'Terminator' Sequels to Be Released in 2017, 2018

By Dave McNary

Paramount Pictures is amping up its rebooted Terminator franchise, dating two sequels to Terminator: Genisys, which opens July 1.

The studio has dated Terminator 2 for May 19, 2017, and Terminator 3 on June 29, 2018.

Terminator 2 is the first film to land on that date. Terminator 3 will open against an untitled Fox/DreamWorks Animation/Blue Sky film.

Paramount is partnered with David Ellison’s Skydance on the rebooted franchise, which launched in 1984 with James Cameron directing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the iconic cyborg.

Terminator: Genisys, the fifth installment in the franchise, is directed by  Alan Taylor from a script by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier.  Schwarzenegger will reprise his role along with Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Byung-hun Lee and J.K. Simmons.

In 2012, David Ellison agreed to partner with sibling Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures following their joint acquisition of rights from Pacificor, which acquired the rights in a bankruptcy court auction in early 2010 over objections from Sony and Lionsgate. In early 2014, Megan Ellison decided to pull out of the reboot project.

Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the franchise, was produced by Halcyon toppers Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson, with Warner Bros. handling domestic distribution and Sony taking international. It carried a production pricetag of about $200 million and took in $371 million worldwide in 2009.

A spokeswoman for Annapurna said in 2012 that under new copyright rules, North American rights to the Terminator franchise could revert back to creator James Cameron in 2019 — 35 years after the original Terminator was released.

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