Everyone knows what the definition of insanity is, so it’s hardly surprising that the future of the Terminator franchise remains unclear when three reboots in the space of ten years all attempted to do exactly the same thing, and each one failed.
Salvation, Genisys and Dark Fate were all touted by their respective creative teams as the movie fans had been dying to see, one that would reinvent and reinvigorate the property, launching a brand new trilogy in the process. Of course, that didn’t happen and there are now serious questions being asked about whether or not people even care about the long-running sci-fi series anymore, which might have already been answered by the box office returns of Dark Fate, which flopped even with the returns of James Cameron and Linda Hamilton.
When it comes to naming the worst Terminator movie, most people would probably plump for Genisys, which is a sentiment that’s even shared by several of the people who starred in it. On paper the concept was solid, but Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney were the wrong choices to embody the iconic roles of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, something they’ve at least owned up to in the aftermath.
As great as it was to see Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his career-defining turn for the first time since 2003’s Rise of the Machines, even the action icon’s endless supply of natural charisma and imposing screen presence couldn’t save the flat and workmanlike Terminator Genisys from disaster. It did manage to earn $440 million at the box office, but that still wasn’t enough to stop the sequels from being canceled, although it’s experienced a minor resurgence on Netflix over the last several days, having become one of the 20 most-watched titles on the platform.