New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Jason Barney: As I read over the other comments I was pleased to see a bit of regret from our staff. Many of us are realizing something which is very sad, that the Terminator franchise may be put on the shelf for a very long time. Paramount put a lot of money into this project and even if the international numbers do emerge, there is no way the money works out.

I think Paramount purchased the rights to a possible tent pole series and the worst case scenario has developed. Studios are all about being able to produce sequels as part of a successful line, and I wonder if they thought they could just get the first of this reboot out there, and then they could evaluate where to go from there. Unfortunately, Paramount now has the rights to Terminator and it will be awhile before we see another one.

Transformers, Hunger Games, The Hobbit, Star Trek, Star Wars, Avengers, Iron Man....you don't have to look very far to look at what studios have done with multiple entries in film line. Terminator should be in this group. At one time it was.

Reagen Sulewski: While there's little defending the performance of this movie on an individual level, it does go to show why people keep trying to make fetch happen here. This was probably a worst case scenario in terms of marketing and reviews, and it still managed to not crater. There's value in the franchise even if no one seems to know how to make it work anymore. People want a good Terminator movie (I still stand by #3 - a ballsy bit of franchise warping) if only someone will make it. Maybe Cameron can come back to this when he's done making all the Avatar films and give it the Mad Max treatment.

Ben Gruchow: Cameron coming back to the franchise is actually something there's been some muted whispers about; I first read about the possibility on IBN last October. Speaking of that general time period, I won't name names, but there was a list-based article that got published around that time that basically outlined four reasons why Genisys was doomed before it got a chance to survive, and all four of them are remarkably on-point. It was from this article that I learned (and subsequently forgot) that Alan Taylor was the fifth directorial choice for the movie. The studio had already tried for Ang Lee, Rian Johnson, Denis Villeneuve, and Justin Lin; all four backed out.

I agree with Reagen that there's a market out there for a good Terminator film; heck, I went into the movie last weekend knowing the Rotten Tomatoes score, and I was still hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Having said that, a total redefinition of the universe by Cameron himself is probably the only way a good film will happen now.

Continued:       1       2       3