The marketing of Terminator Genisys was simply awful, tacky and in the end did more damage than good to the project. It is something we want to address because as Terminator fans it leaves a very bad taste- one which will not go away.
Starting with the awful EW (Entertainment Weekly) photoshoot; it became obvious what the movie was but even we gave that shoot the benefit of the doubt as we kept an open mind and reserved some ‘Judgment’ although it went against our gut instinct- that this would be the worst entry in the Terminator franchise to date and that it was obviously a PG-13 cash-grab.
Terminator Genisys was simply the reboot fans never wanted but Skydance Media (Formerly Skydance Productions) would insist that they had meetings with Jim Cameron (organized by Schwarzenegger) and that Cameron’s advice was that the movie should focus on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 character and that he should be the focal point of the movie. They insisted the movie was not a reboot but a sequel/continuation/reset but even the makers of the movie kept changing their description of what the movie was in the many various interviews which were at the time misleading, but were the fans going to welcome this creation with open arms? Obviously the answer to that is no.
As marketing continued and as trailers began fisting mouthfuls of nonsense down our throats it became very apparent that Arnold Schwarzenegger was not central to the movie or the focus of the plot. The final theatrical piece shows Arnold Schwarzenegger as nothing more than a comical third wheel in a reboot that would totally disrespect the mythos of Terminator and moreover disrespect the hardcore fanbase at large in favor of appealing to a new audience (the next generation) of children aged from 7-14 years old (and China/Asia) but the studios insisted all fans were being catered to and this would not be a copy. We really didn’t need to see Arnold fighting a younger CGI version of himself nor did we need him to be the hero/protector Guardian character. The studios and Arnold know that fans want Arnold back badder than ever… and it seems politically the only way they will do this is to give us a CGI version of the character (the Terminator) that Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) crushed in a Hydraulic press in 1984? No thanks.
In promotional interviews executive producer Dana Goldberg; stated that this was their version of ‘The Terminator’ which became even more worrying…
If you want an example of a good Rated R movie produced by Dana Goldberg then check out ‘The Brave One’ starring Jodie Foster- it’s a good vigilante revenge movie and grounded in a sense of realism which is currently lacking in the Terminator franchise.
https://youtu.be/E4GMrG0cekw
A movie with a similarly dark tone/directing/cinematography/suspense with Linda Hamilton in the lead Vs a machine would have been far more interesting than Genisys. Violence which has reasoning and logic works for this movie just like it worked for the first Terminator.
The true fans could not move beyond the idea of another Terminator reboot (especially so soon after Salvation) and the majority would not accept that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only returning cast member, this entire concept was disrespectful to the core and now we know they completely erased the events of all the Terminator movies and especially the only two movies that really mattered ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’.
Although Arnold Schwarzenegger was the title character he was not the central character in T1 and T2, our emotional investment was in the story of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her son John Connor.
For a movie cited as not being a copy, it would copy almost callously, and most things that seemed half original were simply unused concepts/scripted ideas that were not used in previous Terminator movies but instead tweaked.
Turning John Connor into a villain (posthumously) was already filmed for Terminator Salvation but was subsequently not used or released on DVD due to a leaked ending.
Director McG explained to EW:
We had a jet-black ending. Connor dies, we’re in a room with all the people we care about. You take Connor’s likeness, you put it on the living machine of Marcus. He sits up, now looking like Christian Bale, takes a gun, kills Kate, kills Kyle, kills Star, kills everybody, eyes flare red, [snaps] the end.
The initial plan was to have ‘Marcus with John’s face’ kill the resistance inner circle after having a face transplant (instead of a heart transplant) and go on to lead the resistance unbeknownst to them that SkyNet was in total control. Terminator Salvation began life Rated R but lost integrity with obvious pressure from studios and/or investors. If only the project had kept the courage of its convictions and steamed ahead regardless of fan backlash, kept the R Rating and stuck to the original vision,- a Salvation trilogy would have had more scope and imagination as a reboot/continuation/expansion which might have stood out from the crowd and would have certainly killed time with the possibility of much less fan backlash leading up to Jim Cameron getting the property back in his control.
So, the overall point is Genisys has nothing new to offer for fans who know every facet of this franchise and came across as nothing more than awful fan fiction. The attitude of the studios over the “twist” in Genisys suggested that it was believed that John Connor’s turn to the dark side would come from left-field, which was clearly not the case- this was not a palatable thought process to audiences… it was cliche; disposable and quite frankly a quagmire,- something that most fans never ever wanted.
Arnold Schwarzenegger always claims every Terminator movie that he has starred in is “fantastic” but the one he wasn’t in (Terminator Salvation) “sucked”. Never owning a bad movie/script choice and instead citing the movie that broke him into the industry (Hercules in New York) as the movie he regrets making most, would he have even gotten roles like Conan or Terminator without that movie? Questionable. This leaves the word of Arnold hard to trust in regard to the movies he stars in… he would go on to say that “The Terminator fans are excited to see another Terminator movie, and we’ve made sure not to disappoint the Terminator fans”.
Schwarzenegger would also go on to say that he had received a call from Jim Cameron saying he loved the movie. This would then force the internet to take the former Governor’s words with a pinch of salt.
To counteract negative waves of angry Terminator fans the answer for studios was simple, whose word would be deemed unquestionable,- who would they not dispute or cut down..? The answer was obviously James Cameron; the creator of Terminator.
Fans would be subjected to an endorsement that would be expertly edited to “Terminate the naysayers” and anyone with a genuine opinion that the movie would suck even more than the hideous Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was to be cowed into silence or browbeaten and insulted.
The majority would see through it, believing that money had exchanged hands as the impetus behind Jim’s endorsement but seeing as Paramount Pictures co-funded Titanic we would rather take the stab that a Paramount Exec (his studio contact) was calling in a favor owed from the past.
The other ultimate reason? Loyalty to his Avatar co-writer Laeta Kalogridis; the co-writer of Terminator Genisys. Friendship can be a powerful motivator- that and the fact Jim probably wants to keep her on board for Avatar movies, you don’t shit where you eat or ultimately you eat shit.
Cameron would go on to say that he was in a dark theater watching the movie, while David Ellison would claim he took a copy of the movie round to Jim Cameron’s home to show him the movie from start to finish. Maybe Jim Cameron has a theater in his home, he is richer than Croesus after all.
The world of Hollywood propaganda would then kick in to motion telling us that Jim Cameron himself is stating he “loves” the movie… but nowhere in his endorsement did he actually say it; “I enjoyed it” isn’t the same as “I love Terminator Genisys”,- it’s a nice little trick, don’t you think?
He actually said that if you are a fan of the Terminator movies…
YOU’RE GONNA LOVE THIS MOVIE
Watch the official Endorsement Video, if you have already seen it then keep on reading…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LqgdNVTcRA
Arnold Schwarzenegger would then go on to express his displeasure in studios getting Jim Cameron involved in the marketing of the movie as the movie was a “straight 10” and did not need Jim Cameron to do an endorsement…
Arnold Schwarzenegger:
I did not like the idea that the studio went out and then used it as a promotional material for the movie because I always felt that if you do
that it looks kinda like we need to have James Cameron say something good about the movie which we don’t, because the the movie is, you know, a straight ten. It is a fantastic movie; the director did an outstanding job, the actors- the story was great. It was great emotional impact that it had and all that stuff, so I didn’t feel that we needed that even though I thought it was very sweet of James Cameron to do that and to be so outspoken about it how much he liked the movie.
While Arnold was right that it was wrong of studios to get Jim involved in an endorsement, saying that the movie is a “straight 10” and “fantastic” etc is just more water off a duck’s back and obvious nonsense. Sorry Arnold but as long as studios continue to mishandle the property the closest you are going to get to success with this property is with the re-release of T2 3D. We cannot support your contractually locked good guy Terminator character anymore. Come back as 100% bad or “get out” and stop staining your legend more than you already have.
Terminator Genisys ‘upgraded’ Arnold to have an outer coating of liquid metal, which was supposed to happen in the original T3 script but by default for the T-850 unit, this ended up becoming the attributes of the T-X unit. If you don’t understand the implications this has for Arnold and the possible continuation of Genisys tripe… then liquid metal exterior Arnold will bring more horrific CGI sequences to the table, transformations into other characters, more bastardizing of the excellent performance and memories created by Robert Patrick, ILM and Stan Winston Studio. Expect LESS REAL ARNOLD on screen and more third-wheel-time-flux shit.
Here is a more honest (our opinion) edit of the endorsement with additional edits/dialogue that would be held back for special features on home release…
https://youtu.be/x9wD0AN2gmA
Can I be objective? No.
James Cameron admits himself that he can’t be objective in regard to Terminator Genisys, which makes any opinion he delivers on the subject; questionable to say the least. That is all there is to say. The smart option is to cancel the Genisys trilogy, leave it as a one off and as the failed experiment it was.
We will continue to tell you the truth, be honest and we will not sell the fans up the river, for those that accept it willingly; you are part of the propaganda machine, the financial investment behind the scenes and are benefiting with freebies and collectibles for your loyalty and support to corporate greed.
Addendum: Just in case you wondered what James Cameron’s original thoughts on Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines were…
There was a small part of me that hoped it wasn’t good, but another part of me hoped it [would succeed]. And it did. And I’m so glad it did. Jonathon Mostow has made a great movie. Arnold’s in great form. I really like what he’s done with it.
…and what did he think of Terminator Salvation?
I think McG did a good job in the sense. I think he was almost too referential to the mythos of the first and second film.
It’s better than I thought it was going to be. I think McG and the writers tried hard to keep reacquainting you with some of those ideas in the story that they were weaving. So actually I thought it was pretty cool.
As we know James Cameron later went on to change his stance once the box office didn’t matter anymore… Will he change his views of Genisys in the future or will he never speak of it again?
How did you feel about the endorsement? Tell us in the comments below.