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$0The original Terminator film came out of no-where, it was the second film by the young fledgeling director James Cameron and it was fresh and exciting and had a story that was clever and captivated audiences.
The follow up came 6 years later and with the hype and incredible (for the time) special effects the film was going to be a hit, Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the height of his fame.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a massive box office hit, which had a good story, despite some plot holes, with over the top exciting action and it went on to gross over $500 Million globally which adjusted for inflation would be about $1.2 Billion today.
After that the rights to the franchise moved all over the place, then in 2003 we suddenly got Terminator 3: Rise Of THe Machine, and despite the film having fairly good reviews, starring Schwarzenegger and grossing over $400 Million globally it felt more like a stand alone movie than part of the series.
Then the big trouble started and we got Terminator Salvation in 2009, directed by McG and starring Christian Bale the film reportedly had a very troubled shoot and with Schwarzenegger on California Governor duties he didn't star just appearing as a computer generated Terminator towards the end for a brief second or 2.
Despite this negativity of both the film and the plot it still grossed nearly $400 Million, but the series was stagnating and each film was grossing less and less as each film went on.
The series needed a reboot and in 2015 Schwarzenegger came back and director Alan Taylor tried to get a feeling of the origin film in a reboot that mixed the story from The Terminator changing the time line and creating a new path for the series, but things were too confusing and the film flopped and talk of a followup ended.
It must have seemed like the ideal situation, bring back Schwarzenegger, bring back Linda Hamilton as the original Sarah Connor, and to top it off bring back the original creator James Cameron to write the story and produce the movie, he's too busy directing Avatar 2 so passed that duty off to Deadpool director Tim Miller.
What we have here then is series fatigue, after the 2015 reboot promise the paying public and fans have simply lost hope in trying to get a film which brings back the memory of the first 2 films, Dark Fate does not do this.
Then we have the talent, Arnold Schwarzenegger is no where near the star he was in 1991, arguably the biggest, and he is no longer the mean looking muscle machine he once was, then Linda Hamilton who rarely appears in films these days so do audiences know who she is or connect with her? Then James Cameron, after Avatar, which granted was the biggest film ever until this year, is hardly a household name anymore, these elements don't make for a must see movie.
The original 1984 story has now been told again and again in the Terminator movies, how many time can the story of a robot sent from the future to kill someone who is in turn protected by another person/machine sent from the same future, despite how much you mix things up, audiences are clearly bored of this rehashing in each reboot.
Special effects today have to have the WOW factor to sell a movie, Terminator 2 had it, but its harder to do in a day and age when almost anything is possible and sadly Dark Fate simply fails to have it.
The film reportedly had a troubled post production with director Miller and writer/producer Cameron disagreeing over the edit, and it shows, it leaves you feeling like you have just watched a disjointed movie when you leave the cinema.
Finally, and maybe this is a personal thing, the title, Dark Fate is a bit cheesy and doesn't come close to Judgment Day or even Salvation, Rise of the Machines was even a good sub title. A title shouldn't matter but it has got to sell the film, Genisys was not good and Dark Fate is even worse.
The movie will struggle to make $300 Million at the global box office, this in a day and age when tentpole movie are expected to take over a Billion is not good enough, the series future is looking bleak and it could be this is the last nail in the coffin.
There is one last hope that might bring the series back! If James Cameron can find a story somewhere within that is different but keeps within the Terminator universe, and if he decides to direct the movie himself we may just get a 7th movie, its a big ask with his involvement in the Avatar films, but this might mean we get a good few year before another movie, no bad thing.
Like many other long running series, Alien for example, the series won't just lie back and enjoy the success it's had, we most likely will see another movie in the series but it will be for another generation, and once we have forgotten the bad box office run of Terminator: Dark Fate.
The new Terminator movie makes its debut at the top of the US box office this weekend, but its not all good news for the long running franchise as the films debut gross of one of the lowest of the series.
Despite the mostly positive reviews and the reuniting of Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, not to mention the story written by original writer James Cameron the film did not not the box office alight on its debut weekend.
The film took just $29 Milllion despite making its debut at the top of the box office and unless there is some late interest in the film it will be the lowest grossing movie in the franchise outside the first film.
The DC villain movie has ended up being a mega smash for Warner Bros. and this week the film takes $13.9 Million on its 5th weekend.
This brings the films total US gross to just shy of $300 Million, the film is the top total grossing movie on the chart this week.
Disney's sequel movie continues to pull in audiences, no doubt helped by the marketing and Halloween, this week it grosses $12.1 Million for a gross of $84.3 Million after 3 weeks of release.
Making its debut at number 4 this week is director Kasi Lemmons period drama which takes $12 Million with little fan fare.
The animated version of the 60's TV show falls to 5 this week with $8.5 Million for a $85 Million total after 4 weeks.
Starring for the first time since Terminator 2: Judgement Day Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton Terminator: Dark Fate has been given a 15 age rating in the UK.
The movie is directed by Tim Miller this time, although original series director James Cameron has come up with the story and claims this is the first true sequel to 1992's Terminator 2.
It is 27 years later and Hamilton's Sarah Connor is still trying to rid the world of Terminators, while Schwarzenegger's Terminator seems to be living in a hut in the forrest, and has aged 27 years!
All will be revealed when the movie is released on 23rd October 2019.
The BBFC have given the film a 15 rating for strong violence, bloody images, language while it has a runtime of 128 minutes (2 hours and 8 Minutes), the movie was passed uncut.
A new trailer has been released for Terminator: Dark Fate which is being billed as the true sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement day, and it lands on Judgement Day!
August 29th 1997 is considered Judgement Day as preached in Terminator 2, although as Sarah Conner tells us in this trailer she changed that date, but not earth destiny.
The new trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate gives us plenty of action and features the full crew, it also features Arnie talking for the first time, and unlike we previously though maybe he is a Terminator, although how he's old and in our time is yet to be seen.
It does seem like Mackenzie Davis's Terminator knows him already, and as she is perhaps some kind of human/Terminator hybrid maybe the old T-800 created her or something!
Also I know its meant to take place years after Terminator 2, and it ignores all the sequels since then, but how old is Sarah Conner supposed to be, Linda Hamilton does not look that old in real life but her character looks like she's 90!
The trailer is full of action and with James Cameron on board it looks and feels like a Terminator movie, but we still think its missing something! In truth it feels like every other movie in the franchise since part 3, and unlike Judgement Day we just didn't get chills down our spine when watching the trailer.
Lets hope were wrong and this is a return to the glory days of the first two movie, you can check out the trailer below.
The first trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate has been released today and it features the return of Linda Hamilton very heavily, but fan reaction had been a little mixed.
The anticipation for the new film has been high and with James Cameron returning along with star Hamilton the fans who have been let down sing Judgement Day got excited, but this new trailer offers nothing new and fans are a little disappointed.
The trailer starts in familiar territory, we see a liquid metal terminator get wounded and reform and we see lots of explosions, so whats new?.
To top off the disappointment we see Arnie for about a second - my guess is he doesn't play a Terminator in this film but the producers want to keep that as a twist.
Form your own opinion by watching the trailer below.