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Wednesday, November 4
Producers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek fought to keep the rights to the Terminator franchise for their Halcyon Co. production company, but The Financial Times reports that that the rights to Terminator will be auctioned off this month.
Halcyon originally purchased the Terminator rights in 2007 for $25 million and produced a TV show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and the movie sequel Terminator Salvation. While Chronicles was canceled, Salvation managed to gain $371 million in worldwide box office. Still Halcyon declared bankruptcy and sued their lender, Pacifcor, who Anderson and Kubicek claim pushed them into default on their loan. A bankruptcy judge allowed the producing duo to continue to develop Terminator 5, but it looks like that will come to an end once the rights are auctioned off.
In an openly sarcastic letter to DeadlineHollywood, writer-director Joss Whedon made a bid for the Terminator rights, offering $10,000 and claiming he had solid ideas on what to do with the franchise.
Terminator ... of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far ... back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? "Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!" RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring — it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).
Considering the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise just sold to Nickelodeon for $60 million, and Terminator has been a far more profitable at the box office than the Ninja Turtles, Whedon may need to bid just a few more thousands.
Posted 11/4/2009 by Ryan
Related: Joss Whedon | Terminator Salvation | Derek Anderson | Victor Kubicek
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Monday, September 14
Producers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek purchased the rights to the Terminator franchise in 2007 for their Halcyon Co. production company, using a $30-million loan from hedge fund Pacifcor. Two years later, Terminator Salvation has earned $371 million worldwide, mostly overseas, while Anderson and Kubicek have filed for bankruptcy.
But things are looking up for them. Variety reports that a bankruptcy judge has given the producers a reprieve, allowing them to continue developing Terminator 5 and other properties. The producers blame Pacificor for pushing them into default, and Anderson thinks Salvation's quick turnaround was also at fault.
From when we heard about the possible opportunity, and the time in which we had to act, when we closed on the rights, the development of the script, to when the film was released, was such a short window. There were huge time obstacles we had to overcome. Obviously, this is the last place we thought we would be in.... But you have to deal with what's in front of you. It's been eye-opening.
The pair are hoping not to sell the Terminator rights and Anderson claims there is plenty of interest in another Terminator:
Victor and I are both huge Terminator fans, and we do see [Salvation] as a foundation for where we take the franchise in the future. Studios are enthusiastic. We have no regrets, all the trials and tribulations aside.
So Terminator 5 is back on track, for the time being. Considering Salvation's mediocre reception, it's hard to determine if this is good news or not.
Posted 9/14/2009 by Ryan
Related: Terminator Salvation | Terminator 5 | Derek Anderson | Victor Kubicek
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Saturday, September 5
Terminator fans weren't enough to keep canceled TV show The Sarah Connor Chronicles on the air after two seasons, but that doesn't mean the concept is entirely dead. Thomas Dekker, who played John Connor in the TV show, told Digital Spy that a full-length movie is being developed.
They've spoken about doing a TV movie. Well, not a TV movie, but kind of like a direct-to-DVD movie. Obviously it's difficult because the show is based on a movie and they just had [Terminator Salvation] come out, so it's kind of hard to make a moviewith our show because everyone has kind of forgotten about us. But they're hoping, at least when I spoke to [producer] James Middleton, that's where they are with it.
Dekker, meanwhile, will have his hands full with Freddy when Nightmare on Elm Street opens April 16, 2010.
Posted 9/5/2009 by Ryan
Related: Thomas Dekker | Terminator Salvation | Nightmare on Elm Street
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Wednesday, August 26
SamWorthington may be one of the busiest actors working right now, but that doesn't mean he isn't paying attention, especially to criticism hurled at Terminator Salvation. Worthington, unlike many actors, admits he reads what the critics say and took it to heart:
It's kind of humbling, the way that they describe your performance against Christian's [Bale], but we have no control over that. We just have to do the best character that we can do at that time.
We don't necessarily have the bounce of a theater, but we have the critics online, we have our critics in the newspaper, so I do take it all onboard in order to kind of go, "Well, you know, they're the ones paying 12 bucks. I've got to kind of just step up my game, or Sam Worthington has to change this." Or I will [say], "F**k it, I'll change that or back up the criticism that I get thrown out." "Why did you do this?" Well I can now back up everything. Because that, to me, that helps my profession and links what I believe is, you know, what my job is. To entertain people.
Worthington also claims the Terminator criticism will make him more cautious in the future:
I can nitpick with the best of them, man, and kind of go down the list of things I saw on IMDB where they found holes in it, and go, "You are f**king right." If there was a big 10-ton robot coming outside that gas station, surely we would f**king hear it. And I missed that. So I'm going to be a bit better when I'm looking through my f**king scripts. So it raises my game a bit, because now I feel like an idiot for not saying it to [Salvation director] McG, you know?
Worthington will appear next in Avatar, which opens December 19.
Posted 8/26/2009 by Ryan
Related: Christian Bale | McG | Sam Worthington | Avatar | Terminator Salvation
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Monday, August 24
The Terminator franchise may be done after Terminator Salvation, and it's not because of the movie's box-office performance. While Salvation may have done only mediocre business domestically, it performed extremely well overseas, enough for director McG to start planning a fifth, time-traveling-centric movie. However, Terminator producers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, whose production company The Halcyon Company owns the Terminator movie rights, have put the future of the franchise in doubt by entering into a legal and financial snafu.
The LATimes has been following the story, which breaks down like this: First, Anderson and Kubicek filed a lawsuit against hedge fund Pacificor, the investor who loaned the duo the money to buy the Terminator rights. Then, two days later, Anderson and Kubicek filed for bankruptcy. If the two cannot return the money or win the lawsuit, then the Terminator rights will end up in the hands of Pacificor. The LATimes speculates that this closes the door on Terminator 5 and the rest of the franchise. That is, unless a hedge fund investor is interested in making a futuristic sci-fi movie!
Stay tuned to ReelzChannel.com for more updates.
Posted 8/24/2009 by Ryan
Related: McG | Terminator Salvation | Terminator 5
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Saturday, July 25
With Terminator Salvation and the upcoming Avatar already under his belt, Sam Worthington is currently at work on Clash of the Titans and has a new project lined up: a remake of the Danish thriller The Candidate. Worthington will play a defense attorney who is hunting a group of blackmailers when he is accused of murder.
Playwright Beau Willimon will adapt the script, however no director is currently attached. Worthington will also produce, adding even more work to his busy schedule.
The Candidate won't be Worthington's first thriller, having already finished the upcoming The Debt, directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). Worthington also has a romantic drama on the way with Last Night, where he co-stars with Keira Knightley.
Not bad for an Australian actor whose pre-Terminator work was fighting crocodiles in the horror movie Rogue.
Posted 7/25/2009 by Ryan
Related: Shakespeare in Love | Rogue | Sam Worthington | Avatar | Terminator Salvation | Clash of the Titans | Last Night
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Friday, June 26
With Terminator Salvation dominating the (overseas) box office and Public Enemies opening July 1, it's hard to believe that Christian Bale took a year off from acting. However, Bale's ready to step back into the ring in more ways than one as he plays Mark Wahlberg's boxer-training brother in The Fighter. Bale described the movie to Collider.
It's a true story of two incredibly gifted boxers who were half brothers. The one, Dicky Ecklund, who fought Sugar Ray Leonard at a very young age, when he was twenty one, was an incredible natural talent. He lived a very hard life. Then he came to train his brother, Irish Mickey Ward, to the world title.
The role meant some serious dieting, which Bale explained to MTV.
I've had to [lose] a great deal of weight because he was a welterweight.
Bale has lost and gained weight for roles several times in his career, at one point dropping 62 pounds for The Machinist before gaining it all back and more for Batman Begins. Bale is using fairly conventional methods for his weight loss this time around:
There’s nothing like boxing for getting you in shape. It’s a wonderful thing when your trainer is actually the person you’re playing.
Production on The Fighter starts in July, releasing sometime in 2011. David O. Russell will direct.
Posted 6/26/2009 by Ryan
Related: Christian Bale | Mark Wahlberg | The Machinist | Batman Begins | Sugar Ray Leonard | David O. Russell | Terminator Salvation | Public Enemies | The Fighter
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Thursday, June 18
It's summer. Time for baseball, gin and tonics, and movies (not necessarily in that order). Here are 10 women who are getting us to ask theater managers: "Can ya turn up the air conditioning?"
Check out our list of the 10 Hottest Chicks from the Summer Flicks. Yes, Megan Fox made the list. See the other 9!
Posted 6/18/2009 by reelz
Related: Amy Adams | Heather Graham | Krista Allen | Moon Bloodgood | Zoe Saldana | Megan Fox | Leslie Mann | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Penelope Cruz | Avatar | Star Trek | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | Olivia Wilde | Terminator Salvation | Sienna Miller | Year One | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | The Hangover | G-Force | Funny People | The Final Destination | Burning Palms
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Tuesday, June 16
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.
Posted 6/16/2009 by Ryan
Related: Christian Bale | McG | Sam Worthington | Terminator Salvation
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Monday, June 8
Terminator Salvation's European box-office success may be attributed to the TV trailer Sony Pictures UK has released, which gives away a major spoiler by showing a digitized Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of the early Terminator models.
Now the question is: Will the trailer increase U.S. interest in the movie, which is clinging to a spot in the Top 10 in last weekend's box office receipts.
Posted 6/8/2009 by Ryan
Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Terminator Salvation