We recently reported that there may indeed be a fifth Terminator installment in the near future, and that Arnold may be returning to the franchise.
Yet we of course had to raise the question: Just because you can make another Terminator movie, should it really be done? And the real big elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: Do audiences still want to see Schwarzenegger these days?
You can’t blame Ah-nold for being loyal to the Terminator. Even though he had a breakthrough with Conan the Barbarian, it was the Terminator that really made him a major star. As GiantFreakinRobot notes, Schwarzenegger said at a London press conference that he’ll be back, and we also just reported that Laeta Kalogridis, who co-wrote Avatar with James Cameron, is onboard working on the script.
In addition to this, Ah-nold also wants to come back as Conan, and there was a Conan film in the works for years at Warner Brothers that John Milius, the screenwriter of Apocalypse Now and director of Red Dawn, was writing. (That version of Conan never got made, but a lot of it actually wound up in the HBO series Rome).
At the same time, Arnold’s latest movie, The Last Stand, just died at the box office, coming in at 10th place on the b.o. charts, and several Hollywood websites have gleefully been enjoying the film’s failure. The headlines wrote themselves with this one. Movefone asked, “Will The Last Stand Be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Stand?,” and “Arnold Schwarzenegger Risks Termination at the Box Office.”
As The Hollywood Reporter explains, “Analysts see a tough road for The Governator’s next films as age and personal scandal take their toll on the 65-year-old.” Whoah, Arnold’s 65 now? It’s a trip to think that eventually the Terminator would one day become a senior citizen, but humans, unlike cyborgs, aren’t made of indestructible steel.
One source told the Reporter, “In Hollywood, you get several chances. If I were him, I’d get Terminator 5 on the fast track.”
But at this point, will another Terminator really make a difference? The source continued, “You put Arnold in a Terminator movie, and it will open at No.1,” yet these days you really have to wonder.
I also never thought I’d live to read this comment, but as another source told the Reporter, “There’s an entire generation of young people that was wondering why the governor of California was starring in a movie.” Sorry to make us fellow geeks feel old, but that quote was too good not to omit.
It’s indeed odd to think that a guy who was once one of the biggest stars in Hollywood is now a big risk at the box office. Arnold definitely overcame incredible odds to become a superstar, especially his last name and his accent, but the advances of time may be his biggest obstacle yet.
