It turns out that scheduling two sequels 10 months before a film hits theaters isn’t such a great idea. Even though Paramount and Skydance had scheduled two more Terminator movies, the future of the franchise is unknown after Genisys floundered at the box office.
Back in September 2014, Paramount scheduled Terminator 2 for May 19, 2017 and Terminator 3 for June 29, 2018, with plans to make the films back-to-back. J.K. Simmons even admitted that he was signed on for both future films.
But then Genisys landed with a big thud. The movie was ripped by critics and it only grossed $27 million on its opening weekend. The film has grossed just $82.1 million in North America, with $196.8 million from foreign markets. Considering the film cost $155 million, plus there is all the money that gets pumped into promoting the film, the possibility of getting another Terminator movie is unclear.
“We will definitely need to see the holds globally to confirm that people like the film,” a Paramount source told The Hollywood Reporter, confirming that the next film is not a given.
One of the other problems that the franchise faces is that Skydance and director Alan Taylor didn’t make sure that Genisys had at least one other marquee name in it. Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke (who presumably wouldn’t be back for another one anyway) and Emilia Clarke aren’t household names. So the biggest star in this movie was still Arnold Schwarzenegger and his presence likely explains why the film has done decent business overseas.
Genisys was a movie built on setting up other movies, which isn’t the way to make a good movie. If Genisys ends up being the only Paramount/Skydance Terminator, it will remain a trailer for nothing that ever happened. And after seeing it, we should probably be happy that nothing might ever come from it.
screenshot from YouTube trailer