It’s another movie that nobody really expected (given the relatively poor reception of Terminator Salvation), and one that many fans don’t even want, yet it appears as though a new sequel in the Terminator franchise really is moving ahead, and has recently been given a hopeful start date; a date which has forced its would-be-director (Justin Lin) to abandon the project.
Arnold Schwarzenegger; the original Terminator, who will be returning for Terminator 5; and rights owner Megan Ellison want to get production underway by the fourth quarter of 2012, and although they seemed happy to have Justin Lin in the director’s chair, the start date means he will have to leave the new Terminator behind; as he’ll be busy directing Fast Six (the next installment in the Fast & Furious franchise) then, a fact which has already led to him dropping out of directing the upcoming Highlander remake.
Aiming for a late 2012 start date still seems ambitious however, as not only is Terminator 5 currently lacking a script, it doesn’t appear as if Ellison has even hired a scriptwriter for it yet, is now missing a director, and as far as we know doesn’t even have a firm storyline laid out; though Lin and Schwarzenegger had reportedly been working closely together to plan out an end to the humans-Vs.-cyborg war created by James Cameron.
Cameron has also been inadvertently placing pressure on the production; as it’s well known that he has stayed away from the Terminator franchise since he made Terminator 2: Judgment Day back in 1991, hasn’t been too fond of the direction it’s taken since, and will, by a stipulation of copyright law, see the franchise rights revert back to him in 2018 (by which time Ellison would like to have two movies in the bag, and have concluded The Terminator story, by winning the war against Skynet); though in a shocking turn of events it appears as though Cameron himself may be contributing to the film in a small fashion, as he has attended a number of brainstorming sessions to flesh out Terminator 5’s plot (spurred on by his old friend Schwarzenegger).
Still, despite all the brainstorming, and wishing, and hoping, there’s a very good chance that Terminator 5 won’t be ready to enter production in late 2012, and should that happen Justin Lin has stated that he will be more than happy to return; echoing Arnold’s most famous line from the first movie; by saying “I’ll be back!”
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
