Before devoting himself to the world of Pandora with 20th Century Studios' Avatar franchise, filmmaker James Cameron put himself on the map with The Terminator and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
Several sequels followed, but without Cameron at the helm, they were unable to make the same impact. The movies ranked from bad to forgettable and only okay, a shame when the Terminator franchise is more relevant now than it's perhaps ever been.
Artificial intelligence is on the rise, something Cameron and many other Hollywood heavyweights have expressed concerns about. After previously teasing a return to the Terminator franchise, the Avatar: Fire and Ash director shared an update this week while speaking to io9 (via SFFGazette.com), and revealed that he's mulling over—and prioritising—a fresh approach.
"I’ll have some time to write and to consider my next projects and the order in which I do them and so on once we’re done with the marketing on this in a month or so," Cameron told the site. "I’ve got a stack of notes this thick [holds fingers about three inches apart], which is how I start all my scripts, on what I want to do with a new Terminator film. I’m going to pour myself into that as a writer."
"It’s difficult. I have to tell you," he added. "Science fiction has caught up and is actually overwhelming us at this point. We’re living in a science fiction world, and we’re literally having to deal with problems that in the past only existed in science fiction books and movies. Now we’re living it for real."
"I’ll never be as prescient as I was back in 1984 of imagining this one because I don’t think anybody knows what’s going to be happening a year or two years from now. But I at least want to future-proof myself by being a couple years out," Cameron concluded.
If Avatar: Fire and Ash is another $2+ billion hit, we'd bet on him focusing on Avatar 4 before any of the other projects we know he's circling (those include an adaptation of a book called The Devils and a movie set during World War II about atomic bombs).
It would certainly be interesting to learn what a Cameron-helmed Terminator would look like in today's world. It's hard to imagine he'd bring back any of the franchise's familiar faces, as previous movies have tried that and explored pretty much every avenue with them. As he insinuates above, his latest take would likely be completely different.
Cameron's latest comments echo what he said back in September. "I've been tasked with writing a new Terminator story," he said at the time. "I've been unable to get [very far] on that. I don't know what to say that won't be overtaken by real events. We are living in a science fiction age right now."
Let us know what you'd like to see from a new Terminator movie with Cameron at the helm in the comments section.