‘Terminator’ Producers Say Franchise Will Continue After a “Re-Adjusting”
Just last week we brought you the news that the planned Terminator Genisys trilogy was being put on hold indefinitely following the disappointing performance of the film that was intended to kick off that new series of films. Makes perfect sense, we thought. Genisys was not a very good movie and didn’t leave many people, including us, very interested the future of this franchise. But, this is Hollywood and perfect sense doesn’t always apply. Now, Terminator Genisys producer Dana Goldberg has spoken publicly for the first time saying future Terminator movies haven’t been canceled, they’re just being “re-imagined.” Oh great, another reboot!
Goldberg was speaking at the 6th Annual Media Leadership Conference and was asked about the recent reports that any future Terminator sequels were being put on hold, to which she replied, “I wouldn’t say on hold, so much as re-adjusting.”
What exactly that means is unclear, but it certainly sounds like the story map they had written out (and teased throughout Genisys) is going to be chucked and they’ll essentially be rebooting the story, yet again. Does this mean new actors? New characters? Will Arnold Schwarzenegger even return? All unknown, even to producers, at this point, but they promise to use “data and research to do a worldwide study” to find out what went wrong.
So, why would anyone even entertain moving forward with a new Terminator movie when the last one didn’t even crack $100 million? Well, for one, Skydance paid $20 million for the rights to the Terminator franchise in 2011, so they’re loathe to just abandon it this early in the process. And, for another, it actually played well in China.
Explains Goldberg:
Happily, we live in the world where the domestic number [doesn't have the] level of importance [it did] 10 or 15 years ago — I’m not saying it’s not important, it is — but we have to play to a worldwide market, in terms of ‘Terminator,’ the worldwide market paid attention, but we’re not taking the domestic number lightly.
The Terminator franchise seems built as tough as a T-800. Despite the many, many attempts to destroy it over the years, no matter how convincing, it keeps finding a way to come back.