Terminator? A classic. Terminator 2: Judgement Day? Even better. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines? Terminator: Salvation? Terminator: Genisys? Blah, blah and blah. And the reason why is that James Cameron was not involved with those final three. However, that is about to change.
Deadline reports that Cameron will get “certain rights” back in what is being called a “copyright reversion” on the 35th anniversary of the film in 2019. He is beginning the work of “godfathering” a new reboot and/or possibly conclude the epic story with a film that he will put in the hands of director Tim Miller, who recently got a Deadpool 2-sized hole open up on his schedule.
Terminator: Genisys producer David Ellison also holds some rights as well, and is tapping big-name science-fiction authors to work on a Terminator film. The article is not clear as to whether Ellison is working with Cameron or if we will have two different films in 2019, the Cameron one and the one no one cares anything about.
I guess it depends exactly what rights Cameron will be getting back. If he’s getting just the name, well, there are ways around that for Ellison. If Cameron gets everything he created in the first two films–Skynet, John Connor, Sarah Connor, T-800, T-1000, the dystopian future controlled by Skynet, then Ellison would have everything that came after, which is derivative of everything Cameron created. It makes sense for him to join forces with the writer/director.
Miller, like Cameron, got his start in the world of special effects. If that shared background makes him and Cameron click, this could be the reboot of the franchise we have been looking for. Miller is a skilled director and would bring a lot to the project.
It is not known if the film will be a true reboot, a continuation of the franchise or a reset button to the time Cameron left the franchise. All of this will sort itself out in the months to come.
