Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna and Diego Boneta also star.īox office analysts say the movie’s poor opening is a reflection of complete IP failure. The R-rated Dark Fate was directed by Deadpool helmer Tim Miller.
He arranged for Cameron to come back and produce a movie that would be a direct sequel to the first two films - The Terminatorand Terminator 2: Judgment Day, both of which were directed by Cameron - as well as helped arrange for the return of original series stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ellison quickly scrapped the two follow-ups and went back to the drawing board. Terminator Genisys was supposed to be the first of a trilogy but was reviled by critics. It earned more than $100 million in China alone, but faltered in the U.S., where it topped out at $89.8 million. The film, which cost more than $150 million to produce before marketing, grossed $440.6 million globally, so it wasn’t a financial disaster. It’s also a blow for Paramount, which needs franchises.Įllison’s first attempt was 2015’s Terminator Genisys, released in partnership with Warner Bros.
While the losses will be spread around, Dark Fate‘s surprisingly poor performance is a blow for David Ellison’s Skydance, which has spent tens of millions trying to reboot the James Cameron-created series that first hit the big screen in 1984. The red ink could end up at $130 million if the pic doesn’t hold internationally conversely, the losses could be closer to $110 million if it does have strong legs offshore, sources add. Nor was its performance much better overseas, where it has earned $94.6 million to date, including a lackluster China launch of $28 million, for a global total of $123.6 million.ĭark Fate faces losses of $120 million-plus for partners Skydance Media, Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, which each put up 30 percent of the $185 million budget (Disney, which now owns the Fox film studio, will absorb the loss), sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Terminator: Dark Fate bombed in its global box office debut over the weekend, grossing just $29 million in the U.S., well behind expectations. As of this writing, Dark Fate‘s global haul stands at a disappointing $123.6 million.A storied Hollywood film franchise has been terminated - at least for the foreseeable future.
It hasn’t fared much better overseas with $94.6 million to date, including a soft $28 million debut in China where Genisys was partially saved thanks to $105 million overall. The Tim Miller-directed sequel earned the top spot at the domestic box office this weekend with just $29 million. But not even the involvement of franchise creator James Cameron, who returns here as a producer, could save the film from judgment day. With a $185 million budget, that’s exactly what Terminator: Dark Fate hopes to be.
But Hollywood-currently beset by hordes of streaming and TV competition-is determined to reinvent deflated concepts that audiences have previously rejected into event movies.
When 2015’s Terminator Genisys failed crack $100 million at the North American box office, Paramount Pictures should have known general audiences were no longer interested in its cybernetic robot apocalypse. It looks like the Terminator won’t be back after all.