TERMINATOR QUADTETANTHOLOGY

[TheButcher]

Open-Source Cyborg Hand is Making Prosthetics More Accessible Than Ever


There's a Real Robotics Company Called Cyberdyne And Now I'm Scared

[TheButcher]

The Terminator Before 1984’s THE TERMINATOR
The story of the Harlan Ellison OUTER LIMITS episode that got James Cameron sued.

[TheButcher]

"I'll Be Back"? The 'Terminator' Dilemma: When to Admit a Franchise Is Dead
Soft returns for the movie and release dates set for two sequels confound Paramount and Skydance as "bubble" movies — not flops, not quite megahits — require tough decisions: "Sometimes you are left scratching your head."

"If they are going to make another one, something has to change," says MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler. "You either have to make a better film or make it cheaper. They tried to bring in elements of the first film, but it didn't work. It's going to be very difficult. They are going to have to cater to the international market."

Those foreign grosses, which now account for two-thirds of studio tentpole returns, increasingly are cited as key in determining whether a bubble movie is sequel-worthy. For instance, 2013's Pacific Rim, made for $190 million, was considered a disappointment in the U.S. with $101 million but grossed three times as much overseas and is getting a sequel. Still, reliance on international performance is somewhat problematic because studios see a smaller cut of the box office than they do from U.S. theaters. Perhaps for that reason, insiders say that Legendary Entertainment, which is fully financing Pacific Rim 2, will spend less on the sequel, due Aug. 14, 2017, via Universal.

"Any movie that can be sequelized is money in the bank," notes Dergarabedian. The tough part, of course, is knowing when to hit the terminate button.

[TheBaxter]

the next terminator film should be about a robot sent from the future to kill the director, writers, producers and studio executives responsible for making Terminator Genisys before they have a chance to make the film.

[so sorry]

the next terminator film should be about a robot sent from the future to kill the director, writers, producers and studio executives responsible for making Terminator Genisys before they have a chance to make the film.

Meta. Worked for Freddy Krueger right?

[TheButcher]

Terminator: Genisys: Can International Box Office Save The Franchise?
A strong opening weekend for Terminator: Genisys in China hints international box office could save the new rebooted franchise from ruin.

[TheButcher]

Deadline 01/20/17:
He’s Back! James Cameron To Godfather ‘Terminator’ With ‘Deadpool’ Helmer Tim Miller

EXCLUSIVE: He’ll be back! James Cameron, who regains certain rights to his prized creation The Terminator in 2019, is godfathering a new iteration of the film that might finally get it right in drawing a close in the battle between humans and Skynet. Sources said that Cameron, whose copyright reversion happens 35 years after the release of the 1984 classic, is in early talks with Deadpool director and VFX wiz Tim Miller to direct a reboot and conclusion of one of cinema’s great science fiction tales.

David Ellison, whose Skydance co-financed Terminator Genisys, is bankrolling an exploratory effort that includes engaging some top-flight science fiction authors to find the movie creatively. Ellison still holds many Terminator rights, after his 2013 acquisition from sister and Annapurna principal Megan Ellison. She bought them in 2011 at Cannes for $20 million.

This is the latest development in an ongoing saga. Indeed, The Terminator might have endured the craziest road of any billion-dollar movie franchise, going back to when Cameron — who only had Piranha 2 under his belt as director — sold rights to his scripted project for $1 to producer Gale Anne Hurd, with the stipulation he could not be fired as director. The result was a 1984 sci-fi classic that launched his star and that of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cameron came back and topped himself to write and direct he blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but he washed his hands of the property after that. He mentioned to producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna his plans to buy the rights back from Carolco bankruptcy. They beat him to the punch, figuring he would still participate, but Cameron responded by walking away. He didn’t participate in the three films that followed, or the TV show The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The rights ended up with Pacificor, which paid $29.5 million, and Megan Ellison bought them after that company floundered.

Cameron has had zero involvement since then, and has largely been silent. The exception was on the last picture, Terminator Genisys. Perhaps because his old buddy and True Lies star Schwarzenegger had returned as the title character, Cameron was generous in his assessment, reportedly saying that the Alan Taylor-directed film had reinvigorated and created a renaissance for the franchise.

Audiences disagreed and the franchise seemed out of gas when the $155 million film grossed $440 million worldwide, but didn’t do nearly well enough in the U.S. Perhaps Cameron was foreshadowing his own future return to the franchise. Much the way that Sony used to rush Spider-Man movies to stay ahead of a rights-reversion ticking clock, it was always known that Cameron would regain clout eventually. It didn’t seem that Skydance or Paramount had much interest continuing the creative track of the last film, but real creative involvement by Cameron, even if he doesn’t direct, changes the whole ballgame. One only has to look at Aliens, True Lies, Titanic or Avatar to see what he is capable of creatively when he puts his mind to something.

I don’t know anything more than I’ve disclosed here, including whether they reboot the whole thing or pick up from where Cameron left off after the second film. I’ve heard the hope is for Miller to direct whatever they come up with. Cameron is booked for four Avatar sequels, to shoot two at a time. No comment from any of the involved parties.

[GothamAlleys]

I think its just a rumor. He hasnt even acquired the rights yet, and he would be already eyeing directors? Nah, as promising as it sounds, I dont believe it one bit. Keep this in mind - the first thing Megan Ellison did when she acquired the rights was to call Jim Cameron and ask him if he wants to do it - thats Camerons own story - but he thank her and refused to get involved in any way. So, not that long ago he was given it to him on a plate, but he still refused.

[TheButcher]

Vulture:
James Cameron Is Worried About Atlantis, America, and Alien: Covenant

James Cameron Teases The Future Of The Terminator Movies

It’s really just stumbled along, trying to find its voice again. There’s probably some degree to where it’s lost relevance, you know? Maybe the things that made it good back then are kind of a yawn now. It’s easy to remember fondly the things that kick off a franchise. It’s hard to keep a franchise vigorous, and relevant. I haven’t had my hand on the tiller since Terminator 2, and that was 1991. So what’s that? Twenty-six years? But look, I think it’s possible to tell a great Terminator story now, and it’s relevant. We live in a digital age, and Terminator ultimately, if you can slow it down, is about our relationship with our own technology, and how our technology can reflect back to us—and in the movie, literally, in a human form that is a nemesis and a threat. But also in those movies, in the two that I did, it’s about how we dehumanize ourselves. In a time when people are being absorbed by their virtual-social world, I mean, just look around. I always say: if Terminator was about the war between the humans and the machines, look around any restaurant or airport lounge and tell me the machines haven’t won when every human you see is enslaved to their device. So could you make a relevant Terminator film now? Absolutely.