Terminator: What happened?

[Owain Taggart]

#5 Start over. Do a movie set in the future, Terminators rule the world, the last of humanity in internment camps, ready for the dlaughter, hopeless. In comes John Connor rescuing everyone, including Kyle Reese. Start here, then skip to the end of the war for the rest of the movie. The film ends with Skynet sending back two Terminators. One to kill John's mother before he is born. A liquid Terminator to kill John as a boy in case the first Terminator fails. Kyle Reese is sent back to protect Sarah. A deactivated Terminator is reprogrammed and sent back to sent to protect John as a boy. Charges are placed, the time machine blown apart. The soldiers ask what happens now. John stares off into the distance as the screen fades to black, "There is no fate but what we make." Terminator music marches on.

I like that idea. But I think it would need to be made clear that it's set apart from the previous continuity.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

It would be both a reboot and a prequel to relaunch Terminator for the modern audience.

 

[DonIago]

I haven't given it a great deal of thought, but this discussion is making me think that if there was going to be another film, I'd like it to reveal that John Connor was a red herring deliberately created by the resistance (perhaps with John's knowledge) to distract Skynet from the real threat.

 

[JD]

The show aired 2008-09, and it was cancelled just before Salvation came out. TSCC ignored T3 and the upcoming T4 to be an alternate continuation of T2. To be about Sarah Connor, it had to. 31 episodes. Have fun!

Just as a warning, it does end on an unresolved cliffhanger, or actually I think it was possibly more than one.

On the premise that we eventually get a Terminator 7, how can it be new and fresh?

#1 Sequel to Salvation, Part 5 to the first four movies.

If there was any interest in this, we would have gotten it instead of Genisys. I don't think it was anywhere near popular enough that they would go back to it now.

#2 Sequel to Genisys, continue the time travel reboot.

Not going to happen, if there was interest in this, we would have gotten it instead of Dark Fate.

#3 Sequel to Dark Fate which I would watch, but probably no one else. lol

This one could happen, and I'd watch it.

#4 Movie sequel to TSCC.

I don't think the show was anywhere near popular enough to get a movie sequel all of this time later. It's a good show, but the only shows that are given follow ups over a decade later, are the ones that were very popular, or ones that have had a big influence on pop culture, and I don't think either of those were the case with The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

#5 Start over. Do a movie set in the future, Terminators rule the world, the last of humanity in internment camps, ready for the dlaughter, hopeless. In comes John Connor rescuing everyone, including Kyle Reese. Start here, then skip to the end of the war for the rest of the movie. The film ends with Skynet sending back two Terminators. One to kill John's mother before he is born. A liquid Terminator to kill John as a boy in case the first Terminator fails. Kyle Reese is sent back to protect Sarah. A deactivated Terminator is reprogrammed and sent back to sent to protect John as a boy. Charges are placed, the time machine blown apart. The soldiers ask what happens now. John stares off into the distance as the screen fades to black, "There is no fate but what we make." Terminator music marches on

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I could see them doing a reboot, but if they did, I'm pretty sure they'd do a new version of the first and/or second movie. That's what people think of when they think Terminator, and reboots typically go for the most iconic version of a franchise. They already tried the future war thing once and it failed, so I can't really see them going that route again, unless something happens that suddenly causes a big demand for one.

 

[USS Firefly]

They already tried the future war thing once and it failed, so I can't really see them going that route again, unless something happens that suddenly causes a big demand for one.

But they have tried it only once. Were Terminators in the present a little bit too much.
I am more curious about the future war and to see how they won from Skynet and how they send all those Terminators back in time.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Babylon 5's JMS did a 12 issue comic book mini series 3 years ago.

By the end, it was all falling into place like Kyle Reese Told us it had in movie one.

Skynet is frakked, humanity wins, and Terminators are sent back to kill John Connor.

Then Kyle goes back in time... And the fixed Terminator from T2 goes back in time, and maybe the Terminatrix as well...

But...

Spoiler

Skynet was playing Possum, fulfilling prophecy, to maintain the time line, and make sure that he doesn't lose for real, so Skynet rears up, and says "this time I'm really going to kill all of you".

It's just impossible to wonder how Skynet circa 2028 didn't know that Terminators were in it's own past blowing people away?

 

[valkyrie013]

Maybe make one where its like Colossus, the forbin project, where a guy/girl builds a version of skynet, and then it grows to control the world. then a second movie shows a resistance, then at the end Skynet Nukes the world saying.. I tried to control humans, screw it, burn baby burn. and a third movie shows the resistance wining, or a draw because there is now a small enough comunity of humans to control.

As for a reboot.. uh.. thats pretty much what Dark Fate was, a complete rehash of the first one prety much..

 

[Owain Taggart]

I could see them doing a reboot, but if they did, I'm pretty sure they'd do a new version of the first and/or second movie. That's what people think of when they think Terminator, and reboots typically go for the most iconic version of a franchise.

They don't have to remake the first and second movies, since they've been pretty much trying to do this via the last two movies in revisiting the events, and that's been part of the mistake. I think a prequel could work leading into T1 and T2, and if the first movie needs it, then maybe a remaster on that one with improved visuals, but I don't see the need to remake two popular movies that are just fine as is.

 

[JD]

I just checked the Box Office Mojo, and Salvation had the third lowest box office of the franchise, so I can't really see the decision makers going back to the future war.
Here are the numbers from Box Office Mojo

1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - $520,884,847
2. Terminator Genisys - $440,603,537
3. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - $433, 371, 112
4. Terminator Salvation - $371,353,001
5. Terminator: Dark Fate - $261,119,92
6. The Terminator - $78, 681,331

I was a little surprised Genisys actually did that well, I had assumed the movies had been on a more steady fall since T3.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I'm less interested in a prequel, we already know how that will play out. I'm more interested with a prequel/reboot where Sarah Connor is a waitress in the 2020's and Kyle Reese and the Terminator are from the hellish 2060's or 2070's.

JD, Salvation didn't fail, because it was a future war movie. It failed, in my opinion, because it lacked a clear villain and a strong plot. The heroes were great, the cinematography of the apocalyptic future was awesone. What was the plot? Who's the bad guy? That's why it failed.

 

[JD]

But the Hollywood decision makers don't look at that kind of stuff, all they're going to see is that it made less than movies with a Terminator coming back in time to kill one of the Connors.
I actually would like another future war movie, I'm just saying that based on the numbers, they're probably not going to make one. All the decision makers care about is the box office, and Salvation made less than most of the present day movies.

 

[Smellmet]

I think they should just let it die now. They've had plenty of attempts to kick start the franchise and it's just not happening.

Leave it for 5-10 years then do a total reboot if they must.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

But the Hollywood decision makers don't look at that kind of stuff, all they're going to see is that it made less than movies with a Terminator coming back in time to kill one of the Connors.

Honestly, those people need to go. There's more to what makes or breaks a film that that.

I actually would like another future war movie, I'm just saying that based on the numbers, they're probably not going to make one. All the decision makers care about is the box office, and Salvation made less than most of the present day movies.

Now, this can be a good reason not to greenlight a sequel.

What do you think of doing a prequel/reboot?

 

[Aragorn]

I'm less interested in a prequel, we already know how that will play out. I'm more interested with a prequel/reboot where Sarah Connor is a waitress in the 2020's and Kyle Reese and the Terminator are from the hellish 2060's or 2070's.

JD, Salvation didn't fail, because it was a future war movie. It failed, in my opinion, because it lacked a clear villain and a strong plot. The heroes were great, the cinematography of the apocalyptic future was awesone. What was the plot? Who's the bad guy? That's why it failed.

Don't forget it was heavily rewritten once Christian Bale came onboard for what was originally a small role and now he's the main character.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Genesys was about Matt Smith as old Skynet, from 23-somthing, wandering sideways in time checking out and fucking with mirror universes.

The next two movies would have featured more sliding between parallel universes to see several permutations of war and peace.

 

[JD]

Honestly, those people need to go. There's more to what makes or breaks a film that that.

That's not really how it works, movies need money to get made, and you need people who know how to handle that money. In order for that money to be there, then you need to make movies that make money, so you need people there to make sure the money goes to movies that are going to make money. Now yes, sometimes they are wrong and a movie flops, or a movie they don't expect to be a hit takes off, but they are still a very important part of the business that we can't get rid of.
If we get rid of those people, then the money isn't going to be there, and if the money isn't there then there are going to be no movies.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I meant to replace them with people who make better decissions based on more than buzzword factors.

 

[BillJ]

I liked Genisys, kinda don't have any feelings about the movies aroundit, other than they put me to sleep. Outside the first two.

 

[Oddish]

I liked Genisys, kinda don't have any feelings about the movies aroundit, other than they put me to sleep. Outside the first two.

Genisys is kind of a guilty pleasure for me, because it has a happy ending: Sarah is safe, Kyle is alive, and Pops found the polymimetic goo and made a new body. T1 and T2 are vastly better movies, but they are stories of loss and self sacrifice. Sometimes you just want the Disney ending.

 

[JD]

I meant to replace them with people who make better decissions based on more than buzzword factors.

Money is not a buzzword factor, it's the most important thing when it comes to deciding what movies are going to be made. The only times something that didn't succeed in the box office gets a sequel or remake is if becomes more popular later, and that has not happened with Salvation.
The bottom line is that movie making is a business, and they are not going to make a movie they think will fail. When they are making a new franchise movie they are going to look at what was successful, not what was a failure. The most successful movies in the franchise all took place in the present day, so that is what they are going to stick with.