By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders, Variety.
Terminator
Warner Bros. knows how to do franchises -- Fox take note. With the Terminator franchise ready to give birth to another trilogy, WB couldn't help but jump on board.
Warner Bros Releases a New Trilogy of Terminator
Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the North American distribution rights to Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, a film that should hopefully reinvent the franchise and open the doorway to two more. Though I can't say I'm exactly thrilled about the title -- seriously, what's with long titles nowadays? -- Warner Bros. involvement does mean that the project isn't going to be in waiting.
WB plans to get Terminator Salvation in theaters by summer 2009, meaning an early 2008 production start date is in order. The studio's involvement serves as another blow to MGM, who had hoped to acquire distrib rights to both this project and The Hobbit.
Halcyon sued MGM in July in Los Angeles Superior Court, claming the distributor was interfering with its distribution plans on the fourth Terminator film on the basis of an MGM claim that it had acquired an exclusive 30-day negotiating window.
Warner Bros. already had
its foot in the door thanks to the studio's involvement on Terminator 3; giving the studio first right of negotiation for domestic theatrical release.
Terminator 4 producers claim that the new film will carry the size and scale of Terminator 3, and will have an event-sized budget. It will likely be less than the $200 million pricetag of Terminator 3, which was saddled with extravagant costs that included above the line payouts, rights payments and heavy fees incurred through a complex financial structure.
Warner Bros. isn't the only variable ensuring a quick start date for Terminator Salvation. A screenplay has already been turned in by Terminator
3 scribes John Brancato and Michael Ferris.
Unlike the first three Terminator films, the new trilogy will take place in the future.
"This is set in the future, in a full-scale war between Skynet and humankind," Anderson told Daily Variety.
Exec producer Moritz Borman follows with: "The third film was really the conclusion of what happened in the 'now.' You will find the most-loved characters, but the intention here is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy."
Though doubtful, the producers are hoping for Arnold to do a cameo.
Add to Heffee!
