T4 Update

[Valko]

The co-writer of Terminator 4 has admitted that the new installment will be without star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Terminator 3 kind of closed the book on Schwarzenegger, as did his gubernatorial career," screenwriter Michael Ferris told Entertainment Weekly.

No director or actors have been announced for the project, but Ferris gave a hint towards the nature of the plot: "You will learn about Skynet and what that postapocalyptic future is like."

[Dave]

I gathered that during T3.

I liked T3 but I liked the clean ending of T2 and think I would have preferred that the franchise stopped there. T3 messed up the timeline and made everything too confusing. I'm not even sure T4 could sort it out again.

[ravenus]

I'm not too sure I want to hinge on the plausibility of the timeline in a franchise where a major plot-point hinges on the arrival of a future man to impregnate a woman and then die in the present.

Apart from a bland antagonist, I thought T3 was great and I'd say it had a valid existence because it follows that man's ingenuity to plot his own destruction cannot be averted by a single coup, only postponed.

[lordoftime]

Well they got John Connor's age wrong in both sequels, based on the times and dates given in all three. I figured Arnold was not going to come back to acting-let alone another Terminator film-after getting a taste of life as a politican.

[warhammer]

They should have stopped after T2... I wish they'd stop after T3 now, I can see the series becoming steadily worse.

[lordoftime]

Some think they should have stopped with the original.

[dustinzgirl]

I love the terminator movies. But, I agree the timelines and such were goofed. I think the only way T4 will work is if it focuses on Connor's revolution and survival and is done with futuristic action, using the scenery types that were used in the originals. It has to be dark, violent and have a strong science fiction flavor. Skynet has to be a character. Just my thoughts.

[steve12553]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

I love the terminator movies. But, I agree the timelines and such were goofed.

You're right. A lot doesn't bear close inspection, but they were fun movies.

[Joel007]

i watch them as comedies mostly. although there is something cool about wandering through a police station firing through doors without looking and ignoring return fire.
T4 should just do away with the time travel and stick with a single timeline.

[Epic Universe]

T3 was a pretty big disappointment. Hopefully if they do make a T4, they can do it right. The "female terminator" was a shameless gimmick for sex appeal.

[Quokka]

Love the original, T2 was atleast a good sequel (something most movies dont get) and was completely disinterested in T3 up until they reached
the bunker, that was the storyline I wanted to see. If they make T4 (IMO) they have to drop the time travel theme and base it squarely in the period of war after Skynet becomes sentinent, another redo of time travel plot lines will be worse than a waste of time.

[Quokka]

Looks like I may just be getting my wish (see above) .

Latest news is that the franchise has been sold on to The Halcyon Company and they're planning on three new movies with T4 pre-production to begin soon and a release date at this point in 2009.

T4-6 will be Schwarzeneggerless and will be a new trilogy focusing on John Connor and friends battling against the machines in the future. Personally I hope they keep atleast the first one there and put time travel aside for a bit.

What are the odds that T6 will finish with John Connor sending his father back to 1984 in a last ditched effort to win the war and bringing everything nicely back the begining?

[PTeppic]

Depending on the finance (e.g. whether T5/T6 are subject to sufficient T4 returns) you can bet your bottom dollar that T5 will end gloomily, up against it, and pretty much mid-plot.

[Harpo]

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Next Terminator film set for 2009

Production on the fourth instalment in the Terminator film series will begin next year ahead of a 2009 release. Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be the first in a proposed trilogy of films reinventing the cyborg saga.
Derek Anderson, of production company Halycon, has told industry newspaper Variety the film will be "set in the future" during "a full-scale war".

[Dave]

Harpo beat me to it. I just read it on Hailing Frequncies:

All right. It's back, and it's rebooted. Warner Bros. has acquired North American distribution rights to Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, which means that the money's in place and production can start on the first a of planned trilogy of Arnold-less Terminator movies. John Brancato and Michael Ferris have finished the script, though there's no director in place yet. The release for Terminator Salvation is planned for summer 2009.