In the wake of James Cameron’s two “Terminator” films, the four subsequent sequels simply haven’t lived up to the promise of those original films. One of the failed efforts was 2009’s “Terminator: Salvation,” a film mostly remembered for an audio recorded on-set meltdown by actor Christian Bale who played an adult John Connor.
The project was intended to be the first installment of a second “Terminator” trilogy, but the McG-directed film underperformed – taking in a solid $371.4 million off a far too costly $200 million budget. Soon after the Halcyon Company filed for bankruptcy and the rights were sold on leading to another second trilogy attempt with the far worse received “Terminator: Genisys”.
Opinion toward ‘Salvation’ has softened over the years for actually trying something different and showing off a fairly solidly crafted dystopian vision. Recently McG spoke with CBR and revealed he has an alternate cut he thinks fans would appreciate:
“It’s interesting because I feel like we did so much right with Terminator but, ultimately, got just enough wrong that we got beat up a little bit by the fanbase and it really, really broke my heart. And now, strangely, I think the film has started to age better.
There is a different cut. I have my own cut of that film and there’s people online that talk about wanting to see that cut. And that’s interesting! But I think I got a lot of things right with that.
Obviously, I think [uncredited screenwriter] Jonah Nolan is very, very serious writer and he did the best he could. [Maybe] the cut that I have of that movie hidden away is the answer. It’s darker! [Laughs] I don’t know, that’s for the fans to say.”
Whether he could is another story as rights issues surrounding the franchise remain complicated, not to mention the poor sales for even the decently regarded “Terminator: Dark Fate” has effectively put the whole franchise on ice for at least the next few years.
