Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates | Tagged: arnold schwarzenegger, film, interview, james cameron, terminator

James Cameron Says Terminator 5 Should Focus On Arnold Schwarzenegger

Zack Parks writes for Bleeding Cool (though Brendon got involved too so you can blame him for the rubbishy bits).

After Terminator 2: Judgment Day became a huge hit, director James Cameron was asked to take the film franchise into a featured attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando. Filming a 12-minute short which reunited Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor), Edward Furlong (John Connor) and Robert Patrick (T-1000) , Cameron directed T2: 3D – Battle Across Time. In the making of the attraction, Cameron was quoted that the short film would be, "the bridge in-between T2 and a third Terminator film." Alas, this never came to pass: Cameron went on to direct True Lies (1994) and Titanic (1997).

We did get a Terminator 3, but not the one we wanted – T3: Rise of the Machines (2003) had Schwarzenegger reprising his role, but without Cameron the film was not as well-received as the first two films. Faring worse, in 2009, the world got the Terminator film no one asked for: Terminator Salvation. Thought it was darker in tone than T3, then-Governor of California Schwarzenegger was completely uninvolved in the film's production (except for signing a release to allow his visage to be CG'd onto an underwear model for a brief scene).

After the reception of the film proved as deadly as the T-800, the company that produced Terminator Salvation went bankrupt and the rights to the entire Terminator franchise went up in the air. While studios like Sony and Lionsgate were bidding vehemently for the rights to the series, a small distribution firm in Arkansas named Hanover House films claimed they had the rights to sequelise the original 1984 Terminator film and began developing an animated Terminator film titled Terminator 3000. Their plan was to have a motion-capture film so Arnold Schwarzenegger could reprise his role in voice and visage but have another actor's body movements.

But none of this has come to pass.

Rest assured, there will be another Terminator film, someday, some way. Whoever makes it might do well to heed the advice of James Cameron, as told to MTV.

I was talking to [Schwarzenegger] back in fall about a new Terminator film… I was trying to be as encouraging as possible. Frankly, at that time, I thought it needed to be more about him… I think there are some great stories that can be told about that character that haven't even been thought of yet.

We're two Avatar films and a Battle Angel away from Cameron having free time on his hands. Will we still be waiting for more Terminator then? And if we are, will the creator return to meet his monster once again?

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