Terminator fans, have you enjoyed the silence of the past few months? For the first time in as long as I can remember, Hollywood has endured a nice cooling off period from the now over-blown futuristic sci-fi franchise and the series is enjoying a well-earned breather. If I had my way, it would be like this until the end of the decade.
At least. I've got my Blu-rays of creator
James Cameron's two classic originals, two films I couldn't imagine improving on (well, maybe re-casting
Edward Furlong in
T:2) and how many franchises can say their first two films are genuine 5 star efforts? Of course, the ugly truth is that although
Terminator Salvation made a valiant effort to kill the franchise forever and although things may seem quiet on the surface, I can guarantee some Hollywood execs will be taking surveys, drawing up demographic charts, writing-up marketing reports, etc - like Winston Churchill in the War Rooms at the height of WWII - devising a plan of attack for a fifth Terminator film, which is inevitable. And inevitable sooner rather than later. The latest so called 'master-plan' for a new franchise reboot was
back in August when animated company Hannover House amazed everyone by announcing their plans for a PG-13, $70 million, 3D animated film titled
Terminator 3000 that would probably motion-capture
Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Linda Hamilton to recapture their look from the 80's & Cameron's distinct look for the universe.
Hannover House C.E.O.
Eric Parkinson previously handled the distribution of the original Terminator feature and way back when had the foresight to purchase the animated rights to the series, and now finally saw the opportunity to make good on what he owned. If fans were surprised by the news, Pacificor were stunned. The Santa Barba based hedge fund company have
owned the rights to the series since the beginning of the year, and
they quickly sent out a cease & desist letter to Parkinson to remove his company's announcement. Although Parkinson owns the animated rights, he still can't make a movie without Pacificor's help. However, any chance Hannover had of making an animated movie, which Pacificor might have played ball with as a no-risk source of income (as they wouldn't be handling it) were probably gone for good by their moment of idiocy. Production was originally set to begin next month on Terminator 3000 but we were never to hear of the film again. Some months prior to this, Pacificor had attempted to gain financing from Lionsgate and Sony to fund original writer
Bill Wishers treatment for a two movie blockbuster epic set in James Camerons timeline but the pitch failed when the studios balked at the idea after
Cameron himself refused to back it as producer. Cameron has less interest in the Terminator series than at any point in his life right now, and isn't willing to spend any time or effort into getting a new film off the ground.... focusing instead on the
Avatar world he is creating for the foreseeable future.
Wisher's idea would take the series to a post-apocalyptic background, factoring in time travel to allow Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to interact with each other again. It was said, 'Wisher has
created a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger that is as surprising as his shift from villain in the first film, to
John Connors bodyguard in the second. Schwarzenegger wouldnt be needed until the final film, which wouldnt shoot until after he ends his term as California Governor. And who wouldnt want to see Linda Hamilton back in aerobic top fitness form as Sarah Connor?' Clearly not everyone as every studio in town all turned down the movie. Was it a case of too soon after Terminator Salvation's failure? So that's two Terminator deals down in 2010... what could 2011 bring? I'm guessing more attempts, more failed deals, more agonized faces. This week, producer
Gale Anne Heard (who is working on The Walking Dead, and should probably continue thinking about the future of that show), who worked on the first three Terminator films, says she would love to do another movie in an
interview with EW;
Its very sad. You feel like you gave birth to something and its been adopted and those adoptions havent worked out. Of course Id be interested in doing another one. Id love it.
And we know from the words of guys like Bill Wisher and others who worked on the original series that they would love to do another one. But as I say, unlike
Ridley Scott coming back to the
Alien franchise, without the backing of James Cameron - it's difficult to see any studio fronting the $100 million required for any of those original guys to get their hands on the series. But what we can predict is that a Terminator 5 will come sometime. It might not be greenlit next year, but we will see it soon enough, but in what form?
