Arnold Schwarzenegger as "The Terminator" Photo: (c) Orion Pictures 1984
Would you buy a used cyborg from this man?
The rights to the “Terminator” franchise are about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, according to Collider.com. There may be life left in the venerable science fiction movie series, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the numbers for this past summer’s “Terminator: Salvation,” which grossed in the $125 million range, respectable, until you consider that it cost some $200 million to make. (Numbers are according to Box Office Mojo.)
The Halcyon Company bought the rights to the franchise in 2007 and had a movie on the screen within two years, not bad by Hollywood standards. However, the small matter of the $75 million figure between what the movie cost to make and what it’s so far earned back may have made it look like more a liability at this point. According to Collider, companies interested in bidding on the “Terminator” property include Sony, Summit Entertainment and Media Rights Capital. Supposedly, the rights to James Cameron’s original two films, “The Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” are not to be included in the sale.
Summit appears to be in the franchise market. The mini-major recently announced it had acquired the rights to the “Highlander” property, and was beginning development of a “re-imagining” of the cult hit with “Fast and Furious” director Justin Lin and “Iron Man” screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.
The original “Terminator” was actually a low-budget movie, and at the time, James Cameron was a budding B-movie director whose feature debut had been “Piranha 2.” The movie grossed a little under $75 million, and was considered a big hit in 1984 dollars. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time. Cameron did not come back for the next two installments, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” or “Terminator: Salvation,” directed by Jonathon Mostow and McG respectively.
“Avatar,” Cameron’s first scripted feature since “Titanic,” is scheduled to open in December.
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