The underwhelming box office performance of movies such as Alien: Covenant, Justice League, and The Mummy has put into question the viability of studios planning multi-year release schedules for movie franchises that haven't yet proven to be commercially and critically popular. Learning from this inevitable overexposure to the shared cinematic universe one of Hollywoods most successful directors James Cameron has announced through an interview with Vanity Fair that should Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 prove not to be box office successes Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 may not even get produced. Cameron also reiterated his point from a previous interview alongside Deadpool director Tim Miller with THR that the same business model holds true for the forthcoming new Terminator movie, meaning that previous news articles suggesting plans for a new Trilogy of Terminator movies will depend on how the new movie fairs both critically and commercially.
"It's the first of three, the story is mapped out over a three-film arc, but again, if we don't make any money there isn't gonna be a two and a three. Technically, we're thinking of them as three, four, and five. As if Terminator, and Terminator 2 exist, and the other ones are kind of alternate timelines that are no longer relevant."
This follows the news from The Terminator Fans of glimpses at the potential story of the new Terminator movie from screenwriter Billy Ray (Hunger Games) who recently joined the creative team behind the new Terminator movie. In addition to the recent reports that the new protagonist will be an 18-year-old female character of Mexican heritage called Dani Ramos opposite a latin actor as the movie's antagonist, it has also been confirmed that franchise star and action movie legend Arnold Schwarzenegger will once again return as a hero Terminator.
Cameron's return to the franchise he created and the return of franchise star Linda Hamilton has raised hopes in fans that the Terminator franchise would return back to the prominence of the first two installments of the franchise. While we too hope that the Terminator franchise can be resurrected under Camerons guidance, the reluctance to use Schwarzenegger as the antagonist and Cameron's recent statements that the new Terminator movie will be upbeat and cheerful raises concerns that the new movie may continue the franchises shift away from the science fiction horror and action tropes established within the series first two installments.
