Gender: Male Location: I'm not giving my name to a machine
It sounds like like it could be mistake for a Starcraft movie. Futuristic machinery, possibly coming out of portals, a relatively crude army fighting them back.
__________________ Originally posted by -Pr- a great big penis.
McG Plans to Put "Fun" Back Into the Terminator Franchise
At Thursday's Television Critics Assocation awards, controversial director McG confirmed that he would be returning to the Terminator franchise that he helped relaunch with this year's Terminator Salvation. Salvation under-performed at the box office, and McG admitted that his film was missing an essential ingredient that original Terminator director, James Cameron, added to the mix.
"I think the film missed some of the fun that Jim brought to the early pictures. I'm a disciple of Jim ... and clearly I didn't do a good enough job on that picture and I didn't satisfy the fanbase to the degree that I would expect to satisfy them. And I take that very seriously and I just work that much more diligently to make sure I do that in the next one."
McG also said that he realized that the film's storyline suffered because of the lack of a central antagonist and the fact that the story was too divided between Christian Bale's character, John Connor, and Sam Worthington's character, Marcus Wright.
"We want to put more meat on the bone because we have the great Christian Bale, but I take a lot of satisfaction in playing a role in breaking the great Sam Worthington, who I think is one of the best actors out there."
A Halcyon Co. subsidiary that owns the rights to the "Terminator" franchise is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
T Asset Acquisition said in an announcement Tuesday that it had commenced reorganization proceedings in federal bankruptcy court in Los Angeles and will seek to restructure its financial obligations and emerge from Chapter 11 later this year or early next year.
The bankruptcy announcement came a day after Halcyon sued the Pacificor hedge fund and one of its former employees alleging financial wrongdoing in a pair of suits in connection with "Terminator Salvation," accusing the defendants of taking advantage of their knowledge of Halcyon's confidential business information.
Dominion Group, owned by Halcyon toppers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, accused Pacificor of wrongfully filing a lien on Dominion's assets to block it from obtaining financing for Halcyon.
Santa Barbara-based Pacificor provided the financing for Halcyon's acquisition of the motion picture and related rights to the "Terminator" franchise in May 2007. It's denied any wrongdoing.
I am a hip hop artist and a pro-wrestler, so I understand the psychology of telling a story. Personally, I am one of the biggest fans of the Terminator franchise. I thought Terminator Salvation definitely was a shot in the arm. Sure, the picture had a few flaws, but so did ALL of the others. People need to quirt bickering about what makes sense and what doesn't, because sending a soldier back through time to bust a nut in your mom to insure your own existence doesn't make any sense either. It's "science fiction/horror/action" (key word is fiction). Here's what I, as a fan, believe should happen in Terminator 5 if they choose to go the time travel route:
T-5 should start out like T-2 did...show us the future in the beginning of the film, give us 10 to 15 (maybe 20) minutes of a direct sequel to Terminator Salvation, show us suffering, the desperation of mankind, the prison camps with the "human disposal units", show us Connor and Reese intercepting data and discovering skynet's plan to terminate the resistance via time travel (sending the first T-1000 prototype). Show us how they find the equipment, with Reese volunteering to go back to warn the world, but Connor refuses, gives Reese a picture of Sarah Connor (he doesn't "know why at the time"), puts Reese at the controls of the time displacement equipment, sending Connor back through time, and in that desperate act, Reese gets caught and sent to the prison camp where he got the barcode on his arm. Show the present day with a naked John Connor falling out of the sky, and being arrested for multiple crimes stemming from his desperation to speak to the scientist who "accidentally" develops the T-1000 in the future. Like Kyle Reese in the first picture, everybody think's Connor's a flake that needs to be contained. Skynet sends the first T-1000 prototype (not played by Robert Patrick) to kill Connor and all the survivors of Judgement Day. Robert Patrick's scientist character is the only one "crazy enough" to believe Connor, so he helps Connor escape police custody to "expose and destroy" the T-1000. And at the very end, Robert Patrick's "obsessed with youth" scientist character secures a sample of liquid metal from the T-1000 prototype for his own selfish reasons, and betrays John Connor, thus, getting him committed to an insane asylum.
The Los Angeles Times has a lengthy and extensive report on the status of Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek's Halcyon Holdings, who bought the rights to the "Terminator" franchise for $25 million in 2007 in order to produce this summer's Terminator Salvation, but who have now hired the financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors to look into their options, having filed for bankruptcy. The thought is that the sale of the rights to the franchise could help make the production company solvent again.
For much of the earlier part of the year, there was a lot of talk about there being a Terminator 5, mostly coming from McG, but the poor reaction and box office showing of "Salvation," at least domestically didn't seem to warrant another installment.
The Los Angeles Times report, which you can read here gets further into the history of the franchise, how the rights have changed hands over the 25 years since James Cameron's original movie, as well as some of the debts owed by Halcyon and the various lawsuits surrounding their bankruptcy.
Oh dear ... it seems that we're in for yet another looong wait before the next Terminator instalment sees the light of day (if it even ever does). Whatever happens, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if McG gets the boot, and John Connor gets re-cast for a third time. Sigh ... why does the making of these films have to be so damned complicated?
Between this, the lukewarm reception to "T4", and the cancellation of "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", it hasn't really been a great year for the franchise, has it?
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Ahnold Sez: (From "The Expendables 2"): "My *shoe* is bigger than this cahr!"
It hasn't, which is sad (obviously). I'm not sure what really has started happening to this franchise. Salvation could of put things back on track, but it became slightly derailed. It's obviously not the same without Cameron, nor with Schwarzenegger. I hope it isn't the end of any possible Terminator movies, but I fear - dare I say - a reboot on the horizon.
I was wondering how long it would be before someone mentioned the dreaded "R" word . That may one day come to pass; but, for now at least, I feel they owe it to the fans to complete the story told over the course of the last four films (and 25 years!) in a meaningful and satisfying way ...
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Ahnold Sez: (From "The Expendables 2"): "My *shoe* is bigger than this cahr!"
Disney's watery, literary epic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo has been put in dry dock, leaving director McG looking for a new project.
So what next for McG? He remains attached to Terminator 5, with the slight hitch that Terminator 5 is not currently attached to anything else while the rights are auctioned off.
EXCLUSIVE: James Cameron Speaks For The First Time After Watching 'Terminator Salvation'
"Terminator" is back in the news these days, with the rights to the franchise on the auction block and "Terminator Salvation" director McG saying he's keen to make more series films despite the middling critical and box office reception of his first effort. James Cameron, the man who created this man-vs.-machine world, has gone ahead and made a little news himself.
In what we believe are his first comments after seeing "Terminator Salvation," Cameron sat down with MTV News' Josh Horowitz and discussed his expectations about the film, how it fits into the overall franchise mythology and if there's any chance he'll return to the series now that the rights are on sale to the highest bidder.
"I have seen it, and unfortunately I saw it the wrong way, on cable at the hotel, while I was working, over three nights because I don’t have much time," Cameron said. "It’s better than I thought it was going to be."
Back-handed compliment much?
But Cameron went on to praise McG and his creative team for their efforts while also noting that the movie was missing some essential elements that made the earlier films such classics. "It's actually quite reverential to the mythos of the 'Terminator' world," he said. "I think McG and the writers tried hard to keep reacquainting you with some of those ideas in the story that they were weaving. So actually I thought it was pretty cool. I did feel that it sort of lacked Je ne sais quoi. Although I love Sam [Worthington] in it. "
No surprise there, considering Cameron has made Worthington the star of his 3-D alien love story, "Avatar" (out December 18). And with that film soon behind him, might the director turn his attention back to "Terminator," now that the rights are once again available?
"No, 'Terminator' is way in my rear-view at this point, kind of made my emotional break with it, back when I was finishing 'Titanic,' believe it or not," he said. "A very similar conversation cropped up at that time because the rights were in play at that point.... I was thinking about [a third 'Terminator' film] but I had decided emotionally to be done with it, and it just feels like last millennium stuff for me, at this point. Now it's been a TV show, and two films since, and trying to go back and reshape it like that stuff didn’t exist doesn’t make sense."
ComingSoon.net got a chance to talk to Bryce Dallas Howard at the press day for The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond where she was asked about possibly returning as Kate Connor in another "Terminator".
Q: McG announced his plans to make a fifth and sixth "Terminator" film. If that does happen, would you like to be involved again?
Howard: Oh yeah! I haven't signed anything that would obligate them to me or me to them or anything like that because it was... that film was made with a lot of humility, you know, it's like we'll do this one the best that we can and if people ask for more then they ask for me. But, it's an incredible group. We are all fiercely committed to the story, I mean, it's Terminator for goodness sakes. So, yeah, if that comes about I would, you know... and if I should be so lucky that they invite me back, I would be loathed to walk away from that.
SOURCES: Halcyon Chooses Lionsgate As Stalking Horse Bidder In Bankruptcy Sale Of Rights To 'The Terminator' Franchise
WEDNESDAY PM UPDATE: I hear Lionsgate's bid was $15 million, plus a gross corridor.
WEDNESDAY AM: So what's a stalking horse bid? An initial bid on a bankrupt company's assets from an interested buyer chosen by the bankrupt company. This allows the distressed firm to avoid receiving lowball bids on its assets. That said, I hear Lionsgate will be named the stalking horse bidder in the bankruptcy sale of the Terminator franchise. Sources tell me it wasn't a competitive auction. (Sorry, Joss Whedon, your $10,000 offer for the rights didn't cut it.)
When last we left the tug of war over the future of The Terminator franchise, Halcyon Holding Group announced it was contemplating a sale of the rights after filing for Chapter 11 protection last August as a result of a dispute with Pacificor, a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund that lent Halcyon the sum to buy the Terminator rights in the first place. All the big studios, with Sony leading the way as well as Summit Entertainment and Media Rights Capital, were interested in bidding at a franchise auction for new Terminator films, TV program and other spin-offs. (Because we all know The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox did so well, right?)
The sale was being conducted by FTI Capital Advisors for Halcyon which bought the Terminator rights 2 years ago for $25M from Mario Kassar. I think this character/concept is played out. But given the regularity with which Hollywood is now rebooting franchises (Spider-Man is the latest), it pays to remember that even the fanboy dud Terminator 4: Salvation still made $380M worldwide.
He has a kajillion dollars in the bank between "Titanic" and now "Avatar," so why shouldn't James Cameron buy the rights to the Terminator franchise, especially right now when he could practically get it for pennies on the dollar?
It might be cheap as a lot in a bankruptcy auction, but Cameron -- who gave us "Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" -- says he ain't biting.
"People ask me why I didn't want to get involved in trying to recapture the rights to Terminator," Cameron told "At the Movies." "For one, who wants to spend $50 million on the rights and then another $25 million or $30 million on actors? By the time you get to it, how much do you actually have to make the movie? That's robbing the audience."
Cameron, who created the Terminator franchise, sold it so that he would have a chance to direct the film, something he was able to do thanks to producer Gale Ann Hurd and Orion Pictures, which distributed the first film that became a smash hit.
But that's not what Cameron is ready to do now, even though his last two films breaking budget records doesn't give him much room to talk about cost.
"We put every dollar up there on the screen in 'Avatar,'" Cameron said. The money "is not squandered on star salaries. That's a pretty damn good deal when the cost of a ticket doesn't change."
Hey guys. My first post of 2010 - a belated happy new year to all!
Thanks for your continued updates, Barand. Whilst I am hardly surprised by Cameron turning down the chance to buy the rights back to the Terminator franchise, some of his comments did confuse me a bit; he talks about not "squandering" money on star salaries - but surely his old buddy Arnold had a pretty big asking price when it came to doing "T2" and "True Lies"?
The whole point of hiring big stars is that, in most cases, that's what sells the movie to the public at large; I do concede, though, that Cameron has done amazingly well without having to cast megastars - but that's often because he can sell his films on the basis of spectacle. I do wonder, though, if "Avatar" would have made even more money at the box office if it had starred Will Smith ... ?
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Ahnold Sez: (From "The Expendables 2"): "My *shoe* is bigger than this cahr!"
I don't know what it is, but I'm beginning to like Cameron less and less. I think it maybe because he comes across as a bit cocky and a bit too sure of himself.
Since T2 the standard in writing on Cameron's behalf has slipped. It's understandable while Cameron wants no involvment with the Terminator franchise, but surely if he just produced it some how or brought the rights and made sure that their was a good enough creative team behind a fifth film.
As for him talking about salaries; it was he who told Arnold not to committ to T3 unless they paid him a shitload of money, which he later got. That's been confirmed by both Cameron and Arnold. Also, how much will Cameron be getting for Avatar?
I'm dreading a Terminator remake I guess. After Sony annoucing a reboot for Spider-Man I guess anything is possible.
You think that's what they should have done after Batman & Robin? Do a high-risk rescue of a series in the toilet, rather than reboot? Because rebooting turned out to be brilliant.
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
I don't think the Terminator series has fell to the sewers like Batman did in the 90's. There's quite a bit deleted from T3 and TS that could improve both films. I think there's still one movie left to keep a Connor heart beating.
KMC Community Forums
Aug 16th, 2009 08:19 AM
. That may one day come to pass; but, for now at least, I feel they owe it to the fans to complete the story told over the course of the last four films (and 25 years!) in a meaningful and satisfying way ...
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