Terminator 2 is one of my all-time favorite films and as much as I’d love a few storylines from the franchise to play out, I’m not so sure I want another film. But this is Hollywood and you can’t stop Hollywood. The Terminator rights have been finalized which means new blood has entered the arena and a new film (s) is on the way.
Producer Megan Ellison was the highest bidder for the Terminator franchise from Pacificorp. Ellison has produced Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, John Hillcoat’s Lawless, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. Pacificorp previously spent $29 million to get the rights from Halcyon after they went bankrupt. Deadline writes, “New copyright laws allow for North American rights to The Terminator to revert back to creator James Cameron in 2019 (that happens after 35 years, and The Terminator was 1984). While that law hasn’t been tested in the courts, no major film company would want to move forward on a project with a potentially catastrophic rights crisis looming. So the original pricey deal — made with the expectations there would be three films — was scaled down because the reality is they might only get to make two installments.”
The other news is, Megan Ellison has brought her brother David Ellison on board. “David Ellison’s Skydance has been making commercial popcorn pictures at Paramount that recently have included Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise, World War Z, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Star Trek Into Darkness and Jack Ryan.,” writes Deadline.
Here’s the thing – as of right now, no studio is attached and no script exists for this project. Deadline says the Ellisons are “starting from scratch.” That could simply mean getting to the bottom of the complicated timeline that already exists or it could mean rebooting the franchise entirely. Previously, Justin Lin was involved, as was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Let’s just hope they don’t try and get Cruise.
(via io9)
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