The long awaited ‘Terminator 5’ film has just gotten a boost toward getting made as Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures have just signed Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier to write the screenplay for the film.
Ever since Megan Ellison bought the rights for ‘Terminator’ (for a whopping $20 million!), it was thought that the film would be on the fast track to getting made with production having started (or even finished) by now. After all, Ellison has until 2018 to do something because that’s when the rights will revert back to James Cameron. With Arnold Schwarzenegger stating that there is talk for two more ‘Terminator’ films, that doesn’t leave too much time to waste. Now that Ellison has teamed up with her brother David Ellison of Skydance Productions (the company that produced ‘World War Z’ and ‘Star Trek into Darkness’), the project is looking like it’s gaining steam once again.
Deadline is reporting that Kalogridis and Lussier have been hired to bring the franchise back on track and will be scribing the screenplay for ‘Terminator 5.’ The two make an unlikely combination. Lussier’s work has mainly been in the horror genre working on films such as ‘Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later,’ ‘Dracula 2000,’ ‘My Bloody Valentine,’ and ‘Apollo 18.’ Meanwhile, Kalogridis’ CV boasts work more on the sci-fi side and been involved in projects such as ‘Shutter Island’, ‘Birds of Prey,’ the unsuccessful reboot of ‘The Bionic Woman’ and ‘Avatar.’ Apparently, Kalogridis is rather tight with James Cameron as she has also done some scripting duties on his ‘Fantastic Voyage’ remake and has been linked to the film adaptation of ‘Battle Angel.’ This leads to some speculation whether if Cameron will have any input on the story even if it’s on an off record consulting capacity. Regardless, David Ellison seems to have faith in the two writers as he had previously hired them to write an original sci-fi adventure film for his company.
As of yet, there still is no director for ‘Terminator 5.’ Justin Lin was originally attached to the project but bowed out to do ‘The Fast and the Furious 6.’ Now with writers on hand, it may not be too difficult to find a replacement.
One thing that may be difficult to see is Schwarzenegger returning as the Terminator. According to the films, these cyborgs don’t age and, well, it’s a while since we’ve seen him in this part. Considering it’s said that he’ll have a “significant role” in this sequel, it will be interesting to find out what that role will really be.
What do you think? Can Schwarzenegger pull off another Terminator role or do you think the franchise should have ended with McG’s ‘Terminator: Salvation?’
