Terminator Franchise up for auction!

[Muad'Dib]

If you haven't heard yet, the rights to the Terminator franchise are going up for auction later this month. The Financial Times reports that The Halcyon Co. is selling off the entire rights to the franchise, which will "give the buyer the ability to make new Terminator films, TV programmes and other spin-offs that build on the popularity of the franchise." Sounds like a hell of a deal. It will reportedly sell for more than $60 million.

[Muad'Dib]

I wonder if James Cameron and Fox would pull the money together to make another movie?

[Ian H]

Shall we have a whip round? I'll just check what's down the back of the sofa.

I wonder if this means that Halcyon think the franchise could be drying up, sell while its still worth something? $60m is a lot of money, but how much does a Terminator film gross?

[Per]

Its the money in the merchandising opportunities as well. There's probably room for one more film following Salvation, but then no more.

[Smackos]

Well, let's face it.. it all comes down to just how good a movie is made. I thought Batman was dead and buried and then look what happened there..

I think it'd certainly be worth 60 mill..!!

[Muad'Dib]

Looks like the rights went to a $29.5 million bid from Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. Sony and Lionsgate will produce and distribute the next Terminator film.

And it looks like original franchise writer Bill Wisher has treatments for a fifth and sixth movie.

"As a 'Terminator' fanboy myself, I think Wisher has done a terrific job with a plot that accepts the storylines from Jonathan Mostow’s 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' and McG’s 'Terminator: Salvation.' Most interestingly, he turns the story back to the core characters and time travel storyline of the first two films that Wisher crafted with Cameron.
Wisher’s 2-picture construct takes place in a post-apocalyptic battleground, and factors in an element of time travel that allows for Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to interact beyond their single fateful meeting when he traveled back in time to protect her in the original film. Wisher has created a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger that is as surprising as his shift from villain in the first film, to John Connor’s bodyguard in the second. Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be needed until the final film, which wouldn’t shoot until after he ends his term as California Governor.
There are several new villains, and plenty of firepower. For instance, a swarm of 'Night Crawlers,' 4 1/2-foot tall border sentries that are set like mines to spring up out of the ground and ambush rebel fighters with 10 MM pistols built into their wrists, and fingers and feet that are razor sharp. Also fresh off the Skynet assembly line are new shape-shifting cyborgs that can morph together in Transformers-like mode, and are more lethal than anything we’ve seen in previous 'Terminator' installments.
Wisher presents a satisfying conclusion to what by then would be a 6-picture struggle between Skynet’s machines and John and Sarah Connor to preserve a future that allows mankind to prevail over the machines."

So who's ready for more?