The Terminator Franchise Isn't Dead It's Just Being Reworked

Although the bar had already been set incredibly low by the previous installment and there wasn't anywhere else to go but up, Terminator: Genisys somehow didn't quite manage to rise out of the wreck as unscathed as many had expected. Between the unnecessarily convoluted plot, and shot for shot remake of key scenes from previous and better movies, Genisys failed to achieve what many aging franchises desperately strive for, becoming a hit in theaters and gain a new legion of fans, like Jurassic World did for the decaying Jurassic Park franchise.

But if creatively Terminator: Genisys felt like a lazy excuse of a film, box office-wise it wasn't a complete trainwreck. The would-be soft reboot managed to gross $440 million worldwide, however it seemed that even that wasn't enough for Skydance to proceed with the plan to make two additional movies and a new television series.

Speaking at a panel hosted by The Wrap, Skydance's Media Chief Creative Officer Dana Goldberg revealed that unlike what previous reports claimed, the franchise isn't on hold, it is being re-adjusted, and the reason why it is moving forward is because of the international numbers, which saved the movie when the domestic numbers couldn't even make the movie get to its $155 production budget.

"Happily, we live in the world where the domestic number had a level of importance 10 or 15 years ago," she said. "I’m not saying it’s not important, it is, but we have to play to a worldwide market. In terms of Terminator, the worldwide market paid attention, but we’re not taking the domestic number lightly."

While trying to appeal to different geographical locations can be a good thing, in the sense that it could have a more diverse cast, it could also spell trouble when it becomes clear that it is just a cynical cash grab, like in Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Having said that, at least it seems like Skydance is willing to put in the hours by asking audiences their thoughts on the movie.

"[We will use] data and research to do a worldwide study and really talk to audiences about what they loved, and what maybe didn’t work for them, so that the next we take with the franchise is the right one."

Whatever decision comes out of the research, it won't be announced anytime soon.

Source - The Wrap

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