No More “Terminator” Sequels, Maybe
If “Fan4stic Four” was the reigning king of disappointing attempts to revitalize an older franchise films of 2015, then the second place would certainly have to go “Terminator: Genisys”.
After its disappointing box office and even worse critical reception the next film in the series has quietly disappeared from Paramount Pictures’ 2017 schedule. Again, not terribly surprising given the film’s reception, but what is surprising is what replaced it. The Zac Efron and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reboot of “Baywatch.”
How badly did Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to the “Terminator” franchise fail? In the US it only made $89 million which I know to some people that may not sound too bad, but the budget for the film itself was $155 million. It did a little better in China taking in about $350 million; however the thing to remember is that a film’s budget doesn’t include marketing which tends to be a lot (plus they don’t normally make that figure public). Also the studios don’t make as much money from overseas box office. So this film probably broke even or at best made a minor profit, but for this sort of franchise with the brand name recognition of “Terminator,” that wouldn’t be considered a success by any of the studios.
The sad thing is that this is now the third time this has happened. “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” was originally supposed to have more films following from its ending and it didn’t happen. Instead we got “Terminator Salvation” which was meant to sort of follow “3” but jump-start a new series following its new characters and recast of older characters. Again it didn’t happen so “Terminator Genisys” once again tried to restart things. You may be wondering why they’re so desperate to make all of these sequels and restart the series. The reason is that in 2019 the creator, writer, and director of “Terminator” and “T2: Judgment Day” James Cameron will have the rights to the franchise reverted back to him.
What do you think? Are you disappointed to not to sequels to “Terminator Genisys”?
This story was first reported on by Variety
