Even Jai Courtney Thinks It’s Time To Leave The ‘Terminator’ Franchise Alone
When an actor or actress joins a big blockbuster franchise, they’re pretty much on board for whatever the future holds, if only because it’s a near-guarantee for a few paychecks that they won’t have to fight for elsewhere. Therefore, if an actor thinks that it’s a better idea to not proceed with sequels in a given franchise, then things must be pretty hopeless.
That’s where a recent conversation withTerminator GenisysstarJai Courtney (promoting his role inSuicide Squad, opening this week) comes into play. The actor was asked about the future of theTerminatorfranchise, which has been up in the air sinceTerminator Genisysunderperformed last year. First any sequelwas said to be canceled, but thenArnold Schwarzeneggersaidit was still happening. But if Jai Courtney has his way, he thinks the franchise should pack it up for awhile.
When asked about the possibility of returning forTerminatorsequels, Jai Courtney was pretty honest about his feelings on the matter, though not negative enough to make the studio mad. He toldBusiness Insider(viaThe Playlist):
If it seems like an obvious movie to make then cool. But with ‘Terminator,’ who knows, it’s probably time to leave it where it is. But if they can get back in there and dig around and decide there is another film to make, I’ll take the call.
To most studios, a sequel in a well-known franchise is an obvious move to make, which is whyTerminator Genisyshappened to begin with. But since the box office was pretty disappointing for the sequel, Paramount Pictures isn’t so sure that another installment is a safe bet anymore.
At this point, there have been too many disappointments in theTerminatorfranchise that the series really needs to lie dormant for awhile. In fact, it’s probably better to just let enough time pass so that the studio can just reboot the franchise sometime down the road. That’s essentially what was attempted withGenisysby creating a whole new timeline that shook up the events that we know from the past, but it wasn’t enough to make it interesting.
One of the biggest problems (besides a messy story) is that every sequel feels the need to shoehorn in Arnold Schwarzenegger when the franchise should be trying to find some more interesting story outlets. Even though Arnold has become synonymous with Terminator, at some point the series will have to proceed without him, and it’s probably best to let enough time pass for that to be acceptable to fans of the original movies. But if there’s a decent script that can be scrounged up for a sequel, then sign me up.
