Terminator’s Future – Toss It All Out And Keep It Out

Source: https://bleedingcool.com/movies/terminator-james-cameron-has-a-plan-for-franchise/

James Cameron wants to make another Terminator movie… but this time, it’s going to be a reboot that’s not reliant on what came before. So, basically, tell the same story again, but with different characters and stuff. Isn’t that what they’ve done with all these other Terminator movies?

I suppose I should give Cameron credit for not making it another Terminator sequel. Honestly, it’s probably what they should have done with that Dark Fate movie that skipped over “some” of the movies, but not all of them. But even so… who the fuck is asking for a new Terminator movie these days? Every time they do another one, it’s a matter of dimishing returns. Each one not only sucked more than the last movie that came out, but it even made less money. You’ve got nothing left to say with these movies. They’re a product of their time and place. If you want to invent some new concept based on old ideas… THEN JUST MAKE THE NEW CONCEPT AND NOT USE AN OLD NAME.

Ah, but that’s the catch, isn’t it? Create something new and there’s no guarantee that it’ll be a success. Regardless of quality, there exists the possibility that it could be overlooked. But tying it to a legacy franchise? Calling it a new entry that continues the story or offers a new take? Now you’ve got some guaranteed money to work with. Now you’ve got the attention of those fans who should know better, but so desperately want their chosen love to be number one that they’ll stoop to any low to support this thing… and then it’ll come out and they’ll turn on it because it doesn’t respect the old material or whatever the case may be.

There are some franchises that can evolve and change with the times while still keeping the course tenants true. And then there are some franchises that, no matter how hard you try, are a relic of a bygone age. Terminator is one of the latter. We tried the reboot thing (twice) and it didn’t work. Nobody bit.

James Cameron had the right idea in jettisoning what came before. Maybe after doing that, he can move on to something else.

I mean, if Ridley Scott can’t make a decent Alien movie these days…

By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve touched on Terminator outliving its usefulness as a movie franchise. I’ve touched on this ages ago and you can read that here.

Unknown's avatar

Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

Keep your comments nice and clean and we'll be fine. Thanks.