it so they haven't painted themselves into a corner with the timeline...that's the biggest problem with almost every new incarnation of this franchise.

GuessWho

Go for broke...

Alien v Predator v Terminator

Why So Blu?

inri222

Digitally remove Michael Biehn & Linda Hamilton from the first 2 films and replace them with Jai Courtney & Emilia Clarke. Now that would be awesome.

Kedrix

Yeah, the whole we now have to make more than 3 times our budget just to "break even" boggles the mind. Either that or executives are lying completely about budget numbers. I'd lean towards the latter.

Groucho

I might have seen Genisys (despite the bad reviews) had the trailers not given away all the twists.

hanshotfirst1138

I will tolerate all of the prequels, sequels, spin-offs, inter-quels, mid-quels, side stories, remakes, reboots, spinoffs, new fans, old fans, actors, directors, digital, 35mm, whatever. Just for the fucking love of God give me the one thing I would sell my soul to fucking Lucifer for, the originals done properly. I don't mind bad sequels that sully the memory of the originals, but don't fuck with the originals.

If it can get us T1 with the damned mono, it'd be worth it.

islandclaws

I watched it twice and I maintain it is easily the biggest piece of shit in the series. The only actor having fun was Arnold; everyone else was either horribly miscast or dry as toast.

This series should have ended with T2.

joliom

I think Genisys was better than Salvation, but that's not saying much.

Dr. DVD

While I hope this is true, I see them making another one of these before spending the same amount of money on an original sci-fi script.