The Terminator franchise was sold to....

[bigdaddy]

Pacificor.



It only sold for $29.5 million and Sony and Lionsgate were too cheap to buy it!?!

For anyone who hoped that, after Terminator Salvation bottomed the franchise
out, things cold only get better for the Terminator universe, there’s bad news. It’s not happening any time soon. Halcyon, the company that owned the rights to Terminator, has had them up for sale and today after a fierce bidding war they settled on a buyer. It’s not Sony or Lionsgate, both of whom were extremely interested in acquiring the property and were willing to pay massive amounts of money to own it. Instead, according to Deadline it’s a company called Pacificor.

Pacificor is not a media company or a movie studio. They’re a hedge-fund. You know what a hedge-fund is right? You’ve probably heard them blamed for some of the recent economic collapse. It’s kind of like Skynet, but made of people. A hedge-fund is a group of bankers and rich dudes who sit around thinking of new ways to take your money. This particular hedge-fund is now depending on recycled future robots to get it out of your wallet. Strangely, Pacificor was also partially to blame for the financial trouble the Terminator franchise is already in, and had a hand in pushing Halcyon Holding Corp into the bankruptcy which forced it to sell Terminator in the first place. I wonder if this was just one of those crazy coincidences that always seem to happen whenever millions of dollars are involved? I’m sure it is.

So what does this mean for Terminator? Probably nothing good. Pacificor paid in excess of $29.5 million for the rights to the Terminator franchise and they’re going to want some of that back. How will they get it back? Since they’re not a movie studio and thus lack the ability to develop it themselves, perhaps we’re headed for yet another bidding war in which they line up potential suitors interested in borrowing their property for another shot at the movies, or maybe they’ll simply go to China and have them crank out a series of cheap, lead-based toys. It’s all about money and when it’s all about money, it becomes pretty unlikely that Terminator’s future is going to get any better.

UPDATE! As expected, now that Pacificor is in control, they're looking for someone to develop the property since they have no idea how to make a movie. Word is that Lionsgate and Sony are now in negotiations with Pacificor to take joint control of the Terminator franchise.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Updated-Terminator-Franchise-Sold-To-A-Hedge-Fund-16960.html

 

[Gaith]

It probably makes a certain amount of sense for either Sony or Lionsgate to partner the risk of future Terminator products. After advertising, production and talent costs, $30m is a not-inconsequential deficit from which to launch sequels to a franchise many view as being played out.

It might've been nice had Sony gotten it, in terms of long-term stability, but that would probably increase the chances of a full-on reboot, which I've got no interest in. Make T4 v.2 with Stahl and Danes or let it die are my two favorite options.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I guess Joss Whedon didn't luck out?

 

[bigdaddy]

Well $30m is still cheap when you own the rights. I mean I can see another movie or two in this time line within the next 6 years and then after that they can do a reboot in the future. Maybe try a TV show again down the road or some comic books, toys and such.

 

[Timby]

Well $30m is still cheap when you own the rights. I mean I can see another movie or two in this time line within the next 6 years and then after that they can do a reboot in the future. Maybe try a TV show

All of which cost significant money. Especially after the bad taste that Terminator: Salvation left in audiences' mouths, there's absolutely no guarantee of profitability.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

With any luck they'll mishandle the property so badly that no future Terminator productions ever happen. Cameron was the only one who ever got anything decent out of his own creation.

As an entertainment franchise, Terminator sucks. As a source of photographs and models of cool chrome skulls and similar tschotskes, it's without peer.

 

[Gaith]

I for one would love to see an expertly 3D-ified T2, but the rights to that property are not at play here...

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I want to see more of Termiantor, but not in this 'bold new, hip direction" crap everyone wants to do. As a Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation and to some extent, Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines, sucked. In TS, take alway all references and terminology relating to the franchise and you haven't changed the movie one bit. That's kind of sad, James Cameron might not be the end all to movies, but he certainly made a good set of movies with T1 and T2, if only he had gotten involved with T3 and T4...

 

[Davros]

The first movie is the only part of this franchise worth remembering.

 

[tharpdevenport]

After Terminator 3 and 4, and the series, I'd like to see someone buy it, and then just sit on it until no one gives a shit, so it's over. Finally over.

 

[Pilot Ace]

The first movie is the only part of this franchise worth remembering.

I guess there are all different kinds.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

The first movie is the only part of this franchise worth remembering.

I guess there are all different kinds.

An unworthy response.

T1 was the tree from which the franchise grew. It cost very little but the action and the storytelling in it was very big.

T2 and T3 were merely big budget remakes of the first with little of the magic and ingeniuity that made the original so good.

Sure T2 was innovative as far as visual effects went but the story just apes T1 but adds a sappy Disney ending that feels pretty out of place for the franchise.

T3 simply remade T2 but with a better ending and TS was little more than Transformers set in the Terminator universe.

T1 not only is the only part of the franchise worth remembering it's the part of the franchise that seems to be remembered as it's story was reprised in T2, T3 or Sarah Connor Chronicles.

T1 is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Snaploud]

That's quite a bargain...

 

[gturner]

But in gaining control of the Terminator franchise, they gain power over the Governator, and thus power over California and all of Hollywood, if not the entire future of mankind.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I'm actually surprised how often T2 is a remake of T1 comes up, I totally don't see it. Sure, there may be a similar plot, somewhat, but it's different enough to be a "remake" I also didn't see T3 as a 'remake' but the plot was more like T2 then being something new, for sure.

 

[Pilot Ace]

The first movie is the only part of this franchise worth remembering.

I guess there are all different kinds.

An unworthy response.

T1 was the tree from which the franchise grew. It cost very little but the action and the storytelling in it was very big.

T2 and T3 were merely big budget remakes of the first with little of the magic and ingeniuity that made the original so good.

Sure T2 was innovative as far as visual effects went but the story just apes T1 but adds a sappy Disney ending that feels pretty out of place for the franchise.

T3 simply remade T2 but with a better ending and TS was little more than Transformers set in the Terminator universe.

T1 not only is the only part of the franchise worth remembering it's the part of the franchise that seems to be remembered as it's story was reprised in T2, T3 or Sarah Connor Chronicles.

T1 is the gift that keeps on giving.

Apparently I enjoy the Terminator franchise for the reasons you do not!

 

[Sephiroth]

I wonder what this means for any more Terminator:Salvation books, "From The Ashes" and "Cold War" were pretty good

 

[Deckerd]

Apparently I enjoy the Terminator franchise for the reasons you do not!

You're good at one-line put-downs but some flesh on the comments would be interesting.

 

[Pilot Ace]

Apparently I enjoy the Terminator franchise for the reasons you do not!

You're good at one-line put-downs but some flesh on the comments would be interesting.

That's a put down? I thought it was a plain admission of differences, sort of in the same vein as "agree to disagree."

The reasons are so extensive that I don't have the energy or time to address them in a satisfying manner.

Suffice it to say, I think T2 is the peak of the Terminator franchise, followed by The Sarah Connor Chronicles, then T1, T4, and finally T3 in dead last (very, very dead last).

T1 retroactively becomes a pilot or proof of concept for me. While T1 and T2's story are similar (Robot from future comes to kill someone, STOP IT!), the reversal of the villain from the first film into a hero in the second is brilliant in its simplicity, especially because it was a surprise when it originally came out and because T2 works perfectly without having seen T1 at all.

It earns its praise as among the best, if not the best, sequels of all time and completely surpasses the first film in every shape and form for me. I don't think it's sappy, out of place, or redundant given the first film. While T3's ending is interesting, the rest of the movie is neutered and silly.

The trappings of the Terminator franchise has been a movie where a robot chases the heroes who eventually overcome the robot. T4 mixed it up a bit, but still relied on it with Kyle's character and the like.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles, while beginning in the chase model, moved beyond it. Yes, Terminators still came after them from time to time, but they were also dealing with their lives and the repercussions of being hunted, the idea of their supposed destiny, and in some cases taking a proactive response to the Skynet problem, which the films only touched on or didn't have time to go into. TSCC brought a good back story with the War being more than just humans vs. machines, the repercussions of time travel and altering the timeline, as well as the dynamic between Sarah and John. It's my favorite incarnation of John Connor out of all of it.

For me, if any film of Terminator should be remembered, it should be T2 far and away. And TSCC is worth tons of praise for using the Terminator mythos (both gleaming existing ideas and spinning them in their own way) in a way that I think worked great for serialized television.

 

[Deckerd]

There wouldn't be anything without the first film. In the same way that Mad Max was outshone by its offspring, many people prefer the fun style of the second film and to be sure the first one is very dated but it still introduced a whole new world. The Saraconochron writers blew it in the second season. I don't know if it was studio interference or whatever but they just threw it away. I can't get that worked up over a wasted opportunity.