Last night in Los Angeles, a select group gathered for a special anniversary screening of James Cameron’s cyborg classic, The Terminator, to celebrate its 30th birthday. It’s a little hard to believe the movie that kickstarted the time-travelling Skynet series is three decades old, especially as the sequels are still comin’.
Since Cameron’s opening instalment, we’ve seen three follow-ups, only one of which he directed (Terminator 2: Judgment Day.) Still, that’s not stopped others from reusing the characters and stories, especially after Annapurna Films snapped up the rights and are developing a new trilogy of Terminator pics, starting with next year’s Terminator Genisys.
Speaking to Empire at the screening last night, Cameron was asked for his thoughts on the upcoming outing and had the following to say:
“I’m friendly with the filmmakers, the writer Laeta Kalogridis has worked with me on projects,” he said. “I’m hoping it’s great. I’d like them to get it right, and based on the script that I read there’s a pretty good chance that it could. It looks like it could be fun.”
Well, that’s all incredibly promising, considering Mr. Cameron has very demanding standards. But what concerns might he have over the franchise diminishing slightly with the release of every subsequent film? Will the finished product of Genisys be an issue for him?
“It’s not my problem! It’s like being a grandparent, the kids come over and you can send them back! When I walked away from the franchise, I had to do it with the sense that I can invest in emotion. To me, it’s all upside, because if it’s good, it’s good for Arnold (Schwarzenegger), my friend Laeta and if it’s not good? It doesn’t bother me personally.”
It’s no wonder, as Cameron’s deep in pre-production on the Avatar sequels. But what about when 2019 rolls around? Part of the reason Genisys and this new trilogy has been rushed into production is because in five years, all the rights to the characters and stories revert back to Cameron! Who knows, he might indeed be interested in re-joining the battle against Skynet:
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet. I’ve got plenty of time to think about it. It might be fun to completely re-invent the franchise. A lot has to do with what happens with it in the meantime, people may have Terminator fatigue.”
No way Mr. C. While we’ve got high hopes for Terminator Genisys, it’d be a most welcome piece of news if James Cameron decided to take the reigns on The Terminator once more.