For the second week in a row, Terminator Salvation has dominated the box office in almost every country but the United States. Even against the two-time, domestic box office winner The Hangover, Terminator Salvation finished first. This brings its international total to $165.5 million after two weeks, compared to $114 million in the U.S. after nearly four weeks.
So why has Terminator Salvation not performed better in the U.S.? Perhaps changing the original ending was a mistake. Director McG revealed Salvation's initial ending to Entertainment Weekly (WARNING: SPOILERS):
[John] Connor (Christian Bale) dies, okay? He's dead. And Marcus (Sam Worthington) offers his physical body, so Connor's exterior is put on top of his machine body. It looks like Connor, but it's really Marcus underneath. And all of the characters we care about (Kyle Reese, Connor's wife Kate, etc.) are brought into the room to see him and they think it's Connor. And Connor gets up and then there's a small flicker of red in his eyes and he shoots Kate, he shoots Kyle, he shoots everybody in the room. Fade to black. End of movie. Skynet wins. F--- you!
Bale loved the ending. The studio signed off on it. So why the change? "In the end, it just felt like too much of a bummer," McG explained, before pausing. "Maybe we blew it."
Well, not in most of the world.