The Terminator Franchise Has Been Terminated

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The New York Daily News is reporting that Paramount Pictures has declined the chance to make a follow up to Terminator: Genisys, the last film in the Terminator franchise. While the film made money at the box office, the critical drubbing the film received made the prospects of another sequel daunting to say the least. Add to that the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger is in his 70’s and the chance anyone had of striking gold again with this series has gone the way of the dodo. 

The first two films in the series are classics. The rest are mediocre at best. To me, the franchise suffered  simply because the people in charge of the various sequels not named James Cameron didn’t really understand the source material and tried to add depth to a story that didn’t really need it. Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a perfect capstone for the series. If it had ended there, people’s affection for these movies would be much higher than it is now. While the first two are still highly regarded, the fact that you’ve had so many attempts at reigniting the franchise fail has made the prospect of more Terminator films a little unbearable. At this point, even the rumored idea from James Cameron of finding a way to properly end the series would probably be met with a yawn.

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This is sad too because it is the nail in the coffin of Schwarzenegger’s big screen career. I’m not saying he won’t be in a movie again. My point is that his name no longer brings people to the theater. Thanks to some poor choices for roles, as well as the break he took to run the State of California, an Arnold Schwarzenegger film doesn’t cause the excitement for movie audiences that it once did. There was a time that he could made a mediocre film like Red Heat with Jim Belushi and people would fall over themselves to see it. Now, people would rather wait to see his movies on Netflix. 

As a long time Schwarzenegger fan, I would love to see him have a late career renaissance similar to that of Sylvester Stallone. Arnold was never a good actor. Yet he was a smart actor. He knew his strengths and especially his weaknesses and always found a way to work with the right director and screenwriter that would make him look good on the screen. His charisma alone helped you buy into some of the silly premises of movies he was involved in, especially his comedy films in the late 80’s, early 90’s. 

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It’s sad to see a great film series die with a whimper. In the right hands, the Terminator franchise could have expanded the world of Sarah and John Connor, exploring John’s role in defending humanity in the war against the machines. Terminator 3 did have a pretty decent ending for my money, honoring the bleak ending that James Cameron envisioned, albeit getting there in a rather sloppy, TV movie of the week kind of way. The fact that the series has died like this makes me upset as a fan more than anything. Yet it’s also a lesson for Hollywood. If you’re going to make a sequel to a beloved movie, make sure you tell the right story. 

So what do you think? Are you sad to see the series end? Do you think another studio will take a chance on it? Will James Cameron have any involvement if there is a new film? Sound off in the comments section below. 

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SOURCE: The New York Daily News 

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