SHE’S QUEEN OF THE SCREEN
HTerminator franchise has been terminated after 32 years, according to an inside source, who reports that Paramount execs have decided not to pick up their option to bring Arnie and “Game of Thrones” beauty back for additional movies in the series. Originally it was hoped that the next installment would happen this year. The move comes in spite of the fact that the fifth Terminator movie – 2015’s widely panned “Terminator Genisys” – raked in almost $300 million in profits. “It is over for ‘The Terminator” and Arnold,” said our Los Angeles-based source. “The studio has taken the sequel off the production slate completely, meaning there is no preproduction or any plans for another sequel. The talent had been offered long term deals, but this is not happening. “The Genisys movie was seen as a way of reviving (the franchise), but the critics were not happy and somehow the studio bosses fell out of love with making more, even though they made huge profits,” we’re told. That doesn’t mean another company couldn’t step up and keep Schwarzenegger’s signature character in action, but it’s a long shot at best.
“It would need an independent production company to think about making this, and asking Arnie back at age 70 to play that again may be a tough ask,” said our source.
The final word on the franchise comes days after Schwarzenegger quit his role in “Celebrity Apprentice,” blaming the show’s connection with for dragging down both viewership and advertising. (For his part, Trump had taunted Schwarzenegger on Twitter, blaming him for the show’s low ratings.)
The former bodybuilding champ started playing the T-800 in 1984 after convincing director he should play the robot rather than the hero in the cult original. The first two sequels, 1991’s “Judgment Day” and 2001’s “Rise of the Machines,” brought in over $2 billion at the box office.
Schwarzenegger appeared in two of the three subsequent sequels; “Terminator Salvation” (2009) featured a CGI replacement. He’s believed to have reaped over $100 million from the franchise.
Paramount did not return a request for comment. “T2: Trainspotting” director got to direct – not for his film about heroin addiction, but for a for an opening bit in the 2012 London Olympics. “She was very smart,” he said. “She remembered her continuity. That’s what really impressed me because you know when you turn around in a scene, it’s 20 minutes. Actors always forget, did they have the pencil in between their fingers, all that kind of stuff. She remembered her continuity. I was very impressed.”