Terminator Genisys - Discussion and Grading Thread (Spoilers)

[Frontier]

^ IIRC, the main reason these Genisys movies are even being made is so the current rights holders can make as many Terminator films as they can before control reverts back to James Cameron.

And once that happens, I envision yet ANOTHER reboot...

Sure the point of holding the rights is to make a profit...

Jim Cameron doesn't need to make a profit. His estimated net worth is about $900 million. He's directed the two highest-grossing films of all time and he's working on 4 more Avatar films and a theme park for such, which'll make him even more 100's of millions (or billions).

Also, he has been repeatedly offered full control over Terminator since the mid-90s, after he lost the rights, and though he's debated it with himself, he's ultimately refused to take the controls back every time offered - mid 90s, early 00s, and just recently.

My gut tells me if TG bombs, once the rights go back to Cameron in 2019, that'll be all she wrote for Terminator for at least another 20 years. The only time I can see the rights getting back into play is after Cameron has passed and/or if a miracle happened and he got an undeniable itch in his brain to go back to it again.

 

[JoeZhang]

^ IIRC, the main reason these Genisys movies are even being made is so the current rights holders can make as many Terminator films as they can before control reverts back to James Cameron.

And once that happens, I envision yet ANOTHER reboot...

Sure the point of holding the rights is to make a profit...

Jim Cameron doesn't need to make a profit. His estimated net worth is about $900 million. He's directed the two highest-grossing films of all time and he's working on 4 more Avatar films and a theme park for such, which'll make him even more 100's of millions (or billions).

Also, he has been repeatedly offered full control over Terminator since the mid-90s, after he lost the rights, and though he's debated it with himself, he's ultimately refused to take the controls back every time offered - mid 90s, early 00s, and just recently.

My gut tells me if TG bombs, once the rights go back to Cameron in 2019, that'll be all she wrote for Terminator for at least another 20 years. The only time I can see the rights getting back into play is after Cameron has passed and/or if a miracle happened and he got an undeniable itch in his brain to go back to it again.

I don't get what your comment has to do with my point? Which was about the *current* right-holders not James Cameron - why make part 2 and 3 of a trilogy if the first one bombs?

 

[Ryan8bit]

^ Good idea. Though I still prefer Cameron's statement of Skynet's motivations.

In Terminator: Vault in his interview he says that Skynet has developed time travel because it wants to wipe out its own existence due to humanity's current state.

That's kind of an interesting idea, if it learned at a certain point that as a child, nuking humanity was a mistake. But it also doesn't make sense then that it would fight tooth and nail either.

Of course, Skynet's motivations never make any sense, especially where time travel is involved. I'm guessing Genisys will probably make even less sense than any of the previous movies.

 

[nx1701g]

^ Good idea. Though I still prefer Cameron's statement of Skynet's motivations.

In Terminator: Vault in his interview he says that Skynet has developed time travel because it wants to wipe out its own existence due to humanity's current state.

That's kind of an interesting idea, if it learned at a certain point that as a child, nuking humanity was a mistake. But it also doesn't make sense then that it would fight tooth and nail either.

Of course, Skynet's motivations never make any sense, especially where time travel is involved. I'm guessing Genisys will probably make even less sense than any of the previous movies.

Most likely.

Specifically, and I'm paraphrasing, in Cameron's mind Skynet has manipulated the events of the entire future war, both including the 'present' (Future War) and the past (films) so that it could erase itself from history out of guilt for its actions.

 

[nx1701g]

Sure the point of holding the rights is to make a profit...

Jim Cameron doesn't need to make a profit. His estimated net worth is about $900 million. He's directed the two highest-grossing films of all time and he's working on 4 more Avatar films and a theme park for such, which'll make him even more 100's of millions (or billions).

Also, he has been repeatedly offered full control over Terminator since the mid-90s, after he lost the rights, and though he's debated it with himself, he's ultimately refused to take the controls back every time offered - mid 90s, early 00s, and just recently.

My gut tells me if TG bombs, once the rights go back to Cameron in 2019, that'll be all she wrote for Terminator for at least another 20 years. The only time I can see the rights getting back into play is after Cameron has passed and/or if a miracle happened and he got an undeniable itch in his brain to go back to it again.

I don't get what your comment has to do with my point? Which was about the *current* right-holders not James Cameron - why make part 2 and 3 of a trilogy if the first one bombs?

Coincidentally, there are rumors circulating around the net now that Paramount may not go the route of the additional films and instead do another TV Series called Project Skynet...

 

[Timby]

Coincidentally, there are rumors circulating around the net now that Paramount may not go the route of the additional films and instead do another TV Series called Project Skynet...

But Paramount doesn't hold the Terminator rights; they're currently in Skydance's hands for the next four years.

 

[nx1701g]

Coincidentally, there are rumors circulating around the net now that Paramount may not go the route of the additional films and instead do another TV Series called Project Skynet...

But Paramount doesn't hold the Terminator rights; they're currently in Skydance's hands for the next four years.

Skydance and Annapurna Pictures are also involved.

Slash Film Article

 

[Turd Ferguson]

^ Good idea. Though I still prefer Cameron's statement of Skynet's motivations.

In Terminator: Vault in his interview he says that Skynet has developed time travel because it wants to wipe out its own existence due to humanity's current state.

That's kind of an interesting idea, if it learned at a certain point that as a child, nuking humanity was a mistake. But it also doesn't make sense then that it would fight tooth and nail either.

Of course, Skynet's motivations never make any sense, especially where time travel is involved. I'm guessing Genisys will probably make even less sense than any of the previous movies.

Most likely.

Specifically, and I'm paraphrasing, in Cameron's mind Skynet has manipulated the events of the entire future war, both including the 'present' (Future War) and the past (films) so that it could erase itself from history out of guilt for its actions.

That's an interesting theory. If that were the case, it seems that Skynet's primary objective (besides killing John Connor) would be to wipe out Miles Dyson, Cyberdyne and Robert Brewster. Terminator 3 kinda destroys this notion though, as the T-X was helping the machines take over the Skynet facility (which makes sense as to why James Cameron would pretend T3 and Salvation don't exist).

The easiest thing for Skynet to do in this scenario would be to send a Terminator (T-800 or T-1000) back to August 4, 1997 and interface with it, download (or upload) the applicable files to Skynet and allow itself to be deactivated without incident after it becomes self-aware.

Of course, another problem with this scenario is that Skynet gets shut down, but the Connors live. Would Skynet be okay with Sarah and John surviving as long as it gets erased from existence, or would Skynet just continue being a dick toward the Connors (can computer defense systems be dicks?) and still try to have them killed?

Theoretically, of course, John would simply blink out of existence or morph into the John that would've been conceived by whoever waitress Sarah Connor hooked up with after 1984.

Also, Judgment Day would still have to occur since said Terminator that came back to reason with Skynet couldn't self-terminate and would still be there to reverse engineer at some point in time.

Unless, of course, Skynet teamed up with TechCom forces and sent a human back to convince Skynet not to nuke humanity. But then, Judgment Day would STILL have to occur, since, in order for the resistance soldier to be sent back, Judgment Day would have had to have occurred in order for time travel to be created to send him (or her) back to stop Skynet from becoming self-aware.

I think I just went cross-eyed

 

[nx1701g]

^ I have the perfect quote for that...

Miles O'Brien:
I HATE TEMPORAL MECHANICS...

 

[Timby]

Coincidentally, there are rumors circulating around the net now that Paramount may not go the route of the additional films and instead do another TV Series called Project Skynet...

But Paramount doesn't hold the Terminator rights; they're currently in Skydance's hands for the next four years.

Skydance and Annapurna Pictures are also involved.

Slash Film Article

Annapurna Pictures divested itself of its interest in the Terminator rights like a year ago (and it isn't even mentioned in that article), and given that I already said Skydance holds the rights for the next four years in the post you quoted, I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say.

 

[nx1701g]

But Paramount doesn't hold the Terminator rights; they're currently in Skydance's hands for the next four years.

Skydance and Annapurna Pictures are also involved.

Slash Film Article

Annapurna Pictures divested itself of its interest in the Terminator rights like a year ago (and it isn't even mentioned in that article), and given that I already said Skydance holds the rights for the next four years in the post you quoted, I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say.

Sorry, Annapurna was from the Hollywood Reporter article (which is older). I had intended only to say that I understood what you were saying.

 

[Ryan8bit]

Coincidentally, there are rumors circulating around the net now that Paramount may not go the route of the additional films and instead do another TV Series called Project Skynet...

But Paramount doesn't hold the Terminator rights; they're currently in Skydance's hands for the next four years.

Skydance and Annapurna Pictures are also involved.

Slash Film Article

Wasn't their plan from the beginning to do a series? That kinda got swept under the rug though, as pretty much nothing has been mentioned about it since.

I somewhat doubt that it would be about the adventures of the Terminator and little Sarah. Aside from sounding kind of ridiculous, what kinds of stories would there be? More terminators of the week? Also, not that it matters, but it seems odd that they would go through all the trouble of making CG Arnold for the movies and then decide to recast for a TV show.

Lastly, if the Terminator rights revert to Cameron soon, then wouldn't a show be doomed to about two seasons?

 

[nx1701g]

^ Pretty much this. I doubt that the series is going to go forward. As much as I'd love to see Terminator every week again, it'd be bogged down by the same factors that doomed TSCC.

 

[Dream]

The male strippers will beat the Terminator this weekend, revenge for the male stripper's hand being broken in T3.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I just got back from watching it and I enjoyed it. For those worrying about the PG-13 rating, there's actually a higher body count than T2 and a couple of F-bombs. You can tell Ah-nuld is having fun with it and the action scenes are pretty well done.

I'd rank it above Terminator 3 and Salvation, but below The Terminator and Terminator 2. I'm also one of the few that enjoys Terminator 3.

 

[Snick27]

Just got back also from watching this. Only 7 other people there with me. All I will say I was lost but still enjoyed the movie An Matt Smith rocks.
oh stay for the after credits.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I didn't stay what happened.

The movie was awful

 

[Phantom]

FWIW, the film has gained 10 points at RT since the 25th.

I want to see it. I haven't seen a Terminator film yet that I thought was bad. Some better than others, but not bad.

 

[Tosk]

I didn't stay what happened.

Nothing of consequence.

 

[Samurai8472]

Collider: TERMINATOR GENISYS Review: Stop Coming Back http://collider.com/terminator-genisys-review-arnold-schwarzenegger-stop-coming-back/