For Sale: The “Terminator” Rights

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A while ago, you guys may have seen my review of Terminator Salvation. I said, which lead to some controversy, that I simply did not like the movie. I haven’t seen Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and don’t plan to just because I’m not interested in seeing the washed-up “Governator Schwarzenegger” kick ass after nearly twenty years from when the original film came out.

I predicted that the Terminator franchise was dying after I saw the movie, and apparently I was right. The Terminator rights are now up for auction.

Nikkie Finke says that every major Hollywood movie studio is interested, including Summit and Media Rights Capital. Either would both probably be good homes for the franchise since both are relatively new production companies. However she says that Sony (who quite frankly hasn’t had a decent hit since Paul Blart: Mall Cop Hannah Montana: The Movie trailer , since Michael Jackson’s This Is It did poorly this weekend domestically) will probably be the highest bidder when the auction opens later this month.

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This got me thinking: is the Terminator series finally on its last leg? All of the evidence points to their downfall: the Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles had its last episode after a minor two seasons on April 10^th earlier this year, and Salvation couldn’t manage to top Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian when it opened last May, a problem that none in the series, including the $6.4 million-budgeted 1984 hit The Terminator, have ever had. (All have managed to debut in first place.) Worldwide, Terminator Salvation The Hoax movie download has grossed $371.4 million as of this writing on a $200 million budget, less than Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s $433.4 million total haul with the same budget. And considering ticket price inflation, that’s one hell of a disappointment.

Joss Whedon, creator of the falling Fox series Dollhouse and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, kiddingly bid $10,000 for the rights in addition to printing an open letter saying how he would rename it “Terminator…of the Rings!” among other things. It’s kind of a hard idea to perceive since Terminator was such a big deal at one point in time, but I don’t think that the series is even worth saving 25 years after the original was released.