Terminator: Salvation

[Banky]

Terminator 4 w/o Arnie? Oct. 9, 2003

Source: Dark Horizons  by: Bob Menard


With Arnold Schwarzenegger's new role as the Governor of Cali-fornia (or The Governator, as most cheesy news agencies are calling him) sure to impede on his acting availability, there is a huge hole left in the film world for a bruiting mass of a man that can kick ass and take names. Vin Diesel was thought to be that man early on, but recently, someone else has stepped up to throw his hat into the "I can make money by looking cool and kicking the bejeezus out of people on the big screen" ring. That man? Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock! His latest flick, THE RUNDOWN, has not only been making good money at the Box Office, but it has actually been getting good reviews from critics all around (read JoBlo's by clicking that last link). So that begs the question, "Do we have our next Arnie?" According to a scooper named 'BotBot' over at Dark Horizons, maybe in more ways than one. He claims that in recent talks about the possibility of a TERMINATOR 4, Arnold had said that he obviously wouldn't be able to headline a 4th film, but mentioned that he would be willing to do a cameo, and suggested that The Rock would be good replacement. Grain of salt with that one folks, especially considering that's the 3rd film in recent memory that The Rock has been rumored to replace Arnold in, following the proposed PREDATOR sequel and the new KING CONAN project. No word yet on whether Danny DeVito has contacted him about a TWINS sequel.

[TheVoiceOfNick]

The only thing I hope, is that they don't ruin the series even more by making the Rock play Anrie's character... maybe just use the Rock as another terminator, then reference Arnie but never show him... this would suck as well, but oh well...

by the time they come around to making another Terminator though, Arnie will have committed political suicide and/or not re-elected, so he'll be back to make another... maybe...

[Reinhold]

Terminator 4 w/o Arnie? Oct. 9, 2003

Source: Dark Horizons  by: Bob Menard


No word yet on whether Danny DeVito has contacted him about a TWINS sequel.

what about Junior? maybe The Rock should do a sequel. He could play the grown version of the baby.

[MacGuffin]

Will Arnold Be Back for "T4"?

He might be governor, but Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't quite ready to say hasta la vista to The Terminator.

According to Daily Variety, Terminator 4 has emerged from development and is set to rise into production in 2005--and Schwarzenegger is in talks about making an appearance in the film.

John Brancato and Michael Ferris, the writers who penned Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines have finished a script with T3 director Jonathan Mostow, who took over the franchise from James Cameron.

What is up in the air is the cast. It remains to be seen if several key players will return, including Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl and Claire Danes. No official word on whether the two younger stars have been approached, but Variety reports that neither is believed to have signed an option agreement when they took on the roles of John Connor and Kate Miller in T3.

The biggest question mark, however, remains the supermachine himself. Schwarzenegger has reportedly been approached for the project, but if he does sign on to don those famous shades and leather jacket again, it will likely only be in a limited capacity. The buzz on T4 is that the story will revolve around a brand-new, bigger, badder even more indestructible killing machine.

The lack of Schwarzenegger on the marquee might not be great news for the marketing department, but it should hearten the accountants.

T3 went down as one of the most expensive movies ever made with a production budget upwards of $200 million plus another $40 million in marketing costs, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Schwarzenegger alone pocketed a $30 million paycheck.

Still, T3 grossed more than $430 million worldwide and performed strongly on home video, guaranteeing the cyborg will be back for at least one more bloodbath.

[MacGuffin]

Terminator Down Under

Terminator 4 is coming, and producer Andy Vajna has started scouting locations. According to Vajna, he's interested in taking the film down under. He has been to visit Warner Brothers' Australian studio, but he admitted it is too early in the process to know anything for certain. Vajna also indicated the script is finished and ready to go -- but a director has yet been named.

Vajna also addressed the question on everyone's collective mind; what about Arnold? Of course there will be a cameo role for the Governor if he is interested. Vajna said "We want to go on with the Terminator and turn it into a real sci-fi picture and there is a very interesting role for Arnold if he decides he wants to do it." But Vajna (like everyone else in America) realizes Arnold is a very busy man these days, and so the show will go on with or without him.

[Pubrick]

He has been to visit Warner Brothers' Australian studio,

haha, that's a death wish right there. house of wax, peter pan, the phantom.. they should rename those studios the house of shits. (sorry mod)

[Ravi]

You're not talking about this Peter Pan, are you?  Cuz that was a good movie.

[picolas]

You're not talking about this Peter Pan, are you?  Cuz that was a good movie.

[Pubrick]

You're not talking about this Peter Pan, are you?  Cuz that was a good movie.

yeah i am. that's why i apologized to mod. seriously though that flopped and they only make shit movies here (at warner bros, not the fox studios). they're well made and all that, but 99% of them are still unwatchable.

[MacGuffin]

They've hired a Nutter to do Terminator series?
Source: Moviehole

"Smallville" veteran David Nutter has inked a deal to direct the pilot for "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", a TV spin-off of the money-spinning "Terminator" film series. As a result, FOX, who previously made a put pilot commitment to "Connor" last fall, has officially greenlit the series.

The series, set to be produced by the films' producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar, will be shot in New Mexico early next year. Casting will begin immediately.

"It's important for me to live up, as best I can, to the bar that Jim Cameron set," Nutter, who actually directed the pilot for Cameron's series "Dark Angel", told Variety. [It] has to carry as much of a punch" as possible, even on a TV budget.

Josh Friedman's script revolves around robo-warrior Connor and her savior son, John Connor. C2 senior veepee of development James Middleton, who's a producer on the project, said last fall that "Connor" will explore what happened to Sarah Connor after the end of "T2," when the character went on the run.

"She has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and she also has to raise a 14-year-old son who may be the salvation of the world," he said.

Nutter said his involvement with "Connor" began after he bumped into Friedman at a screening, and Friedman told him about the project. Not long after, Nutter spent four days at Comic-Con, and that prompted him to request a copy of Friedman's script.

"It really expanded the characters and did what any good movie-to-TV script should do, which is send them in directions you wouldn't expect," Nutter said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong won't be involved in the project – but we're guessing one of them, at least, wishes they were.

[MacGuffin]

Terminator 4 Tease From Michael Ferris
Source: Entertainment Weekly

Terminator 4 co-writer Michael Ferris has given Entertainment Weekly a hint about what we can expect from the next installment. First, however, he addressed the questions on whether Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back.

"'Terminator 3' kind of closed the book on Schwarzenegger, as did his gubernatorial career," said Ferris, who wrote the fourth film with John Brancato.

Another missing element is producer Gale Anne Hurd, who worked on the first three films and is not involved, and "T3" director Jonathan Mostow has yet to sign on (he'll be busy adapting Marvel's Sub-Mariner for a while).

As far as plot points, Ferris offered this tease: "You will learn about Skynet and what that postapolyptic future is like."

[MacGuffin]

More 'Terminator' on the way
New ownership means another run
Source: Variety

There won't be a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger. James Cameron will not be the director.

But at least one new Terminator (the fourth) seems destined to hit screens now that its feuding fathers, Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar, have been bought out.

The cyborg saga belongs to the Halcyon Co., which has purchased all rights to the franchise from Kassar and Vajna for an undisclosed amount.

Halcyon, a privately funded company hatched recently by entrepreneurs Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson, acquired the right to produce "Terminator" films, future merchandising and licensing ventures.

The beachhead of the venture is "Terminator 4," which has a script by "T3" writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris. Moritz Borman, the former CEO of Intermedia Films and exec producer of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," will produce. Kubicek and Anderson will co-produce, and former PolyGram Films marketing president Peter D. Graves will be executive producer and oversee marketing of the picture.

Though no director or cast has yet been secured, "Terminator 4" is being earmarked for a summer 2009 release. No deals have been made for distribution or financing, but there are pre-existing negotiating positions for MGM and Japanese distributor Toho Towa, each of whom was involved in "T3," a film that grossed more $430 million worldwide.

"The Terminator franchise represents by far the most popular and successful franchise not owned by a major studio," Kubicek said. "We see this global franchise as a cornerstone of Halcyon's future business plans."

The new backers see "T4" as an attempt to reinvent the franchise with new cast and plotlines, ploys that worked for Batman and James Bond, and is being attempted with "The Incredible Hulk," which has Edward Norton as its new star.

The "T4" script, which has been kept under tight wraps, picks up with John Connor in his 30s leading what's left of the human race against the machines. It is being seen as the start of a new trilogy.

"With 'T3,' we included many incidental details and plot points that, along with the main narrative, set the stage for an entirely new set of interrelated stories covering the future adventures of John Connor and the Terminators," Borman said. "This new Terminator trilogy will build upon the already huge worldwide Terminator fan base."

Halcyon's Anderson was founder and creative director of the boutique marketing and ad agency In the Mix, which he sold in 2000. Kubicek comes out of finance, and also produced Halcyon's first film, "Cook-Off!," which screened at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival.

Kassar and Vajna bought the rights to the "Terminator" franchise from the bankruptcy sale of Carolco assets. They made a later deal with Gale Anne Hurd, who owned many of the rights, and to whom Cameron signed over his rights, for $1, with the guarantee that he would not be replaced as director on the first film.

The "Terminator" franchise is already looking alive and well on the small screen.

Nothing's official yet, but Fox is said to be very impressed with "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," a Warner Bros. TV-produced hour based on "Terminator" characters and mythology. It could be ordered to series as early as this week, some believe.

The C2 partners get exec producer credits on the pilot, but people familiar with the project said they've essentially taken a passive role in the day-to-day production of the David Nutter-helmed pilot. It's possible that, with the C2 camp getting out of the "Terminator" business, their stake in the show will simply transfer to the new owners.

[MacGuffin]

'T4': Rise of the lawsuit
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Following a breakdown in negotiations over the distribution of "Terminator 4," the movie's producers filed a complaint for declaratory relief Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking an injunction against MGM.

The T Asset Acquisition Co. -- representing producer Moritz Borman and Halcyon Co. principals Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson, who acquired rights to the "Terminator" franchise this year -- contended in the filing that MGM did not negotiate in good faith when the two parties sat down in June to hammer out a distribution deal for the movie, which MGM would like to release in 2009.

MGM maintains that it acquired first rights in the 1990s for an exclusive, 30-day negotiation for distribution rights to the films in the franchise. Although T Asset, the company formed to produce the movie, challenges that contention, it says that Borman and MGM COO Rick Sands first met for lunch on May 31 at Houston's in Century City to begin to discuss a deal.

T Asset alleges that MGM made an initial offer of $200 million in production and marketing commitments, but because MGM also insisted on approval for director, star, screenplay and budget as well as a lower backend participation for the producers, T Asset said the proposal fell short.

Because T Asset hadn't allowed MGM to read the screenplay and hadn't revealed who would direct and star in the film -- which will not involve original star Arnold Schwarzenegger -- MGM suspended negotiations, awaiting a counterproposal.
 
On June 26, T Asset notified MGM that MGM's negotiating window would close as of June 29. MGM's attorneys responded with a June 28 letter accusing T Asset of making an unreasonable "take-it-or-leave-it demand," saying that the negotiating window remained open and that T Asset could not talk with other distributors.

Claiming that MGM is trying to "disrupt and prevent any efforts by T Asset to negotiate with any third parties," T Asset is asking the court for a permanent injunction against MGM, to declare MGM's first negotiation rights unenforceable and to prohibit MGM from interfering with T Assets' negotiations with other parties.

"MGM is completely comfortable with its rights position on the 'Terminator' franchise, and we will not allow anyone to interfere with our rights," MGM spokesman Jeff Pryor said.

[MacGuffin]

CHARLIE'S TERMINATOR?
Source: CHUD

It's a big day for scoops from trusted and reliable sources. The latest comes from Duckie, who has been hearing buzzing about a name that is sort of attached to direct Terminator 4: McG.

This doesn't mean McG IS directing Terminator 4, but that he's in talks about it. The film is being set up as a pre-striker; the script just got turned in last week and the good people at The Halcyon Company would like to get this sucker into pre-production stat. Some talk had the movie shooting in the summer of 2008, but that's right when the strike would start, so expect this bitch to be going before the cameras in the first months of the new year.

Terminator 4 is really the movie we've been waiting for and that Terminator 3 failed to deliver: it's after the apocalypse and John Connor is organizing the surviving humans to resist Skynet's army of robots. I imagine this would be the Terminator origin story - the first time a human looking robot is used to infiltrate the ranks of people. There's something delightfully Planet of the Apes about taking the series into its own backstory like this.

Of course the question is: is McG right for the film? I don't have a huge problem with it - the guy can aim his camera and capture images; We Are Marshall showed that he doesn't have to do everything in MTV style. And frankly, Terminator 3 was such a bad case of holding pattern blues that I think this series has burned off any prestige it once had. Who expects a Terminator 4 to be a GREAT movie? I'm willing to settle for an awful lot of fun. McG can do that.

[MacGuffin]

WB restarts 'Terminator'
'Salvation' begins production in early 2008
Source: Variety

Warner Bros. has acquired North American distrib rights to "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," triggering an early 2008 production start for a film that seeks to reinvent the cyborg saga with a storyline to be told over a three-pic span.

WB plans to distribute "Terminator Salvation" in summer 2009.

The Warner deal dashes MGM's hopes of corralling distribution rights to the film. The Lion planned to pepper its slate with tentpoles such as "The Hobbit" and "Terminator," but neither project has worked out for the distributor.

Halcyon sued MGM in July in Los Angeles Superior Court, claming the distrib was interfering with its distribution plans on the fourth "Terminator" film on the basis of an MGM claim that it had acquired an exclusive 30-day negotiating window.

The "Terminator" pic franchise got a new lease on life in spring, when privately funded Halcyon and its co-CEOs Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson teamed with "Terminator 3" exec producer Moritz Borman to acquire film, merchandising and licensing rights from ex-Carolco partners Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar. Kubicek, Anderson and Borman are producing the new film, with Peter D. Graves as exec producer.

WB had first right of negotiation for domestic theatrical and TV distribution rights because the studio played the same role on 2003's Jonathan Mostow-directed "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." That pic posted a domestic gross of $150 million and a worldwide total of $427 million.

The producers said that the new film will carry the size and scale of "Terminator 3," and will have an event-sized budget. It will likely be less than the $200 million pricetag of "Terminator 3," which was saddled with extravagant costs that included above the line payouts, rights payments and heavy fees incurred through a complex financial structure.

Warner Bros. is also producing a smallscreen "Terminator" adaptation, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," for Fox's midseason sked.

WB's commitment solidified the pic's financing structure and ensured a start date, producers said. They will now zero in on overseas distribution. Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed "T3" in most overseas territories, is expected to get first crack at a reprise. Several other territories are spoken for, including Japan, where Toho-Towa is expected to distribute once again.

A screenplay has been completed by "Terminator 3" scribes John Brancato and Michael Ferris, and the financiers and studio are close to locking a director. While industry buzz has "Charlie's Angels" director McG as the odds-on favorite for the assignment, the producers said no final decision had yet been made.

The first two "Terminator" films, directed by James Cameron, used contemporary settings to pit Sarah and John Connor against indestructible cyborgs. "T3" was also set in the present day and ended just as the machines initiated a nuclear apocalypse. "Terminator Salvation" was deliberately not given a number after its title, because Halcyon is eager to make it clear that the fourth film heads into an entirely different setting.

"This is set in the future, in a full-scale war between Skynet and humankind," Anderson told Daily Variety.

Borman said: "The third film was really the conclusion of what happened in the 'now.' You will find the most-loved characters, but the intention here is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy."

The producers said it wasn't yet clear whether Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back for his fourth appearance in the franchise that launched his movie career. "T3" was the last film in which he starred before becoming governor of California.

"We've left it open for him to maybe do a cameo," Borman said. "He has an important job, as we know, and the final decision will be based on his desire and availability, along with what the director wants."

The move on "Terminator" comes after Halcyon secured first-look rights to the literary works of sci-fi master Philip K. Dick.