James Cameron’s (Avatar) original, low-budget, sci-fi/action movie The Terminator was an instant classic, and placed Arnold Schwarzenegger in the defining role of his acting career (a career that eventually earned the former bodybuilder enough popularity to become Governor of California), and managed to reach the same lofty heights of success with the higher-budgeted Terminator 2: Judgement Day, a success that somebody else is looking to cash in on, as plans have just emerged for the release of another Terminator movie.
Unlike Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines; which was all but unanimously declared a failure; or Terminator Salvation; upon which opinion is divided as to whether or not it successfully rebooted the franchise, or was simply another dud; the new film will not be carrying on the story first envisioned by James Cameron, but will be be taking the premise in a whole new direction; a wholly animated, child-friendly, movie revolving around Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, and a Cyborg Schwarzenegger.
After Salvation was released, and the rights to The Terminator once again began changing hands at the drop of a hat, there are few people that could have predicted the franchise would have taken this new direction; and be on track to release a new ‘cartoon’ version, which will cost $70 million to develop (a price that will include a 3D conversion) and plans on toning down the violence to ensure a child-pleasing PG-13 rating.
At this point there’s been little else said about the project (which is being developed by a company called Hanover House; who’s CEO, Eric Parkinson, actually used to run part of the company that helped distribute James Cameron’s first Terminator), and an official story hasn’t yet been confirmed; but despite the animation option opening up the potential scope for showcasing the future war, this is one spin-off that will have a lot of work to do in order to convince loyal Terminator fans that it’s a worthy watch.
