POLL: Did Christian Bale's Blowout Effect Terminator Salvation's Box Office Take?

POLL: Did Christian Bale's Blowout Effect Terminator Salvation's Box Office Take?

As we all know, Terminator Salvation took in a boatload of cash but was beaten out by Night at the Museum 2 for first place at the theater. Do you think that Bale's ballyhooed "f"-fest hurt the movie?

By ComicBookMovie - May 28, 2009 07:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Terminator





The director, who uses the single name 'McG', told The Telegraph that it was his demand for perfection that triggered Bale’s expletive-laden rant at a crew member. “I’m to blame for the whole thing,” he said.

“First and foremost it’s my job to create a safe environment on the set at all times so that actors can explore any given emotion and always believe in the sanctity of the film…

In February, after the filming of the £100million Terminator Salvation, the audio of the actor became an overnight viral sensation. McG described the audio as “wildly offensive” but defended the actor - most famous for his performance of Batman in box office hit ‘The Dark Night’ – saying that the rant was “taken out of context”.

He admitted swearing at the actor numerous times and deliberately trying to aggravate Bale so that he would come across on camera as “fired-up”.

The film, the fourth of the Terminator movies, is set in dark, post-Apocalyptic 2018, 14 years after the nuclear attack that ended the previous Terminator trilogy.

“In a great many ways this is a war movie so I’m on the set getting in Christian’s face saying, 'You’d better get your ----ing s--- together and you’d better fire up and make me believe your life is in danger, now get off your ----ing ass Christian and go and show me something.’

"Now that’s going to get him fired up in the spirit of creating a real life and death performance and that’s never meant to get outside that arena."

McG said that in reality Bale is a caring family man.

“The truth is simply Christian’s a good guy. Don’t accuse him of being a bad guy because he’s not. He loves his family, he has no entourage, he’s an actor’s actor and he operates from a place of passion. He’ll be the first to admit, 'Wow, I flew off the handle,’ but he was very much involved in what I was driving him to.

McG is not the only crew member to have defended Bale over the tirade. Assistant director Bruce Franklin told US entertainment channel E! News that the rant was the result of Bale being distracted during an emotional scene.

He said: "If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove – it was the most emotional scene in the movie – and for him to get stopped in the middle of it... He is very intensely involved in his character.

"He doesn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed."

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SpiderBat209
SpiderBat209 - 5/28/2009, 8:12 AM
BATMAN has a POTTY MOUTH! :)

His RANT didn't hurt it, the early reviews did!

BALE still Rules.

JohnnyKrypton
JohnnyKrypton - 5/28/2009, 8:20 AM
Say what you will about his ability, the man was an international superstar and this was his signature role; to many people Terminator without the Governator just ain't Terminator. People looking for a runaway hit underestimated the Arnie factor. DVD and sequel sales once it's found its audience.
ThoroughbredSteele0
ThoroughbredSteele0 - 5/28/2009, 9:33 AM
are you all retarded? of course it hurt the movie. it was rated pg-13 so young kids could go see it, but after that rant alot of parents weren't about to take their kids to see it. cause then it looks like its ok to be a dick as long as your famous.
dont get me wrong, I like Bales movies, he is a good actor, but this is America. parents let TV, movies, and everybody else raise their kids and that hurt his role model statis. that and the punching his mom and sister incident.
JonSolo
JonSolo - 5/28/2009, 9:36 AM
Totally agree keven. It also was hurt because it is aimed at a male demographic during two really good western and eastern conf final series with Lebron and Kobe.
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 5/28/2009, 9:44 AM
What's wrong with being 2nd to Night at the Museum 2? The 1st was suprisingly entertaining and like Keven said, it was a weekend for families.

I'm [frick]ed off with this "lets make every film 12a/PG13 to sell" and "if it doesn't hit number 1 in the 1st week it's a failure" attitude! These people need to look at things long term instead of being so short sighted! Terminator should be an 18, 15 at worst. It's just that kind of movie! You wouldn't do a Predator film PG13! If a movie is done right and not "dumbed down" then it will have the staying power to sell more tickets over time, get better DVD sales and better prospects for franchising! This actually means more money for the greedy fat cats, albiet over a longer time scale. Stop making disposable films!
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 9:56 AM
Keven,
Thanks, pal-- you stole what I was gonna post! (Obviously, I'm saying that I completely agree with you.)
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 9:57 AM
Oh, and Howlett, they DID do a PG-13 "Predator" movie. It was called "AVP."
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 5/28/2009, 10:10 AM
"AVP" wasn't PG13 was it?! If I'm wrong then I'll hold my hands up but my point still stands!
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 10:15 AM
Yes Howlett, it was, but don't take it as though I'm disagreeing with your point-- I was just correcting your statement. I do agree with everything that you said, it just-so happened that you used a bad example.
JonSolo
JonSolo - 5/28/2009, 10:17 AM
I think AVP was pg13 and AVP requiem was R
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 10:33 AM
That is correct.
vonstallin
vonstallin - 5/28/2009, 10:42 AM
I think they should have mentioned that Arny was 9sort of in it)....

If they would have showed a glimps of his face over the other guys body i bet more would have came...still good movie...and Bale is good actor...
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 5/28/2009, 11:02 AM
this is completely silly. Night at the Museum 2 won the week because it has a lot more appeal with a mainstream audience, especially people with smaller children, and those who don't care anything about sci-fi. Bale's blowup did little to affect Terminator's box office. I doubt more than a handful of people didn't go see the Terminator movie because of it. I'd go see Night at the Museum 2 over Terminator because I'm tired of the whole Terminator thing and the first Night at the Museum was clever and funny.
KeepItReal
KeepItReal - 5/28/2009, 11:58 AM
nowadays, who doesnt have a potty mouth, temper fit... its not like he killed someone and got away with it.

I agree with comicb00kguy... I cant take my kids to see Terminator so we had to see Night at the Museum. But it wasnt because Bale had a bad day so Im not going to see his movie now cuz of it. I truely dislike Megan Hooker Fox for her ignorance but it wont stop me from seeing a movie she's in say like Transformer coming up now. There is more to the movie than the person in it.
Tobuttica
Tobuttica - 5/28/2009, 12:13 PM
I think Terminator 3 hurt this movie. People remembered that piece of crap and were like, "meh." Batman Begins performed well, but not as well as it should have. It was an awesome movie, but the stench of Batman and Robin kept it from being the pocket emptying blockbuster that it could have. Personally, I'm saving my 2009 summer movie virginity for Transformers 2.
THEPHOENIX
THEPHOENIX - 5/28/2009, 12:14 PM
People didn't see it cause they were probably thinking of the Terminators they remember. A lot of the girls I know weren't going cause they have kids, so they saw Night at the Museum. I saw it and it wasn't that vioelnt.
JonSolo
JonSolo - 5/28/2009, 12:17 PM
Connors is a conflicted intense dude. Think a guy like Bale is what that character needed. Plus this isnt a disney movie so who cares if he drops some F-bombs on set.
Betty
Betty - 5/28/2009, 12:40 PM
if anything, it helped. Any publicity is good publicity. Except for Kramer.
SpiderBat209
SpiderBat209 - 5/28/2009, 1:32 PM
@Betty---"Except for Kramer" LMAO! :D
alten2345
alten2345 - 5/28/2009, 2:35 PM
It's still funny:)

MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 3:55 PM
Betty,
I swear, almost every one of your one-liners literally make me laugh out loud. "Except Kramer." I gotta hand it to you-- you are the master at finding the absolutely perfect comment. And short and to the point.

I remember reading that post the time when we were talking about the guy who dropped the whole script in that one comments section and you wrote something that made me burst into laughter. My girlfriend made me explain and of course she didn't think it was funny, but I still laugh about that to this day whenever I think about it.
Betty
Betty - 5/28/2009, 4:41 PM
Thanks man, I try.
THEHAWK
THEHAWK - 5/28/2009, 6:19 PM
Hmmmmm....Maybe I should have Betty help me write Deadpool some oneliners for my next story.
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 6:30 PM
You could... but I think his avatar and the fact that they're on here, placed perfectly in the middle of rants, and somehow relate to and incorporate the one sexual or funny aspect to be found in the entire article, have a lot to do with the humor. It's perfect.
THEHAWK
THEHAWK - 5/28/2009, 7:10 PM
Hey Metalhead check out my new story.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/ChroniclesofMoeniaArcis/news/?a=7737

It is my idea for Batman 5
THEHAWK
THEHAWK - 5/28/2009, 7:11 PM
I'd like your opinion, I also have the links for my other two Batman stories
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 8:01 PM
Ok, will do.
MetalHead
MetalHead - 5/28/2009, 8:02 PM
Gotta be honest, I saw Ray Liotta after one second of being on the page and was instantly excited.
THEHAWK
THEHAWK - 5/28/2009, 9:06 PM
I know man! Liota is an underated actor. Let me know what you think of the story.
IronManisGOAT
IronManisGOAT - 5/28/2009, 10:44 PM
Absolutely it had an effect... but a small one. The writers are who destroyed the film. The film doesn't hold much to the originals and had sooooooo little that was pleasing for the terminator fans. The Terminator with a bandanna and his head tilted reminded me of a robot gangster saying "thug life". The film was mostly about a guy no one knows who is a terminator who doesn't hit like a terminator until he fights one. Terribly inconsistent. The film was cheese ball central. 1.5 stars out of 5.
shibazz
shibazz - 5/29/2009, 2:25 AM
To be honest if we all had an " I remember when Betty said this" comment well we could fill a hole that led us staight to Normal Hell and clog the Hell outta Realities toilet! Betty! Betty!! BETTY!!!
TheDudeAbides987
TheDudeAbides987 - 5/29/2009, 4:54 AM
Hmm....Let's see, the fact that McG was completely up his own ass about the film and the fact that the film just ended up being decent at the most, were the reason why it didn't do so well. I don't know about the rest of you but I walked out of the theater saying: 'eh'.
Betty
Betty - 5/29/2009, 3:03 PM
shibazz-- Say wha? You blow my mind sometimes, I love it!
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 5/30/2009, 11:41 AM
THEHAWK - Damn straight! Ray Liotta is awesome in everything he's been in, from small parts in "Blow" and even "B-Movie" to starring roles in "Narc"! "Identity" has to top his CV for me tho!
THEHAWK
THEHAWK - 5/30/2009, 6:14 PM
@Howlett. Liotta's best to me will always be Goodfellas, one of my top 10 movies.
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