Posts Tagged ‘terminator’
USA Today got a chance to chat with filmmaker James Cameron who filmed the unannounced Black Eyed Peas concert with 3D cameras in New York’s Times Square on Wednesday night. Cameron dropped a few interesting news tidbits, including information on the 3D release of Titanic, a possible extended cut rerelease of Avatar this Fall, more critical comments on how Hollywood is doing 3D wrong, and his thoughts on authorship of older catelog titles.
- Fox is targeting Spring 2012 release for the 3D version of Titanic, to coincide with the “100 year anniversary of the sailing of the ship.”
- He’s hoping to release Avatar on 3D Blu-ray in Fall 2010 but says that might get pushed as they are considering rereleasing the film in theaters during that time. Exhibitors think they have “left a couple of hundred million dollars on the table” by moving the film out of theaters to make room for Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. “The question is the appetite still going to be there after the summer glut of movies. We’re going to assess that. We’re talking about maybe adding in additional footage and doing something creative.” Cameon has said previously that the planned DVD release will contain five or six minutes of fully finished, theatrical-release-quality deleted scenes and 15 more minutes of footage that was removed early on and thus contains rough computer generated imagery and effects.Of course, if they could get the cash to finish that footage for a rerelease, the film could include up to 21 more minutes of new footage. Sounds like a great idea to me.
- Cameron says to “do it right”, that it should take six months to a year to convert a film to 3D in post production. He mentions the 3D conversion of Clash of the Titans is taking eight weeks. He says that Hollywood is ignoring “the fact that we natively authored the film in 3D, and decide that what we accomplished in several years of production could be done in an eight week (post-production 3D) conversion.” Cameron warns that “if people put bad 3D in the marketplace they’re going to hold back or even threaten the emerging of 3D. People will be confused by differences in quality. … Because the audience doesn’t know the difference — when they put on the glasses on, they don’t know if the problem is in the glasses, the TV or the actual way in which the stereo space is managed by the producers of the film.”
- Cameron says the converted process is “never going to be as good as if you shot it in 3D” and calls the result “sort of 2.8D.” But he isn’t totally against post production 3D of existing film catalog titles as long as it’s “done well” and “driven by the artist.”
“If Star Wars gets converted into 3D I think George (Lucas) should do it. If Terminator gets converted into 3D, I should do it.”
You can read the whole interview with Cameron on USA Today.
via: marketsaw
Now that Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor has gained the rights to the Terminator Franchise, everyone is wondering what the future of the franchise might hold. William Wisher, the uncredited co-writer of Terminator and credited co-writer of Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (shared with James Cameron) has written a detailed 24-page treatment for Terminator 5, and a 4-page concept outline for Terminator 6. Mike Fleming, a self-confessed Terminator fanboy, has read both treatments and calls it a “a satisfying conclusion” to the six-film storyline.
Apparently the scripts follow the storylines set-up in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation but turns the focus back to the core characters (Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, and the T-800) and time travel storyline of the first two installments. Here is an excerpt from Deadline:
“Wisher’s 2-picture construct takes place in a post-apocalyptic battleground, and factors in an element of time travel that allows for Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to interact beyond their single fateful meeting when he traveled back in time to protect her in the original film. Wisher has created a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger that is as surprising as his shift from villain in the first film, to John Connor’s bodyguard in the second. Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be needed until the final film. … There are several new villains, and plenty of firepower. For instance, a swarm of “Night Crawlers,” 4 1/2-foot tall border sentries that are set like mines to spring up out of the ground and ambush rebel fighters with 10 MM pistols built into their wrists, and fingers and feet that are razor sharp. Also fresh off the Skynet assembly line are new shape-shifting cyborgs that can morph together in Transformers-like mode, and are more lethal than anything we’ve seen in previous Terminator installments.”
Sounds pretty cool eh? Sony and Lionsgate are both interested in producing the next film. And while everything appears to be done on spec thus far, it appears that Wisher has painted himself in the position of having a viable and interesting pitch which could quickly be crafted into the next film. James Cameron has seemed uninterested in the last couple films, but it would be interesting if Sony or Lionsgate could convince the filmmaker to come on board to produce. Cameron might be enticed with the possibility of concluding the series he created, especially considering that they will probably be filmed in 3D.
The Terminator rights sale saga just keeps on going. At the beginning of this week, Sony and Lionsgate were jointly bidding for the rights to the Terminator franchise. They lost out to Pacificor, the hedge fund that had loaned money to Halcyon to buy the Terminator rights in the first place, before calling in the debt which caused the rights to go up for sale.
If you think about that for a second, it looks kinda fishy. Sony and Lionsgate think so. Lawyers for Sony say that their bid was the best one, but that Halcyon and Pacificor had struck a deal last Friday, essentially rigging the sale in favor of the hedge fund. But now there’s a new wrinkle. After some negotiation, Sony and Lionsgate have been given an option to negotiate to produce and distribute the next Terminator film.
An update to an LA Times article on the ongoing process provides the key info.The paper says,
Despite the rancor in court, Sony and Lions Gate have been given an exclusive window by Pacificor to negotiate to produce and distribute the next “Terminator” movie, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Which means, basically, that Pacificor has really done a nice job here. They own the rights and pull the strings, and have left the hard work — actually making and releasing another movie — to other companies. Good work, hedge fund! Will Pacificor play ball with Sony and Lionsgate? You’d expect so. While the auction got heavy at the last minute, there weren’t too many rights bidders who were really competitive. These companies obviously wanted to do something with the property, so why would Pacificor go to great lengths to find someone else to produce and distribute?
And what about McG, who has said more than once that he wants to make two more Terminator films? His representative argued in court yesterday that McG had a right of first refusal deal with Halcyon to direct any future sequels, and that Pacificor and any producing partners need to honor it. The judge disagreed, and said that if McG isn’t given the chance to direct the next film, he could file a claim against Halcyon in bankruptcy court.
What are the chances of McG actually suing, should a sequel come to pass without him, and of that claim generating anything tangible? More than likely, you’d expect Sony and LionsGate to throw him an executive producer credit on a future film and leave it at that.
The Terminator movie rights went up for auction today, and Sony Pictures and Lionsgate were bidding frantically back and fourth from 3:00pm to 8:00pm tonight. But as the dust cleared, neither movie studio came out the winner. Halcyon accepted a $29.5 million bid from a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor, the debtholder which pushed the company into bankruptcy.Of course, this is subject to the approval by the bankruptcy court.
According to Finke’s source, “Sony and Lionsgate dropped out at just under $29.5 million when it became clear that Pacificor was willing to pay almost any amount of money for Terminator.” As part of the deal, Halcyon will keep the revenue streams from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation, and will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie produced in the future.
What this all means for the future of the Terminator franchise is unclear. The last Terminator film earned $372 million worldwide theatrically. And while Arnold might soon be available for big screen offers, I’m not sure they could afford him. I’m not a money guy, but it seems to me that the smartest thing they could do is make the fifth Termiantor film for about half the estimated budget of Salvation, aiming in the $100-$120 million range.
Last we heard, Lionsgate held the top bid for the rights to the Terminator franchise, a $15 million purchase and a 5% cut of future gross. Variety now has word that Sony Pictures has submitted a big on Thursday, the last and final day to submit offers. The future of the Terminator franchise, which includes the rights to future Terminator films, TV series, DVDs and merchandise, will be decided on Monday. So check back then to learn who will be in control of the future of the Terminator franchise.
Reports on Deadline Hollywood Daily are liquid, to say the least. One minute they might say one thing, the next… the complete opposite. As a result, I feel a little on-edge when I report on one of their stories but find curious inconsistencies popping up.
The current headline is SOURCES: Halcyon Chooses Lionsgate As Stalking Horse Bidder In Bankruptcy Sale Of Rights To ‘The Terminator’ Franchise.
According to the attached report, Halcyon have asked Lionsgate to make an offer for the Terminator rights as a preferred bidder. It seems to follow that, should the bid not be beat, the sale will complete - but a stalking horse bid like this isn’t anything like a done deal yet. What we have, really, is Halcyon setting up a safety net to cut out really low offers.
But… perhaps there’s more to this report than meets the eye.
Reporting on Finke’s story, The Playlist are saying that Lionsgate have the rights in the bag. Are they referring to an older draft of the story? Looks like that might be the case. I can’t Google up any cached version of the story, but recent changes to Google have put paid to that kind of trickery anyway.
What does it mean for the Terminator franchise if Lionsgate do snag the property? I don’t think we can really tell, and anybody who does express some kind of forecast is only guessing anyway. This whole scenario still reads like look and see to me, Lionsgate deal or no deal.
It’s clear to me that there’s still life in the Terminator franchise, perhaps most particularly if the films are reasonably priced. I’d like to see a smaller outfit like Lionsgate in charge, as opposed to one of the studios, if it means smaller financial risk and therefore bigger creative risk. Of course, on the other hand, I’ve sat through hours worth of Saw films that seemed completely drained of inspirational creative ambition…
Expect to be overloaded on James Cameron and Avatar news this weekend folks. Dave will have an interview with the King of the World up later this morning — but for now, let’s take a look at his thoughts on McG’s Terminator Salvation. Also, there’s a little tidbit about how he sold the rights to the first film for $1.
The first we heard of his thoughts on Salvation came from MTV. In an interview on December 9, he said:
I have seen it, and unfortunately I saw it the wrong way, on cable at the hotel, while I was working, over three nights because I don’t have much time. It’s better than I thought it was going to be.
It’s actually quite reverential to the mythos of the ‘Terminator’ world. I think McG and the writers tried hard to keep reacquainting you with some of those ideas in the story that they were weaving. So actually I thought it was pretty cool. I did feel that it sort of lacked Je ne sais quoi. Although I love Sam [Worthington] in it.
I didn’t care for Salvation at all personally, but even I would say that watching it on hotel room cable across several nights is probably not the best way to absorb it. You really need a decently sized television, and a good sound system, to appreciate the few good aspects of that film.
Then, he told UGO earlier today:
I think Sam [Worthington] is remarkable in the film because, well, I think Sam is remarkable in anything he does. Interestingly, I think McG did a good job in the sense…I think he was almost too referential to the mythos of the first and second film. He over-quoted them in a way? It didn’t feel to me to be enough of a reinvention. I mean the thing we did with the second film is that we reinvented the first film completely; spun it on its ass and made the Terminator the good guy, and came up with a whole new concept for a villain, it felt fresh. I didn’t feel the fourth picture was fresh enough. It also lacked a certain stamp of authenticity because Arnold wasn’t in it. I mean, he was in it briefly, digitally, but that’s not the same thing.
In this case, I wholeheartedly agree with him. McG spent a lot of time across several Comic-Cons trying to convince fans that it would be the Terminator they know and love — meanwhile, it seems he forgot to actually create a decent world of his own.
The Toronto Sun probably got the juiciest response from Cameron when asked about Salvation, and if he would return to the franchise:
I’ve moved on creatively from The Terminator, so I’m not really interested in that imagery and even those ideas anymore — and I’m not sure the world is that interested either. It’s run its course, I feel.
His [Schwarzenegger's] persona was part of The Terminator and when you uncouple those, you get Terminator Salvation, which is actually a fine film from a pure filmmaking standpoint — it just doesn’t gel up into anything mind-blowing.
Here too, I would agree. Even though Terminator 3 wasn’t all that great, seeing Schwarzenegger back in the franchise was far more compelling than anything Salvation offered me. He continues:
I wish I hadn’t sold the rights for one dollar… If I had a little time machine and I could only send back something the length of a tweet, it’d be — ‘Don’t sell.’
Apparently, he sold the rights to the Terminator franchise for the opportunity to direct the first film. Imagine what it would have been like if he kept the rights to the franchise… I think I just made myself sad.
[Via: io9]
The rights to the Terminator franchise are on the block, and the future of the film series is in doubt at the moment. But someone will end up holding the bag sooner or later (or a recapitalized Halcyon will retain them) and at that point another film will go into production. A fifth has been in development, though it hasn’t gone terribly far, given the financial instability of rights holder Halcyon.
Prior to release, Terminator: Salvation was said to be the first film in a new trilogy, and director McG had previously said he wanted to make the additional films. Last night, during the BD-Live commentary on Salvation, McG said he still plans to make those movies.
The only transcript of the chat I have right now is the liveblog done by a slightly beered-up Jason Chen at Gizmodo. There, amidst some healthy scorn for the technical difficulties encountered during the livecast, Chen has these notes:
7:13: He just announced that he’s making another Terminator movie. Seriously.
7:16: Oh and for those people who are punching themselves in the face that he’s making another one? He said he’s making one after that.
7:21: And now McG is being coy about making another one? I don’t get it.
7:24: And now he’s talking about a second or third movie again.
7:46: He says Sarah Connor is going to be in the next film, but he’s not sure how he’s going to pull that off.
Additionally, Chen recounts that McG says he only saw one episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles and that he ignored Terminator 3. He also expressed disappointment that he wasn’t able to make the best film in the series.
And just in case you think McG didn’t learn anything from Christian Bale, there’s this comment in response to a question about the “horrible Charlie’s Angels films”: “I really like those movies. If you don’t like them you can fuck off.”
The second most awesome media-related fire sale of the week is the ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ auction of props and materials from Terminator: Salvation. (The first most awesome being the eBay auction of every scrap of Nine Inch Nails’ touring gear.) Halcyon needs cash — every penny they can get, it seems — so the company is selling off literally everything from Salvation. You can get full character wardrobe, a chaingun, an aged microwave and just about everything else that might have appeared on a set for the film, excepting the actual actors. If the company could, I bet Halcyon would even make you a deal on Sam Worthington.
But what of their most valuable asset: the actual rights to the Terminator franchise. How’s that sale going? Just fine, says the company. “Oh, really?”, says we.
Nikki Finke is running a statement from Halcyon that has a whole lot of jibber-jabber, and this bottom line:
Given the significant positive interest in the Terminator franchise, we expect to be in a position to announce a successful sale or recapitalization no later than February 1, 2010.
An either/or scenario seems to be developing. Either someone will buy the rights outright, or Halcyon will negotiate new capital for their own company — essentially taking out a new mortgage to keep the house. Carrying the strained housing market analogy further, one could speculate that the Terminator rights might actually be a fixer-upper joint in a lousy neighborhood, and the buyers aren’t exactly beating a path to the door. Or maybe I’m just being overly negative. This real estate market has got me down.
By the way, my favorite item so far in the Salvation sale is this box of comics, evidently used for research. Four hundred bucks gets you about twenty dollars worth of funnybooks. A steal! (Of your money.)
Halcyon’s full statement is below.
When Halcyon announced the bidding process for the Terminator franchise last month, we indicated that in addition to an outright sale of the property, we would also consider other strategic options, including a recapitalization of the company. Over the past few weeks Halcyon and its professionals have engaged in in-depth discussions and negotiations with numerous serious potential buyers, including several major movie studios. In addition, a number of attractive refinancing alternatives have also been presented. In order to maximize the value of a transaction for all of the company’s creditors and stakeholders, we are fully analyzing all these options. As a result, we will not be committing to a ’stalking horse’ bid at this time. Nonetheless, given the significant positive interest in the Terminator franchise, we expect to be in a position to announce a successful sale or recapitalization no later than February 1, 2010.
Following up on the previous news about the Terminator franchise rights being up for sale, self-proclaimed “Very Important Hollywood Mogul” Joss Whedon has penned a hilarious note to the franchise owners in an attempt to acquire the franchise with a mighty fine $10,000 check. Says Whedon: “That’s four — FOUR! — zeroes after that one. That’s to show you I mean business. And I mean show business.”
He goes on to list the myriad of brilliant ideas he has for the franchise, including Terminator of the Rings (”Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far… back to when there was dragons and wizards?”), liberal use of Summer Glau, and a throat lozenge for a certain Mr. Bale.
While hilarious, the piece could also be seen as spitting on the grave of the recently departed Sarah Connor Chronicles. It was very clear come last season that Fox was willing to only keep one Friday sci-fi show on the air, and that ended up being Whedon’s Dollhouse. Ultimately, I think Fox made the right choice because Dollhouse has gotten steadily better since the midpoint of season one. Sarah Connor was good campy fun, but Dollhouse has a greater chance of approaching greatness, as episodes like “Epitaph One” and “Echoes” have shown.
This open letter is certainly meant in jest, but the fanboy in me can’t help but wonder what a Whedon-related Terminator would look like. With “Epitaph One”, I got a sense that Whedon was building up Dollhouse to be his take on Terminator-esque story, but it would still be interesting to see what he could do with the franchise proper.
All I know is that there’s a greater chance we’d see a good Terminator story if they sold Whedon the rights for $10,000, than we would when the franchise eventually gets sold off millions. But I’m sure at this point the current owners, the now bankrupt Halcyon Holding Group, could care less about the quality of the series.
