Terminator: Dark Fate*

The theme park is supposed to open summer 2017, the first sequel might be released Dec 2018, no one on the outside has any idea how far along they are at this point, rumour has it they start shooting principal photography in April?? Disney must be fully aware and confident in the direction Cameron is headed with these sequels.

 

I'm pretty sure top level execs at Disney are fully aware of where these sequels are headed and have seen the market research to support the business case for the development of a theme park. They expect the first sequel to gross $1B in China alone...the first one made $204 million before getting pulled that's the scope they're looking at here. Also the box office split of 27% domestic/73% International, Titanic was 30/70 shows that Cameron makes movies that connect on a global level which is something even Star Wars has yet to accomplish.

 

It's already an old and dead franchise. It was a flash in the pan because of the CGI but the story was just Dances With Wolves. It's been too long since the first movie. Who is clamoring for a sequel to (of all things) Avatar?

Avatar is not Star Wars. Avatar is not Harry Potter. Disney will learn this lesson the hard way. I bet they'll re-theme the Avatar section by 2030. The decision to theme it to Avatar was a reactionary move once they learned that Universal got Harry Potter.

 

Star Wars wasn't Star Wars until they followed it up with sequels and all the rest, you have to start somewhere. Avatar is basically an old tried and true story modernized for today's world and then thrown 100+ years into the future, it goes a lot deeper than Dances with Wolves with its messages.

 

Okay, whatever you say Mr. Cameron.

 

Should have let it be after No. 2

 

Why do all emotionless evil Terminators scream like girls when they're about to die?

 

Wow, really? It's a dead franchise with only one movie out? I think you need to look up the meaning of the word franchise.

Same old tired criticisms. The CGI was good, but also far from perfect. A 'flash in the pan' can only be evaluated as such if you can compare it with other attempts. Your prejudice is showing.

Me.

Of course it isn't. It's bigger, if you want to compare the first films in each property. As far as those two, IMO, Star Wars only had two good films (the first two ever made). As for Harry Potter, I never cared for any of them. But even though the films were successful, Avatar still beat them bigly.

Why don't you wait for some evidence before making unfounded prognostications?

 

I just wonder wether they'll continue the story after/from Genisys........and have a T-1000 Arnold this time.

 

I highly doubt it. 3, 4, and 5 were all meant to be the start of new trilogies and they were all ignored in the subsequent movie.

 

The words 'dead', 'flogging', 'horse' and 'a' immediately spring to mind... it's dead, Jim... you're a movie director, not a miracle worker.

 

Jim seems to have the golden touch.

If anyone can do it he can.

 

As long as Arnold plays the police commissioner, or any other role. Just not the machine.

 

Okay, that idea I like!

 

Really, the Arnold factor is tired. He doesnt have the star factor he once had and he certainly didn't rescue the Genysis. It is time to retire him and make the Terminator scary again like it was in the original movie. Hopefully Cameron will agree that it is time to try a different approach.

 

Arnold really is pretty scary in the original movie- the makeup effects they used on him were really terrific.

 

I say they cast Crispin Glover as the Machine.

 

Matt Smith really wasn't that far removed when you think about it.

 

I liked the way they twisted around the beginning of the first terminator in Genisys. That was the best part of the movie for me.
It would have been better if they had cast actors who looked remotely like Sarah and Kyle.
The rest of the movie was okay, I guess. It could have been a lot better, and it could have been a lot worse.
I suspect the next Cameron helmed Terminator will pick up following T2 and it's somehow going to have Arnold in it.
I can't imagine Linda Hamilton coming back, but you never know!

 

Well Ellison has the money (he's the son of super wealthy computer Larry Ellison...so, if it tanks, they've got more money!) Seriously, they should let this go. The franchise has petered out. The first two films remain classics...everything else not so much.

 

I'm prepared to give Cameron another crack. WRT to the first two films being classics, absolutely true. Just recently I consulted Wiki to refresh my memory of all the other films and one thing in particular struck me. The first two films had a relatively small, concise story summary. But with each subsequent film, the plot summaries became longer, more and more convoluted and complicated to the point where I couldn't even keep clear what I was reading (in a summary!), let alone what was happening in the films (like in the last one). If Cameron keeps the plot simple and engaging, I think it can work again.

 

This is interesting. The first two are great films, with T2 one of the greatest sequels ever. If it happens again, it will be because of Cameron. My guess is they will ignore everything made after T2.

I don't find it surprising that each Terminator does not look unique. You would assume in any factory production there would be multiples of the same design.

Reducing Arnold to a cameo may be the best answer to make a film the quality of T1 and T2. I think he is simply too old to carry the part. The cameo would likely need to be like in the Bale one, where it is a young version of Arnold.

And I would call it T3 to make clear the rest was not canon.

 

The only post-T2 Terminator "thing" I really liked was The Sarah Connor Chronicles and even that was very hit-or-miss with an unsatisfying ending due to it being canceled after the second season before they could really explore where they wanted to go with it.

 

Regarding "Avatar", the first movie was so huge that I doubt the first sequel will just outright bomb. It may underperform based on what they pay to make it and what their expectations are.

But I do think there is some level of cause for concern for the "Avatar" franchise. It doesn't seem to have that "aura" around it of huge droves of people still wanting a sequel. The film was huge when it came out, but even then, I had trouble ever finding people or reviews that touted the actual film and story. It was always about the special effects and 3D. And interest and anybody even *mentioning* the film seems to have dropped off more quickly than other films.

So I could envision a bit of a "Alice Through the Looking Glass" situation (though still on a larger scale; as I said I don't think the first "Avatar" sequel will totally bomb) in that the first film was very popular, but then interest dropped off rather quickly and nobody seemed to actually be foaming at the mouth for a sequel.

Even all of the fanboys and nerds who go on and on about Marvel films and Star Wars films, and who saw "Avatar" ten times in the theater in 2009, even a lot of those people are scoffing now at the idea of numerous "Avatar" sequels.

I thought "Avatar" was an utter bore; I was *stunned* something that tedious and limp story-wise was *that* popular, and I'm usually quite able to tell why something is popular even if I don't personally like it.

As for "Terminator", they're going to have to do something to convince people this is something more than just "Terminator 6" (or whatever number it's up to now). I remember when we watched "Terminator Genisys" we actually had fun trying to pause the movie at certain points and try to explain to each other precisely what the plot was at that point. It was convoluted to the point of absurdity.

 

The issue I have with the Avatar sequels is where do you go with the stories? The first movie said plenty on a variety of issues and it wrapped up with no real loose ends requiring closure via a sequel. To come back with four more? I'm not sure how or where they can go with this, of course the humans will come back and there will be violence/conflict. Are people going to care about the indigenous like they did in the first movie? will they cheer against the humans like they did? While I have my doubts about that, I'm very confident that visually these movies will be spectacular eye candy and the CGI will make jaws drop at least initially until we get used to it.

Maybe news of the upcoming Battle Angel movie and possible involvement in Terminator is a plan "b" just in case the first couple of sequels fail to hit the mark.