Suuuure it is. Terminator Genisys may have made most of its budget back overseas thanks to a strong opening in China, but it came nowhere near the #1 spot in North America and has been savaged by critics. That explains then why it was reported last week that plans for the franchise – which included a new trilogy and TV series – have been put “on hold indefinitely”.
Well, apparently that’s not the case according to Dana Goldberg, chief creative officer of Skydance Media. “I wouldn’t say on hold, so much as re-adjusting,” she revealed before admitting that they wish the movie had performed better domestically. “Happily, we live in the world where the domestic number had a level of importance 10 or 15 years ago — I’m not saying it’s not important, it is — but we have to play to a worldwide market. In terms of ‘Terminator,’ the worldwide market paid attention, but we’re not taking the domestic number lightly.” To be fair, international box office has certainly saved plenty of other franchises.
Whether Terminator will be among them remains to be seen. Even with a haul of $440 million worldwide, it’s not thought that Genisys was able to turn a profit, so forging ahead with the sequels which were set for release in 2017 and 2018 likely isn’t a priority!
“We are not going to begin production at the beginning of next year,” Goldberg added, “because again, it would be silly to not have to worry about what audiences have to say.”
So, in other words, it sounds like the Terminator franchise is pretty much “on hold”, right?
