MOVIE NEWS – James Cameron admits Terminator: Dark Fate’s box office disaster, but he still has a soft spot for it. Released on November 1, 2019, the sixth entry in the Terminator series was meant to follow up on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, ignoring the other sequels. Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton reprised their iconic roles as the Terminator and Sarah Connor, respectively, and with Cameron returning as producer, the film seemed poised for success. However, despite the best reviews in the series since T2, Dark Fate flopped at the box office, earning only $62 million in the U.S. against its $185 million budget. Even with a global haul of $261 million, it fell short of less successful sequels like Terminator: Genisys and Terminator: Salvation.

In a recent interview with Empire Magazine celebrating The Terminator’s 40th anniversary, James Cameron defended the movie and praised Gabriel Luna’s performance as the Rev-9 Terminator. “I think Rev-9 was cool as hell. Personally, I believe it stands up to anything we did back in the day,” Cameron said. “I still think mine are the best, but I’d place it solidly at number three.” Cameron pointed out, however, that the problem lay in focusing too heavily on bringing back Sarah Connor and Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. He commented:

“The issue wasn’t that the film didn’t work. The problem was that people didn’t show up. I’ve admitted this to Tim Miller many times. I said, ‘I sunk this movie before we even wrote a single word or shot a single frame… We made a genuine sequel to a movie where the audience who saw it in theaters back then is either dead, retired, or suffering from dementia. It was a non-starter. There was nothing there for a new audience.”

Cameron’s candid recognition that catering to an aging fanbase might not have been the best strategy is a refreshing take. Franchises like Ghostbusters, Halloween, and Jurassic World continue to lean on legacy characters while failing to develop new ones, often leading to diminishing box office returns. Meanwhile, films like Twisters succeeded without relying on old characters, showing that focusing on new stories can still result in box-office hits.

Cameron understands that for Terminator to remain relevant, they need to attract a younger audience and build a new fanbase. Long-standing franchises like Doctor Who and Star Trek have shown that appealing to broader audiences can keep a series alive. Cameron has already indicated that his next Terminator project will move away from the franchise’s iconic elements. Terminator Zero, which premiered on Netflix in August 2024, is a step forward, combining the franchise’s themes with fresh perspectives and characters.

Source: MovieWeb