Caffeinated Clint
Last we heard from “Terminator 5”, Skynet had snapped in its radar Laeta Kalogridis (“Avatar”) and my good mate Patrick Lussier (“Drive Angry”) to write the screenplay. Knowing their work well, and just how passionate Patrick seems to be about so many of these classic franchises, but in particular ‘Terminator’, I saw that as a vote of confidence for the fifthquel. Oh, and of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger has let it be known he’d “be kumfatable wis cuming buk as de Terminatore” should the film get to the clapperboard stage, so that put a smile on a fan’s face – considering Arnold merely lent his likeness to the last film, which McG threw away in a ridiculous computer-clusterfuck of a moment that made Michael Chiklis’s ‘The Thing’ look like the friggin’ Avatar blue broad.
Thing is, the film doesn’t seem to be inching forward; if anything, it would seem to be taking two steps back each time I read something on it.
That might have someone to do with the director hiccup they had on the film though. Justin Lin, who recently steered the “Fast & Furious” franchise to a quarter of a trillion dollars, yanked the breaks on his plan to direct the “Terminator” flick, so I believe it’s got to find a replacement – and we’ve no word on whether they’re even closing to doing that yet. Having said that, today’s news suggests we mightn’t be too far away from hearing something in that regard (might Patrick Lussier get the gig? The man can do a decent thrilling 3-D movie, plus he has William Fichtner’s number. Consider it, financiers).
Anyway, according to our friends at TheWrap, Paramount are said to have kicked off talks with Skydance and Annapurna Productions about distributing the film. That mightn’t mean much to the industry-lost outsider, but those familiar with the distribution on the past “Terminator” films will know the series is new to the Melrose gang. Sony, Orion, Warner have all been involved in putting the “Terminator” series – four films in the series at this date – on the screen, but Paramount haven’t suckled on John Connor’s nips. But, of course, it’s inevitable that they’d want to get their hands on one of the most profitable, and most well-known film series of all time.
Paramount are kind to their franchises, and they’re not in the business of just ‘pushing stuff out there’ – so there’s a fair chance, especially if the “Star Trek” reboot is anything to go by, the creatives, marketeers, and brass at the studio will be trying to make a successful, ‘decent’ “Terminator” film here (Though I might have said the same about Sony/Warner, and the whole “Terminator Salvation” travesty).
Still no word on what the new film will entail – though it’s rumoured it will involve time-travel; it’s also speculated that the writers may find a way to reintroduce Sarah Connor back into the proceedings, following her ridiculous off-screen death in “Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines” – but with two good genre writers involved in Kalogridis and Lussier, also both big fans of the series, we should be in good hands.
