Terminator not dead yet, just re-adjusted for the future

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

But of course he'll be backkkkkk!

After a shockingly underwhelming summer run here in the states for TERMINATOR: GENISYS ($89 million to its international toll of over $400 million), audiences were left to wonder if the plug would be pulled on the 30 year TERMINATOR franchise. Not the case. While speaking to The Wrap, Skydance chief Dana Goldberg had this to say:

“Do we intend to have a next step of Terminator? Yes, we do. I wouldn’t say on hold, so much as re-adjusting. At Skydance, when we talk movies, we talk universes, even more than franchises. So the idea of a Terminator TV show fits into that universe. All the steps have to be taken in unison.”

Per fan expections, Goldberg continued:

Data and research to do a worldwide study and really talk to audiences about what they loved, and what maybe didn’t work for them, so that the next we take with the franchise is the right one.”

Data and research? Well there's your problem right there. As soon as you make a movie based on what an audience wants, you've already lost. How about getting a more seasoned director than Alan Taylor, a writer of actual substance, and make a movie YOU want to see…not what you think others want to see. To me that statement encapsulates all that's wrong with studio moviemaking these days. Data and research.

That said, I am intrigued to see how TERMINATOR gets readjusted for the future. TV? Netflix? Web series? We shall see.