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Billl Wisher Has Written Treatments for Terminator 5 and 6

by Ethan Anderton
February 11, 2010
Source: Deadline Hollywood

There's been tons of activity surrounding the Terminator franchise as of late. The rights were up for grabs as of November and studios like Lionsgate and Sony have been foaming at the mouth to snatch them up. So when the surprise victory came from a $29.5 million bid from Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor, the debtholder which pushed Halcyon into bankruptcy, something wasn't quite right. But out of this deal came the offer to let Sony and Lionsgate produce and distribute the next Terminator film. But who would will it? How about original franchise writer Bill Wisher who has treatments for a fifth and sixth movie? Read on!

That's right folks, Deadline Hollywood is reporting Wisher, who was James Cameron's writing partner on the first two films, has a detailed 24 page treatment for Terminator 5 and a 4-page concept outline for Terminator 6 which Deadline's Mike Fleming has had the privilege of reading. Here's Fleming's take (and he loves him some Terminator) on the two treatments without giving away too many specific plot details:

"As a 'Terminator' fanboy myself, I think Wisher has done a terrific job with a plot that accepts the storylines from Jonathan Mostow’s 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' and McG’s 'Terminator: Salvation.' Most interestingly, he turns the story back to the core characters and time travel storyline of the first two films that Wisher crafted with Cameron.

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, which wouldn’t shoot until after he ends his term as California Governor.

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.

Wisher presents a satisfying conclusion to what by then would be a 6-picture struggle between Skynet’s machines and John and Sarah Connor to preserve a future that allows mankind to prevail over the machines."

Damn! Fleming has always been one hell of an entertainment journalist, but I think he missed his calling as being a master inside the pitch room. If you want to read his full rundown, head over to Deadline Hollywood for a bit more. Never has the prospect of another Terminator film sounded so damn appealing and so loyal and respectful to the original creations of James Cameron (and Bill Wisher). With every fiber of my being I hope Sony and Lionsgate take Wisher up on this storyline and finally get a new Terminator film (hell, two films) that deliver the same cinematic magic that was captured in the first two (and was lost in the third and fourth ones). Please, oh please, let this happen, we need to get this franchise on the right track! Thoughts?

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33 Comments

I would love to see what Wisher has done with Terminator, I say do the last two, why not? Terminator Salvation was not that bad the only weak link was Marcus Wright his character seemed forced and unnecessary. Get Bale, Howard, and rest of the major cast back and find a director who can deliver!

Xerxex on Feb 11, 2010

Agreed, I hope they go through with it. For what it's worth, I thought T3 was WAY worse than Terminator: Salvation.

Pete on Feb 11, 2010

TIME PARADOX!!!

Eric on Feb 11, 2010

Doesn't matter. This franchise has been solid in my opinion and bringing someone on who brings continuity to the films will only produce more quality. Love the Terminator series.

mE on Feb 11, 2010

I agree that T1 and T2 were the best, T3 was a disaster IMO. As for TS, despite a lot of reviewers canning the movie, I came out of it entertained and didn't understand why so many people didn't like it. I found the storyline to TS refreshing and different as appose to T3, which seemed to have taken the first two movies; chewed them up and then spat out an ugly mess. If T5 and T6 follow an idea similar to what FLEMING said above then it should hold own. We shall see what the future holds.

Ezza on Feb 11, 2010

This sounds just AWESOME!! I'd be completely up for another fight against Skynet! I loved the first two movies, but really disliked JC in T3. Honestly as unexpected as Terminator Salvation was I really went back and have watched it several times again on DVD. Yes I'm ready for that ride!

harm on Feb 11, 2010

It's hard for me to get excited about another Terminator film (2 in fact!) after the last ones failed to deliver since T1 & T2.

mr sol on Feb 11, 2010

T2 is one of my favorite movies of all time... T3 was more of a popcorn movie and TS was better but not the greatness we come to expect after T1 and T2 if only they stopped after T1 and T2 it would have been perfect but the money makes the world go round and if anyone was to write movies to continue (and end) the franchise i can't think of anyone else than Wisher. All they need now is Cameron to direct and we are set.. if not I guess try to get Blomkamp or perhaps JJ Abrams

Janny on Feb 11, 2010

If Strecth Armstrong and Milton Bradley's Battleship can be made into a movie, I see no reason why the Terminator series can't continue.

Smokey on Feb 11, 2010

i absolutely hate the thought of Sarah Conner meeting back up with Kyle Reese. Or "interacting" with each other as he puts it.

DoomCanoe on Feb 11, 2010

WHY??? that makes no sense. The adventure of them together is what made terminator interesting instead of just another chase scene movie. THAT was the drama of it!

Dillhole on Mar 22, 2012

Fuck McG and fuck Termintor:Salvation. If McSuck is involved in any way, this project needs to die the death. Even if he isn't, he did so much damage to the franchise, that I wouldn't even see any further Terminator films, until they had been out on DVD for a loooong time.

Dave Lister, J.M.C. on Feb 11, 2010

I honestly could care less about getting more Terminator movies, but I will be SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY if Pacificor decides to do something with TSCC.

Lizzie on Feb 11, 2010

Is Terminator Salvation considered a prequel or a sequel to Terminator 1-3?

DON P on Feb 11, 2010

Two words that stick out - 'Time-Travel' and 'Transformers-like' Someone please shovel more dirt onto this franchise's grave.

Terminator RIP on Feb 11, 2010

Dave McG didn't ruin it, he set it back...but there is always hope that a new director will come along and do it justice.

Xerxex on Feb 12, 2010

#1 are you crazy. Marcus Wright was not the only weak link to Terminator Salvation Top 5 Problems with Terminator Salvation: 1. Christian Bale as John Connor (Christian Bale is a great actor but he was no John Connor. He showed hardly any emotion at all and his Batman voice is really starting to get on my nerves.) 2. The film was mainly set in daylight (Us fans of the Terminator franchise know from the first film that humans can only get around at night time as told by Kyle Reese. And all the scenes of the future wars in the original films are depicted at night. But in Salvation most of the film is set in daylight.) 3. No F**king war between man and machine (This one really bothered me because ever since I saw the opening 10 mins of Terminator 2 with the night war between man and machine I have always wanted to see that as a whole movie and we got none of that in Salvation at all.) 4. The supporting characters sucked and yes that goes for Marcus Wright (What the hell was with Marcus Wright. The film starts with him and he dies at the end bringing nothing to the series. It's like the writers had nothing to add to the plot so they stuck some dude who is part machine in there and had him walking around in the future not understanding what was going on around him. And every other character except for Kyle Reese had no real place in this film. Even Connors wife Kate who had a bigger role in T3 just sat in the background doing nothing.) 5. The stupid CGI Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo (If the plot of this film had been better I'm sure Aronld would have actually done a cameo, but because it didn't we had to see a dump ass CGI effect. His head looked so bad, just like how they did the Rocks head in The Mummy Returns. His eyes looked so fake.) 6. Choosing the wrong director (They could have picked a really great director to make this film but they went with some music video director who's only real credits are the Charlies Angels films. That was a bad move.) 7. Going from 'R' Rated to PG-13. Now that was a bad move. (What the hell was Warner Bros thinking here. They kept The Matrix films as an 'R' Rating and those films made tons of money.) 8. Under use of good actors (Anton Yelchin was excellent as the young Kyle Reese and was so under used in this film. Same goes for Michael Ironside. He is a fantastic B movie actor and his time on screen was way too short.) 9. The stupid ending (They were just carbon copied both T1 and T2's endings.) 10. Did I mention how pathetic Christian Bale was as John Connor (Take a look at the film Reign Of Fire with Bale. He was excellent in that film and I was even thinking when I first saw that film back in 2002 that he would make a great John Connor. He should real emotion towards the human race, but his turn as John Connor in Salvation was one dimensional.)

last son on Feb 12, 2010

@17 I agree with most of what you've said. I think a couple of your points (including the film being set in daylight) can be salvaged if you look at it like this. The world that Kyle Reese explained - really took its final form after the machines wiped out the majority of the resistance. I feel like as terrible as T3 was, the humans suffered a massive shock through losing the core of their leadership, whereas the machines are still presumably quite strong. If it's written in such a way that an even darker time for humanity follows the events of T4: Salvation, then the world of Terminator 5 would hopefully be written very similar to how it was presented in T1/2. Or at least, that's how I'd do it. 🙂 If McG directs T5, however, I'm with the "won't be seeing it" crowd. He truly is just terrible.

hahaha on Feb 12, 2010

I loved T2, Terminator is very close to it but T3:RotM brought nothing to the series. it was a carbon copy of T2 in every aspect. we all remember T2 was a leap in technolgy in film making 😀 (ok JCameron done it again but this time with a certain blue skinned 2.5 m aliens flick 😛 and am very glad he did just that :D) T3 was bad... then came T4.. i kinda liked it and definetely could place it above T3 easily. and markus character has added more than what i have read here, IMO, he gave his heart. what more he could give 😀 he proved to all of the machines.. no matter how hard they try to mimic humans they wont succeed cause they lack the heart that beats... and if they use a beating heart it will find its true place, not amongst machines as they program the brain, but amongst humans. bla bla bla 😀 the visuals were also fine. being a rider i loved the motor bikes 😀 the stupid off the Matrix movies water thingies were terrible 🙁 well my thoughts again.. 😀 cheers

Burak "D'aequitas" on Feb 12, 2010

I was going to write something about the films until I read Lizzie's comment re TSCC. So yeah, now I'm just going to wonder what they'll do with that (if anything).

Darren Albert on Feb 12, 2010

Terminatior Salvation was a great movie. As were the first three. i look forward to seeing more.

Vold on Feb 12, 2010

Bale ruined that film, even before it was released! He was caught on set acting like a complete and utter prick to the DP, who it turns out did one of the best jobs in that movie and a much better job than Bale, who stunk up the place with over acting. I admit that I do like Bale because he is a tremendous actor, but he was really poor in Salvation. A decent director could inject something new into this very special franchise. Also, the supporting characters were really awful, except for Yelchin as Kyle Reese. Somebody like Snyder could do great things with these films.

Kinks! on Feb 12, 2010

I think they ought to get flemming on board for the next Terminator film, Has you said he would have been good at pitching the project to the Studio.

Cineprog on Feb 12, 2010

I gotta say the script for Terminator Salvation was pretty bland...the characters didn't have any deep backgrounds, So actors like Bale and Worthington were left with one dimensional characters.

Xerxex on Feb 12, 2010

I was so disappointed by T4-Salvation. They really missing a great opportunity to blend the stories from TSCC on TV into a lead up for a T4 film. The second season of TSCC was amazing and if that would have lead into an expanded storyline for the film it would have been very satisfying and absolutely bad ass. Bring back TSCCs, develop the storyline during the season and then lead the story into a film then back into TSCC for the next storyline then into another film. Better cross marketing opportunities for sure, and you have time to really build a great storyline.

Bryanmakeup on Feb 13, 2010

terminator salvation wasn't that bad and it seems to be alot of people are forgetting that the future of the first terminator is not the same in terminator salvation because T2 they changed the time line.the war didn't start in the time line that Reese predicted it was changed,but the war still happened because of destiny.that's why john conners(christian bale) future was different. i would like to see the next movie be a bit more darker and more terminators of all kinds.

BIG J on Feb 14, 2010

Bringing back Sarah Connor would be a huge mistake.

Nada Nuff on Feb 15, 2010

Just watching T2 right now, and it makes you realise how bad T3/salvation were in comparison!I do agree with quite a lot of what you siad LAST SON, however, I do still think bale is the best john conner out there, apart from possibly matt damon. The problem with salvation is the story, it was so poorly written, it went nowhere, and although sam worthington was good, the marcus wright character was pointless, and bale had nothing to act with, his john conner character was poorly written, and bale was limited to what he could do!you've got to look at the core issues of salvation and that is the story!pure and simple, if there's someone to blame out there its michael ferris (writer). I'm afraid the only way we are goin to get a good terminator again is for cameron to get on board!and that would be a very good day.

liquid metal on Mar 1, 2010

This sounds lame...no more time travel...it just destroys the significance of 1 and 2

gshauger on Jul 25, 2010

i think as silly as t4 was i think let it die!

howee on Nov 7, 2010

Terminator Salvation was AWESOME!!!!!!!:) Hope Cameron Directs after all termnator was the Tron of the 80's and Nobody is touching snyder hes working on bringing the son of krypton for some action!:)

Josh Bluemel83 on Feb 23, 2011

Have Josh Friedman, bill wisher and James Middleton on board as directors and writers. use a script similar to the book by s.m. Stirling "T2: Infiltrator" have it set in the 90's with the old 90's cali era feeling to it. it needs a whole new feeling and look, pre judgment day....taking place right after t2 or use the TSCC theme and run with it as the tv show had way more depth than any of the movies.

john baum on Apr 20, 2011

I want to see Kyle Reece survive so that both parents can raise him so that he's a stronger fighter. I want to actually want it to happen in the future until the last part. I want to see John Henry's (from TTSCC) role in the future. I want to see what happens where TTSCC left off, possibly even see how John Henry fights Skynet. while I'm only speaking for myself, I want to see how they get t-1000's to fight on their side. do they take over a factory that builds them? I want to see what role John Connors' kids play in this future as well.

Westside_confusion on Oct 27, 2011

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