14 DAY TRIAL // Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are feeling confident in their planned “Terminator” reboot to announce the release dates for the “Genisys” sequels, but not confident enough as to not tie the fate of the trilogy to the success of the 2015 film.
Next year in July, “Terminator: Genisys” will open in theaters, this being the eagerly anticipated “Terminator” reboot that should have happened years ago. Instead, we got “Terminator: Salvation,” which was deemed a complete disappointment by fans.
So Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming back for “Terminator.” “Genisys” also stars Emilia Clarke, Jay Courtney, Jason Clarke and Matt Smith, and is directed by Alan Taylor.
THR notes that Paramount is looking at this installment as the first one in a new trilogy. The second and third film will be out on May 19, 2017 and June 29, 2018, respectively.
Clearly, the studio is confident in “Terminator” enough to go on the record with the release dates, but if you look at the distance between the first and second film, you will know that said confidence in the franchise is actually limited.
In other words, the second and third films will only be made if “Genisys” performs well at the box office. If it does, then the other two films will be shot back to back and released with a one-year distance between them, which is common practice in Hollywood these days.
“Terminator” is an old and very popular film franchise, so it would be easy to assume that “Genisys” would kill it at the box office, especially since it also has Arnie back, but also benefits from the involvement of one of the hottest actresses of the day, Clarke, aka Daenerys from “Game of Trones.”
A look at “Terminator: Salvation” is enough to tell you that that’s not the case. Though it boasted a cast including Christian Bale and Sam Worthington, that movie had such a huge budget that, when studio bosses drew the line at the end of its theatrical run, it simply proved a very unwise investment. Money down the drain, as they say.
At the same time, “Salvation” aimed to do so much with its story that it completely forgot where it had started from, and this is something that no fan of an older franchise could ever forget in a new installment.
So, unless “Genisys” is done right, it too could be a flop because, with a franchise as old as this one, paying attention to what the fans want is crucial. We’ll see in July 2015 if that was a lesson well learned or not.