James Cameron’s Secret Terminator Project Has Me Cautiously Excited After Genisys & Dark Fate’s Failures

Summary

• James Cameron’s secret Terminator project has reignited some of my interest in the franchise despite past failures.
• The next Terminator may involve AI, a topic Cameron has shown keen interest in from the start of the series.
• I hope the new Terminator movie will bring something fresh to the series, moving away from past reboots.

Almost against my better judgment, James Cameron’s new Terminator project is getting me kind of excited about the franchise again. James Cameron movies are always major events, with the writer/director constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with visual effects forward while creating memorable heroes and villains. I could successfully argue that the Terminator movie franchise should have stopped after the second entry since the sci-fi saga felt satisfyingly wrapped up by the sequel’s final scene. Of course, the movies were simply too profitable for that to happen.

The subsequent four sequels all struggled to recapture what made the first two work. The third entry was a lukewarm remake of Judgment Day, Salvation tried – and failed – to take the series in a different direction, while the fifth and sixth entries took the legacy sequel route to mediocre results. I’m mildly curious about Netflix’s Terminator Zero anime, but after so many duds in a row, another Terminator movie would need to work hard to get me invested again.

James Cameron’s Secret Terminator Project Is Exciting Regardless Of Previous Failures

Cameron’s next Terminator is top secret for now

During a conversation with THR where he touched on his lack of involvement with the anime, Cameron confirmed he was working on a new Terminator project, but one that is “… totally classified” for now. I find it interesting the filmmaker didn’t even reveal if the “Terminator stuff” he’s developing is even a movie. Regardless of how Terminator: Dark Fate turned out, the news Cameron is still developing material in the universe he created can’t help but intrigue me ever so slightly.

If Cameron and his team are working on a new story, I hope it’s trying to reinvent what audiences expect from a Terminator movie.

Many of Cameron’s predictions about the future of technology, warfare or AI have proven eerily prescient, and if he’s working on something new within the franchise, there must be a hook he’s interested in. According to a talk Cameron gave to Dell Technologies World in 2023 (via X), the next movie will involve AI, though he offered no further details. I can see why this would interest him so much since the question of how AI will impact the world in the years again is a very current concern.

What I’d love to see from the next Terminator is something fresh. The slasher/chase angle has been done to death, which was part of the problem with Dark Fate and why it failed to connect. That 2019 adventure felt too familiar, with the setpieces both lacking visceral impact while recycling concepts from prior outings. If Cameron and his team are working on a new story, I hope it’s trying to reinvent what audiences expect from a Terminator movie.

How Involved James Cameron Was With Terminator Genisys & Dark Fate

Cameron took a long break from The Terminator

Like many fans of the first two installments, I spent years waiting for word about Cameron reuniting with Arnold Schwarzenegger for a third Terminator. Issues over copyright and royalties eventually saw the director pass on the third film, and he largely kept his distance from the series for over a decade. Cameron later consulted on Terminator: Genisys, though his creative role was limited on the movie. It was his idea that the fake skin on the T-800 model could age like a regular human, explaining the return of Arnie in the sequel.

Dark Fate signaled to me that it might be time to retire the series after so many failed reboots.

I never understood the filmmaker’s pre-release comments about Genisys praising it, and he went so far as to claim the badly-reviewed entry had “reinvigorated” the saga. The rights of the property later reverted to Cameron, who planned on creating a new Terminator trilogy with director Tim Miller. From all accounts, Cameron took a heavy creative hand in Dark Fate, from the screenwriting right through to post-production.

For me, this sounded like a mark of quality control, but the most questionable elements of the film – such as the controversial death of John Connor in the opening – came from him. He and Miller also clashed while working on the sequel, and while Dark Fate scored a reasonable 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, it only earned $250 million worldwide (via The Numbers). It also signaled to me that it might be time to retire the series after so many failed reboots.

Will James Cameron’s New Terminator Project Be The One To Save The Franchise?

Where can the Terminator possibly go now?

I don’t know if it’s nostalgia or misplaced franchise loyalty, but I don’t want Terminator to end on such a flat note with Dark Fate. The series is iconic for a reason, and it really shouldn’t be so hard to make a new entry with something original to say. Cameron has been honest about the failings of Dark Fate, and while he has an obvious financial incentive to keep making sequels, he must know serious course correction is needed.

Outside of
The Terminator
movies, James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s only other movie collaboration is 1994’s
True Lies
.

It’s hard to say if Terminator 7 will save the franchise or not, or if audiences can be lured back. I’ll keep an open mind, and from the sounds of it, the next film will be a total reset without Schwarzenegger or other cast members returning. AI and the development of Skynet is a good angle to explore for next outing too, but whether it’s enough to reinvigorate the property is a totally different question.

Source: THR, Twitter/X, Rotten Tomatoes, The Numbers