More 'Terminator' Rights Nonsense To Ponder

When Halcyon announced its impending bankruptcy and how it was planning to auction the rights to the Terminator Franchise, I was like "Ohhh!"

And when Sony and Lionsgate both pursued the rights, I was like "Hmmm."

Then a hedge fund named Pacificor secured the rights, and I was like "Zzzz."

I may be a science fiction fan, but I'm a financial troglodyte and I actually had to Google "hedge fund" to figure out exactly what was going on here, but then I realized I didn't care and went back to watching movies with lasers that go "pew pew!" and robots that go "beep boop."

The news today (via Variety), which borders on being complete non-news, is that Pacificor is being approached by "numerous studios, producers, financiers and agents" regarding their recent acquisition. Sony and Lionsgate are also still after the franchise and talks have happened, but nothing even remotely resembling a deal has taken place and will not take place anytime soon. Naturally, no piece on anything film related would be complete without a reference to 3D, which Pacificor sees as the natural direction to take further sequels.

Because this is boring, I'm going to stop right there. Future Terminator films don't need 3D to be successful. They need a good director and a good story. Is that really too much to ask? They don't need to be $200 million movies. Look at the first Terminator, which is still the best one, whether you want to believe it or not. It's a micro-budgeted, personal little movie that works because of it's direction, pacing and raw energy. Terminator 2 is the popular choice for best of the series, but you don't have to emulate that big, bombastic "Hollywood" approach to make a good movie about killer cyborgs from the future. You don't have to create massive future battle scenes like in Terminator Salvation. You need a good director and a good story.

I believe I've said this before, but I'm a broken record and I'm going to say it again. The Terminator was a "chase movie," two humans on the run from an unstoppable killing machine. I think that's the way to go. Put it in the past, put it in the present, put it in the future, but reduce the scale and make it about the terror of being hunted. We've seen too many epic battles to be impressed by them anymore. It's been a long time since we've seen something personal and frightening. The Terminators themselves lose something when they become cannon fodder. Make them scary again.

And I'm done. Does anyone else constantly misread Pacificor as pacifier?