The Terminator Reboot: James Cameron Will Oversee Franchise With Tim Miller, But No Arnold Schwarzenegger? [Opinion]
A Terminator reboot is in the works from James Cameron, which might be good or bad news depending on your point of view. Mostly known for his blockbuster successes, James Cameron also directed the mostly-CG film Avatar, forcing M. Night Shyamalan to rename the live-action adaptation of the cartoon The Last Airbender.
The former did much better at the box office, with a sequel allegedly starting production this year. M. Night Shyamalan’s directing, as well as a story requiring you to watch the cartoon to fully understand it, turned the latter into an expensive flop.
Avatar itself had been marred by an LGBT protest focusing on the lack of gay or lesbian characters, and further disregarded after fans began realizing it was the same basic story we’d seen before. Ferngully and Pocahontas were among the films which Avatar was said to be a clone of.
It seems James Cameron’s 12-year animated film project hasn’t deterred him from attempting to make Hollywood great again. It’s been generally accepted that ever since Cameron sold his rights to the Terminator franchise in 1984, according to Engadget, the films had gotten worse and worse. Terminator 3 took a slightly different route, going for humor more than attempting to stick to the story, which had ended nicely with James Cameron’s turn. After that, the films were often very forgettable or Arnold Schwarzenegger was starting to show his age.
It’s unknown if Arnold will be back for the Terminator reboot, but James Cameron will have some steep expectations to reach. He’d made the franchise a hit in the 80s, with visuals which still hold up today and a story which never felt outdated. James may have to raise the bar for his attempt to re-do the origin story since the original first film wasn’t quite as successful as the second.
This will be the second attempt to reboot the franchise as well, since Terminator: Genisys attempted to “fix” the franchise like X-Men: Days of Future Past did. Much like the Star Trek reboot, it was mildly successful, but upset fans with the follow-up.
Directing responsibilities will fall into the hands of former Deadpool director Tim Miller, who surprisingly made a movie about the merc with a mouth exactly what the character’s fans wanted to see. This rare feat may aid Miller in helping the story of Skynet, Kyle Reese, and John Connor be even better than the first time. He was also the visual effects guru who turned Scott Pilgrim into a fan favorite.
Tim Miller’s tendency to add humor to the story might also be a deterrent to the generally serious tone of the Terminator franchise.
Another obvious downside to this is that Tim Miller won’t be directing Deadpool 2, so that one might end up being just another bad sequel. David Leitch will have his directorial debut with Deadpool 2, having been a stunt coordinator for most of his career with films like Ninja Assassin, Speed Racer, TRON Legacy, and Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. Maybe Leitch will impress us with his directorial debut as opposed to his work on some of Hollywood’s biggest disappointments.
The proverbial elephant in the room is obviously the fact that moviegoers often aren’t receptive to movie reboots, and they’re often right. Point Break, RoboCop, and Total Recall are clear examples of this, while Dredd and True Grit surprised us.
A lot can go wrong as James Cameron puts Tim Miller in charge of the Terminator reboot. Bringing Arnold Schwarzenegger back could actually be enough to ruin it, despite the fact that Arnold basically created the mold by which a successor will be judged. Fans might feel the reboot is another unnecessary idea and there aren’t enough original movies anymore, or the film might surprise us all.
[Featured Image by Lionsgate]
