Arnold Schwarzenegger: New Terminator trilogy to be written by James Cameron!

TerminatorBy Gavin Aug 2, 2017Comments

In an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger that recently appeared in Austria's largest newspaper Krone (Kronen Zeitung) celebrating the action legends 70th Birthday, the former Governor of California revealed that the director of the first, and best two Terminator movies and the co-writer and creator of the property James Cameron is currently writing the story for the new Terminator movie which is expected to be the first installment of a new trilogy that will reboot the struggling franchise (Arnold's quote below was translated using Google Translate)...

"First Danny DeVito, Eddie Murphy and I turn the comedy 'Triplets'. A great hit and unexpected gags, it will be a surprise as the first part of the comedy Twins. Furthermore is planned 'Conan', and early 2018 I turn 'Terminator 6'. James Cameron develops the story, David Ellison produces, and from the end of September, the authors are working on the screenplay. So a really varied time, and I love that."

While it seems Cameron is currently writing the story, it is interesting that he is not penning the script. Despite the overwhelmingly negative critical opinion Terminator Genisys received, we here at Scified expect that come September Laeta Kalogridis will likely be involved in adapting Cameron's treatment for the screen, considering her previous work with Cameron on his box office breaking movie Avatar.

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While no doubt intentionally vague, Arnold's suggestion that principal photography could begin as early as next year would seem likely, with a release date probably in the first half of 2019, at which point the production rights should be quite safely back in Cameron's hands. Executive Producer David Ellison's Skydance Media will likely produce the movie alongside Cameron's company Lightstorm Entertainment, with Paramount Pictures likely distributing, and as we have previously reported Deadpool director Tim Miller will reportedly direct, while Sonja Klaus (Prometheus) has been hired as Production Designer.

We just hope that Cameron is aware of the potentially franchise breaking true, definitive nature of the Terminator movies timeline. If this is ignored or not taken into account in Cameron's story for the new Terminator movie/trilogy then he could cause more damage to the franchise he created than Terminator Genisys did. Even though he is reported to be supervising a trilogy that will reboot the series, it is highly unlikely that Cameron will retcon the first two movies from the canon of the universe, thus the issue would still remain.