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Cameron Says the Terminator Franchise Has 'Run its Course'

by Alex Billington
February 19, 2010
Source: MTV

I know this video already made its way around the web, but I think there are a few people who haven't seen it yet and it's a good one. The Terminator franchise hasn't been all that successful since James Cameron left it behind after T2 in 1991. Apparently McG couldn't even get Cameron to give him his blessings for Terminator Salvation and, well, we all know how that turned out. In a recent interview with Cameron, MTV decided to ask him about his thoughts on the Terminator franchise. You already know he's got great things to say in response, so I don't even need to mention anything else, you might as well fire this up and enjoy!

Way to go Jonathan Mostow and McG! The treatment they're talking about is the one by Bill Wisher that we wrote about last week, the same one that I thought was awesome. But, of course, Cameron's not coming back to this franchise ever again, so he either needs to let it go entirely (which it sounds like he already did) and let them keep screwing it up, or help get it on the right track. But since Cameron thinks the Terminator franchise has "run its course," that's that. But with ideas like Wisher's treatment floating around, I wonder if there still some potential for some director to still make a good Terminator movie. What do you think?

Explore tags: Discussion, Featured, To Watch

almartva

I think the Terminator Franchise should have ended with T2. T3 and T4 were entertaining at best with the one liners and the special effects but they were never able to achieve the same level of depth of the originals. I think firstshowing should also post a story about for the rest of the interview and not just focus on the Terminator question. James Cameron Talked Avatar 2, the Spider-Man Reboot, Batman Movies, How Hollywood is Getting 3D Wrong, and His Oscar Chances.
Anastasios-Antonios Toulkeridis

The Terminator franchise is definitely not dead. Far from it. I expect it to become even more popular than it was during the previous decades because we are about to live in a world filled with robots, so u know.. roboapocalypse is going to be constantly on the back of our heads. Of course that the franchise is here to stay does not say anything about how popular and/or successful it might be. They definitely need to hire a very good writer and surround the project with professionals who are also true fans. And please keep McG miles away from the studio!
Andres Sanclemente

ughhh money, hm hm hm, delicious money, keep it rolling... THE MOVIES WE ALL WATCH ARE SHOWED TO US DEPENDING ON THE MONEY THEY MAKE> just turn on HBO or Cinemax and you'll see the same 30 blockbusters of 6 months ago playing back to back for ever and ever. Hardly ever does anything out of the mainstream make it into tv or cinema screens...
harm

Went back and had a Terminator marathon last weekend. T1 and T2 are both awesome. T3 is HORRIBLE! Just a BAD MOVIE let alone a Terminator movie. Salvation is pretty good if you don't expect the movie to focus on John Connor 100%. I think there's still plenty of life's blood left in the franchise.
Jake the snake

Cameron is just jealous because he's not involved with the franchise anymore. We want more Terminator with or without Cameron.
Dirty Dutchman

We all know including himself that he/Cameron has been elevated to "god" status in film history, but I just wish he had the balls like Ridley Scott to return to something that lost its course and set it back on its way... even if it was just as executive producer. He missed a great chance to show off once more and to find his next wife while casting for it.
Ricardo

Terminator is a great franchise, its just a bit exausted. Lets wait around a while and i bet someone will finally have a good idea for a new movie. i just hope they dont have to many ideas in between. lol
Wordage

They definitely pissed in the soup. That soup will never be the same.
Cmurder

We all know that they're eventually just going to reboot the entire franchise anyways....lame
Dave Lister, JMC

"The soup has been pissed in..." It's obvious that Cameron thinks McG's abomination was utter shite. T:Sal didn't just piss in the soup, it fouled it with a ten gallon round of machine gun squirts. Mostow's film wasn't all that great; but McG put out such a shit pile that T:3 almost gets a pass. Almost.
DEADPOOL,MERC WITH A MOUTH

because he made avatar he thinks whatever his says is what everybody else should think, but really his full of shit, just because he doesn't want to make anymore terminator films doesn't that the franchise is dead,his worried that one of the parts of the currant trilogy is going to be better than what his done,they haven't yet but i think they're planning another two films so will have to wait & see if the franchise is dead.THERE IS OTHER PARTS TO THIS INTERVEIW WHERE HE SLAGS OFF TIM BURTONS BATMAN.
Dave Lister, JMC

@#11: I agree with you somewhat. The fact is, with Hollywood studios: money talks and bullshit walks... except when the bullshit makes records sums of cash and wins 11 Academy Awards, ie. "Titanic". With that huge "success", and now with "Avatar" raking in the huge money, we'll be hearing a great deal, about James Cameron, for a long time to come. The business of Hollywood is rife with bullshit and yes, James Cameron may quite possibly be full of it. Which would lead him to take shots at Burton's first Batman film; a film that I, along with millions of other people, thought was very good. Batman Returns? Well that's another argument, for another day. Cameron wasn't involved with Burton's Batman, so it would be better if he just left it alone. Where I differ, with you somewhat is, in regards to Cameron's views, on The Terminator franchise. He co-wrote the first two movies (incidentally swiping the idea, from two episodes, of 'The Outer Limits' that were written, by Harlan Ellison), therefore he had a hand in creating the characters. I believe that qualifies him to comment on what has become of the franchise, during his absence. He could take the high road and just wish them well; but he disapproves of the second two films and decided to say so. I happen to agree that Mostow and McG have not carried the franchise very well at all. However, William Wisher, also, a co-writer, on the first two films, may have a truly great idea. I hope that's the case; and that they find a far more capable director to take the reins, from McG. I doubt that Cameron is all that concerned; after all "Avatar" has broken all the records so his future in the business is secure for now.
Xerxex

Cameron has fallen in love with himself.
SkaOreo

@11 1.Deadpool, Learn some goddamn english. 2. I really don't think the man who had a hand in writing T2 needs to worry about other Terminator movies being better than his sequel.
Jim

If it wasn't for the 3D, Avatar was a very average movie. Cameron is on a Lucas career trajectory.
Turdinator

In an ironic twist, James Cameron has also run its course!
superman

though T3 and 4 were not the best, they were entertaining. As far as the franchise goes...it is neverending. Really...you have machines from the future. There is time travel, which leaves plenty to mess with. Plus , Terminator is not just a genre specifically for movies...it has been very popular in comics and crossing over to fight other heroes/villians. There is so much potential .
Quaked

@ Xerxex I totally agree with you!
Xerxex

SkaOreo its the fucking internet. Spelling and punctuation do not matter. Besides once Cameron introduced Time Travel the entire story line changed. Cameron started a very good franchise but dumped it after Judgement Day, leaving everyone in the dark. Then T3 was made and it was pretty bad, Then McG picked up the remains and made a pretty good movie, and now its dead again, but most of us want more...what do we do!?
subcelsious5g

Cameron needs to make Aliens in 3D !! He should go back and reformat it and if not after Ridley Scott is done with his new movie Cameron should go and make another Alien movie. Just imagine Paul Riser gettin chomped in 3D!
Vold

It's a great world to create stories in. Why wouldn't they make more. I've liked every Terminator so far and i'm sure i will like the next one as well. All those whining are going to be the first ones in line to see it.
Xerxex

#20 that is one of the stupidest things ever said.
DoomCanoe

#20 god....that is one of the stupidest things ever said and if there has to be another Terminator movie i better see some god damn lazer guns! that was the thing TS was lacking the most.
DEADPOOL,MERC WITH A MOUTH

@ 14 skaoreo i thought it made sense, why do i have to learn english ? i had a few sherbets (lagers) but i thought it was alright.
CLAW

Well the god of hollywood has spoken now bow or suffer.
last son

I agree with #2. This franchise is far from dead. Yes Terminator Salvation was not good and they really need to start getting better writers and a better filmmaker to continue this franchise. I personally think that James Cameron is full of shit. I was a huge fan of his until Titanic came out and it all went to his head. Up until that film came out he had every intention of making Terminator 3. I seen him in different interviews expressing his desire to move forward with the Terminator franchise, and then he lost the rights to Terminator in his divorce to Linda Hamilton. I don't understand how he can now say that he thinks the story ends with Terminator 2. He hinted the future wars with both the first two films and even made Terminator 2: 3d for Universal studios. He obviously just lost interest in his own creation which makes no sense. The true story of the Terminato franchise lies int he future wars and it was done really bad by McG. That guy has no idea how to make a true Terminator flick. He was trying to reamke The Road Warrior. Cameron you need to get over yourself seriously. Avatar is good but it's not that good. The visuals are fantastic but thats about it. No one needs your approval to move forward with this franchise. You don't own and haven't for a long time.
mxr5150

The only official terminator movies that exist in my opinion are the Cameron films. 3 and 4 might as well be fan fiction.
whatever

It's faulty reasoning to think that just because Cameron's movies have been huge financial and popular successes that he is automatically an arrogant egomaniac whose opinions should therefore carry no merit because "he's full of himself." This is reasoning based solely on stereotypes. In fact, it's quite backwards. Because Cameron's movies have been such successes, then his opinion may therefore have _more_ credibility not _less_. Maybe how successful his movies have been don't bear on the merit of his opinions at all. But certainly his movies being successes shouldn't count against his opinion. The most pessimistic view is that it's all chance. Cameron was just lucky. Then okay his opinions matter as much as Joe Schmoe's but they're still not worthless. To dismiss Cameron's opinion so readily, you'd have to believe that having successful films actually means you're a bad filmmaker and don't know what you're talking about when it comes to film potential/etc. Okay, sure, believe that if you want.
BLOODFART

um #10....You are an idiot...sure T. Salvation was not that great but Mostow pretty much fucked up the franchise with T3 and left Mc G with a jumbled mess to work with. And he tryed the best he could. Mostow killed off Sarah Connor, Mostow created the inevitable Judgement Day end , so instead of more Connors trying to prevent Judgement Day, Mostow basically left the next film maker with what Cameron says is Piss Soup. Sure Mc G added some piss but non the less to say T3 gets a pass compared to Salvation is just an asshole statement....Nuff Said
SlashBeast

This franchise is hardly dead. There's still numerous stories that can be told. With better writers and a better director, anything is possible.
Dave Lister, JMC

@#29 Bloodfart, Calm down and stop breathing through your mouth. T:3 was mildly watchable; but T:Sal was 2 hours of celluloid horseshit. Mostow shot the script he was handed and did pedestrian but passable work with it. McG had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. He was so stupid as, to actually believe, the success, of his film rested, on getting the go ahead, for an 'R' rated cut so he could show Moon Bloodgood's tits. Then he gets into a slap & hair-pull girl-fight with Michael Bay, over who's movie would have better robots in it. To blame the mess McG made on Mostow is the real asshole statement.
subcelsious5g

my comment at # 20 was a joke hahahaha.
Xerxex

That's not a funny joke subcelsious! *shudders at the thought*
DEADPOOL,MERC WITH A MOUTH

i've seen a web site ad,WHERE YOU CAN AVATAR YOURSELF UP !what is this world coming to.
jason

If you take Cameron's perspective and see that the Terminator franchise basically revolves around the T800, one can agree that it ran its course when arnie, the face to t800, was terminated in a vat of molten something - epic poetry on hindsight. The paying audience just can't have enough of arnie as t800! Performance capture is the future of the fanchise. If T800 = Terminator franchise then we can think of it as this way, a Terminator movie is like a batman movie, which is why McG failed, he made a movie about Robin instead of Batman.
Corbs

The machine headquarters in Salvation reeked of "maybe it doesn't fit the script but we can get it cheap" and the appearance of Bonham Carter (who I normally have a lot of respect for) as the nonsensical giant floating head was like something you'd expect to see in Plan 9 from Outer Space. I don't see how the series recovers from this, unless they just pretend Salvation never happened. Its easy to find things to hate about Cameron, and I do, but when you compare his movies to stuff like Salvation, its clear that he has an understanding of whats important in storytelling. And I don't mean like an academic Campbell understanding, I mean a deep innate understanding.
Craig

Sure, the franchise has run its course now, after two failed movies and one failed TV show. Cameron *should* have helmed (and written a better script for) T3.
Governor

Cameron is an out of control egomaniac! Terminator has too many stories left to tell to pull the plug now.
dave

So how come in 2004, a year after T3 came out the BBC asked him wot he thought about the movie and this is what James said - "One Word GREAT So why has he said bad things about it now??????????????????? T1 - 100/10 T2 - 10/10 T3 - 8/10 T4 - 7/10