By To quickly recap on recent Terminator 5 news, it is known that Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming back and he will be playing as the Terminator with production possibly starting in January. We also known that Paramount picked up distribution rights for the new film and that that Megan Ellison of Annapurna Pictures and David Ellison of Skydance Productions are each financing 33% of the film along with Paramount.
Relating this back to James Cameron, the Ellisons only have control of the franchise until 2019 which will then revert back to James Cameron’s control. Back in 2011, Megan Ellison paid around $20 million to buy The Terminator sequel rights.
The almost three-year delay in making a sequel really impacts the amount of movies that can be made. Assuming that the next film does well there will only be enough time to make one more sequel. Deadline had this to say about that:
Franchise creator James Cameron — who has stayed on the sidelines since directing the first two classic films — is the beneficiary of changes in copyright law. Basically North American rights to the franchise revert back to him in 2019. That is because the copyright reversion now takes place after 35 years, and The Terminator was made in 1984.
Once Cameron has the rights back, should we expect him to continue The Terminator series? Probably not seeing as if he wanted to use Schwarzenegger, he would be about 71 years old. Who knows since it is Cameron we are talking about.
[Deadline via /Film]