Paramount Announces TERMINATOR Trilogy

Paramount Pictures announced that they will be working up not one, but three films in the Terminator franchise.

As we reported on Week In Review, Arnold Schwarzenegger has already confirmed that he will be back for Terminator 5 (and that’s not the title, but it’s what everyone’s calling it until we get something else). There’s also a rumor that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is being considered as the antagonist terminator. Rumors also surfaced that Johnson’s terminator would be sent back even further in time to target Sarah Connor’s parents, with Schwarzenegger as the human using old-fashioned weapons and technology to fight the advanced robot.

Shooting is set to begin in January 2014, and Paramount has set a release date of June 26, 2015 for the first of what will be a stand-alone trilogy. That puts it right between Assassin’s Creed and Independence Day 2. Laeta Kalorgridis and Patrick Lussier are still on board as the screenwriters, although no director has been announced as of yet.

Paramount recently negotiated for the distribution rights, and production will be handled by Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures.

No mention in the press release as to the story, but it does say this will be a “rebooted” Terminator. Does that mean a remake of the original? Or is this a timeline reset that wipes the slate clean and gives the story room to move in a new direction? This pretty much cuts out the possAnd there’s no way of knowing if The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be considered part of the story (if that time period even factors in at all…)

Oddly enough, the press release also conspicuously leaves out whether or not Schwarzenegger is attached to the project, even though he’s confirmed it himself. This announcement is bare bones, just stating the fact that Skydance, Annapurna and Paramount are making the films.