Briefly: And things get interesting. Megan Ellison‘s company Annapurna Pictures has won the auction for rights to make future films in the Terminator franchise, beating out LionsGate and becoming the producers behind Justin Lin and Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s potential Terminator sequel.
Deadline says the company now has rights to make “at least two more” films in the series. We don’t have much more detail now, and I’ll refer you back to the thoughts put down two days ago when this outcome started to seem like a real possibility. In short, we’re now looking at a new Terminator film from the same person who is financing some ambitious and very promising indie prestige pictures like The Wettest County in the World, Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmasters, and Kathryn Bigelow’s tentatively-titled Kill Bin Laden. This is a better outcome than having the rights land at a studio — The Terminator has always been an independently-owned series — and a development that augers well for the new film. I still think this series is close to being out of gas, but if the same person who wants to make all those movies I just listed also wants to make Terminator 5, I’m curious to see what happens.
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And, just like that, I’m interested in a Terminator movie once more. An auction is going on now in which the rights to produce a new Terminator film are changing hands (yes, again) and LionsGate was emerging as the presumptive winner. But now Annapurna Pictures, the production company run by Megan Ellison, is trying to outbid the little lion.
Why is this a big deal? It might not be. But Megan Ellison has emerged as a recent savior for big indie prestige pics. She’s paying for Paul Thomas Anderson’s new one, Kathryn Bigelow’s Kill Bin Laden and John Hillcoat’s The Wettest County in the World, and helping fund Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmasters. The Terminator doesn’t seem like the type of movie her company would go for at all. So what gives? Read More »
The fifth movies in two franchises both have significant updates today. Justin Lin, who just finished another fifth franchise movie with Fast Five, exclusively spoke to MTV about his plans for Terminator 5, which he’ll direct with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role. Not not only did he deny recent reports that the original cast will be back for the new film but hinted that he doesn’t want to be beholden to the continuity of the third and fourth films in the series: Terminator: Rise of the Machines directed by Jonathan Mostow and Terminator Salvation directed by McG. Plus, he’s unsure if he’ll tackle that film next or the sequel to Fast Five.
In other “five” news, screenwriter Terry Rossio has already finished, and turned into Disney, the script for Pirates of the Caribbean 5. With the fourth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, mere weeks away from release, everyone seems excited about the follow up except one key component: Johnny Depp. He’ll do it, but says “We should hold off for a bit.”
Read Lin and Depp’s quotes plus more after the jump. Read More »
When news broke that a pitch was circling Hollywood for a fifth Terminator movie teaming up director Justin Lin (Fast Five) and star Arnold Schwarzenegger, it inspired a full range of emotions. The good ones centered on Lin’s ability to stage awesome, practical action and the possibility of a twisting, turning, awesome time traveling film that could wipe our memories of Terminator: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation. The flip side was the reminder of Terminator: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation. According to the latest rumors, Terminator 5 (or Terminator 2012 as it’s being pitched) might lean towards the earlier films. Latino Review reports that the pitch going around Hollywood not only has Schwarzenegger attached, but the “entire original cast” along with him. Read More »
Tuesday afternoon in Hollywood, movie studios are bidding on a the rights to an as-yet-unwritten movie that would have Arnold Schwarzenegger return as the Terminator in a film directed by Justin Lin. According to Deadline, the package has several studios – including Universal, Sony and Lionsgate – salivating, even though it carries a hefty price tag of at least $25 million upfront against a purchase price around $36 million.
Basically this means that once a studio pays a hefty sum for the rights to this project, a fifth Terminator film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Justin Lin is around the corner. Read More »
One sequel has a release date and a script, the other is still just conceptual, but both franchises are fan favorites. Jon Chu, the director of Step Up 3D and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is set to direct G.I. Joe 2 and once again geeked out in the press about his love of the franchise, hopefully inspiring fans everywhere who might be scared that the guy who directed Step Up 2 The Streets is at the helm of their beloved franchise. He’s conducted multiple interviews dropping a ton of information about what’s he’s got up his sleeve.
Then there’s Justin Lin, whose Fast Five is mere weeks away. He’s been rumored to be interested in directing a new Terminator movie, referred to as Terminator 5 and, in a recent interview, confirmed this and said that he’s even talked to Arnold Schwarzenegger about it. Read quotes from both directors after the jump. Read More »
After last year’s intense bidding war over the rights, plus the recent announcement that Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting back into acting, Deadline is now reporting that Hollywood is once again seriously interested in the Terminator franchise. Leading the charge, apparently, is Universal who would reportedly like to pair Fast Five director Justin Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan with the world first created by James Cameron. Lin and Morgan raked in the dough for the studio with Fast and Furious and Morgan additionally wrote both Wanted and the upcoming 47 Ronin for them. It seems like Universal is very happy with Fast Five and would like to keep the pair around. Going cyborg might do the trick. Read more after the break. Read More »
MTV recently sat down with director James Cameron, and the result is a bunch of interesting, but not necessarily newsworthy, bits. I’ve embedded some of the more interesting video clips after the jump.
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