TERMINATOR franchise is up for sale
Complete reboot of the Terminator franchise now likely, as the Halcyon Co. plan to sell the franchise rights to the highest bidder.
It's times like this I wish I was a billionaire, seriously. With all the Blu-Ray DVDs I want to buy, the fact that my football team Newcastle United can be bought for £100 million, and now a much smaller figure would buy me the rights to make any kind of Terminator picture I wanted? Jeez, I need to gets me a sugar daddy! November 2009 will prove to be a significant month in the shaping of the future of one of the biggest franchises in cinema as the Halcyon Co. are to auction off the rights to the Terminator franchise to the highest bidder. Disappointed, disinterested and out of pocket by Terminator Salvation (a pathetic $120 million domestic for a Terminator movie starring Christian Bale)the Halcyon Co. have said enough is enough. They have lost faith in a franchise they had hoped when they purchased the rights in 2007 for $25 million would be the start of a successful reboot to the original series, kicking off a new profitable trilogy similar to the new Batman franchise at WB. But miss-hirings, (and I hate to say it... BUT WE TOLD YOU SO) and bad decisions meant that... well... they fucked up a golden opportunity. And they will never get that chance back again.
The auction is only for the rights to future films in the series, and the new owner won't be purchasing any of the four movies in the franchise to date. Sony, who distributed Terminator Salvation outside of the U.S. are said to be the favourites to plough the most money into the auction according to The Financial Times but most major studios are likely to be keeping an eye on the progress along with smaller outfits like Summit Entertainment and Media Rights Capital. The Terminator series is quite unlike any other as for such a big franchise, it's not actually owned by any movie studio. How much money a studio will pay for the rights will surely indicate how serious they are at investing in the universe and what kind of movie we are likely to see in the future. The series will undoubtedly now get a fresh start. McG probably had a chance at another go at the series with Christian Bale and co. if Halcyon still owned the rights to the series but as that isn't the case no more, you have to think it's gonna be a reboot all the way. And a proper, full on reboot this time, please. 
I don't frikkin wanna hear the name John Connor in the next movie, let alone see him as a character. One major criticism I had with this year's Terminator movie was that it tried so hard to please everyone (by keeping it's insane continuity whilst trying to juggle a movie that took place in an odd timeline of events) that as a film it barely made any sense and couldn't stand up on it's own terms. A new set of writers with a new idea of where to take this series, with brand new characters, and a new situation is desperately required. This franchise desperately needs a new coating and whoever purchases the rights to the series has to know that too. The series has taken two severe blows in the last few years with Terminator Salvation and the God awful series The Sarah Connor Chronicles but there's life in the franchise still. They just need to be a lot smarter about what they commission, learn from past mistakes and have the balls to truly go out there and try something new.