The Terminator Franchise Might Be Dead After the Dark Fate Debacle
Terminator: Dark Fate did win the domestic Box Office weekend on its opening. But the problem is that it has brought in just $29 Million upon its opening weekend at the domestic Box Office. Terminator: Genisys made $27 Million and it was treated as the worst movie of the entire franchise. It started plans for a possible trilogy but because the critics hated it and the fans hated it, Paramount had to rethink their plans. So, they brought James Cameron back to work on the story and hired Deadpool director Tim Miller.
This combination resulted in a brand new story that surely did use elements from the previous Terminator movies to make the movie feel fresh and yet a part of the franchise. Tim Miller & James Cameron took a lot of smart decisions with this one. The first one was to place Terminator: Dark Fate as a direct sequel to Judgement Day. This allowed Cameron & Miller to bring Linda Hamilton back. She proved that she is the heart of the franchise and Arnold Schwarzenegger fans really got to give him a heartfelt goodbye.
But, this goodbye does not really account for something as major as the one fans said to Hugh Jackman’s Logan or Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. But the still, the final few moments do give you mini-chills. And don’t worry, this is no spoiler because every Terminator movie involving Schwarzenegger till date has ended in the same way.
The initial reactions to this movie posed it as the best Terminator sequel since Judgement Day. And those who did go on to watch this film could agree to that. The critical review is also quite positive as the film has only got a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The only problem is that not a lot of people have gone to watch this movie. The worldwide opening numbers for Dark Fate that have totaled in are $123 Million. So, there is a chance that Dark Fate might turn out to be a major bomb.
There is a chance that the good word of mouth might spread till the next weekend and the film holds off strongly at the Box Office. But that scenario seems quite unlikely as of now. Genisys ended up making a total of $440 Million and with these numbers and the bad reviews it got, the creatives had to rethink the story. Dark Fate has clearly brought in new concepts and the likes of James Cameron & Tim Miller have really been able to set up one or possibly two sequels. But if Dark Fate ends up performing even worse than Genisys, then we can be sure of the fact that the Terminator franchise might be dead for good this time.
Dark Fate did seem to be an expensive movie. It surely did get a budget of about $150 Million or above as the visual Effects & action in the movie was quite crisp. And because the reviews are positive, we will have to wait and see how the film will end up performing the next week. There is a lot that depends upon the next week’s performance at the domestic & international Box Office. If the film shows more than a 40% drop in its earnings by the next weekend, then it will be a major hint for the fact that the 2 sequels that Jim Cameron had in mind will be cancelled, again!
If the sequels do get made then we can assume fresh faces to step into the franchise. Linda Hamilton and Natalie Reyes might return along with Mackenzie Davis. There’s a possibility for Gabriel Luna to return as well. But the franchise might not feel the same without Arnold. If the franchise hasn’t been able to pull its weight with Arnold, then it might do even worse with fresh new faces. So let’s see whether Linda Hamilton and her new team will get to defeat the new villain, i.e. Legion in future sequels.