Hardcore Terminator Fans are feeling somewhat despondent towards the new Terminator movie (TheTerminatorFans.com included); to ask us not to be disappointed after being let down so many times is a bit of a big ask, so why would the involvement of James Cameron make any difference to fans fearing the worst,- after all he isn’t directing the movie and isn’t as deeply involved as the fans might like. Though he is more involved however than he has been since Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
In an interview at an event for the 30th Anniversary of The Terminator (1984) James Cameron (as well as stating qualities he didn’t like about the first movie) described himself in relation to his past self…
“I was the angry young rebel, I think at the time- and now I’m the old establishment guy”
Let’s face it, the fans never wanted James Cameron to become the “old establishment guy” but it happened.
For anyone following the studios; it is known that Paramount Pictures has had some pretty bad years at the box office due to complacency and making pretty shitty movies. Terminator is one of its biggest trademarks/franchises thanks to Skydance and now David Ellison’s investment in the studio and Paramount wants a big payback.
You may remember at the Terminator event (with Tim and Jim) they said it wasn’t about money… come on, of course it is. They had to make a deal with 20th Century to allow James Cameron’s involvement to happen but this is what the fans asked for so we’re not complaining (well, not about that anyway).
Jim Gianopulos (Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO) announced to CinemaCon:
“It’s no secret we’ve had some bad years at the box office, he said, “but we’ve been laying foundations to a return to the success Paramount has enjoyed in the past… to deliver to you films for every possible audience for years to come.”
It was at that event that two lame “placeholder” images were presented to attendees, copying and pasting together images from past Terminator projects- instead of contacting the art department to come up with something snazzy that would excite fans
James Cameron then went on to do an interview with The New York Times about “needing a fair day in court” regarding the new Terminator movie.
NYT: I’m sure you’ve seen some of the early skepticism about another “Terminator” reboot. How challenging is it to make this material seem fresh?
It’s not a question of making it seem fresh. It’s a question of making it fresh. The thing that encourages me is that we are actually approaching an existential crisis as human beings about artificial intelligence and the threat of artificial intelligence. The trick is to make these movies while they’re still science fiction.
On the other hand, the series has gotten kind of tired. I think it’s by overuse of the same iconicity. So we’re trying to break that mold. We’re trying to make it also just, by the way, good storytelling with characters you care about, which I think has been missing for a while. So when David Ellison came to me and said, “Let’s do another one,” I said, “All right, but I don’t want to have to deal with reconciling all this [stuff] that happened in between. Can we just go back to ‘Terminator 2’ and carry on that timeline?” He said, “Yeah, that sounds great.”
I think we’ve got a pretty damn good story but the audience will judge. I think as long as people aren’t prejudiced against it, I think it’ll be O.K. But sometimes the zeitgeist decides when it doesn’t want something. It doesn’t matter how good it is. As long as we get a fair day in court, I think we’ll be O.K.
Let’s make this totally clear; “old establishment guy” James Cameron deserves skepticism from Terminator Fans, especially for endorsing Terminator Genisys and previous movies which he now calls “bad dreams” (retracting his endorsements later on after milking fans- he does get royalties each time his characters and story are used) but he will get a fair day in court- TheTerminatorFans.com will put aside any harsh ‘Judgments’ but we will be walking into the theater expecting something great because James Cameron is James Cameron.
If Terminator (2019) does not live up to the hype there will be one last way to go… James Cameron must become the angry rebel once again and helm a $30 million dollar HARD R/NC17 Terminator movie because it will be the only way to dominate the box office; to regain respect/save the reputation of this franchise and bring it back from the brink of termination (can you see what we did there?).
One last thing, can James Cameron stop using controversy as a form of marketing and instead use his artistic talent to go out and film a teaser trailer for the new Terminator movie to build some hype instead of waging war with superhero fans and feminists. Fucking cringe-worthy to read but a great way to go about getting an unfair day in court…
Sources: Screen Daily, New York Times and images via Omega Underground