When you think about The Terminator movies, odds are you think of its main star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is, perhaps, his most well-known role to date. But now, nearly four decades since he first portrayed the T-800 in the 1984 blockbuster, the 75-year-old actor is finally ready to move on from the franchise for good.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Schwarzenegger was asked about The Terminator franchise, and whether or not it was done after the flop that was Terminator: Dark Fate. Although Schwarzenegger stated that the franchise itself is not done, he is done with it.
"The franchise is not done. I’m done," the actor said. "I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator. Someone has to come up with a great idea."
Schwarzenegger credited The Terminator films as one of the primary reasons for his success in Hollywood but also acknowledged the franchise's shortcomings -- especially the two latter films. He even went so far as to admit they were "just not well written."
"The first three movies were great. Number four [Salvation] I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written," he said.
The Terminator franchise as a whole has been a roaring success with over $3 billion in revenue as of 2010, the more recent films have failed to capture the magic of 1984's The Terminator and its 1991 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Even 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines found box office success with $433M worldwide.
However, the franchise has steadily been on the decline. Terminator Salvation earned $371M worldwide. And while Terminator Genisys topped that with $440M globally, the latest film, Terminator: Dark Fate, only earned $261M globally. The real falloff has been in North America though where each film continued to underperform the previous one at the domestic box office. Terminator: Dark Fate brought in just $62M at the North American box office, which was down from Terminator Genisys's $89M.
Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't necessarily to blame for the downfall, but it's clear something needs to change to revitalize the franchise. Back in December of 2022, director James Cameron floated the idea of trying to reboot the franchise, but nothing official has been announced. He said if he were to try and launch the franchise again it would be "much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy."
Anyone for a Terminator movie in which ChatGPT is the main bad guy?