Two days ago, Screen Rant reported on one of the newest TV Spots for Terminator Salvation. That commercial showed off the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face appeared in the movie in a short scene as the T-800 killing machine.

Why is that significant?

Well, my thoughts were that the folks behind the movie were getting desperate to have people come see the movie in theaters now that it has been out for several weeks in North America and had not lived up even close to where they expected it to be in terms of box office numbers. What does that mean for its potential sequel?

Terminator Salvation was one of my most anticipated films of the year. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype for myself and many other Terminator fans, let alone the critics who tore it apart in the plethora of negative reviews found online and in print everywhere.

While the movie is still just opening in many of the foreign markets, its financial performance in theaters is a clear disappointment for director McG and the studio. I wonder if they’re still considering forming a trilogy out of it…

We have a winner for this great contest:

Thorsteinn Valdimarsson, Iceland

Thanks to everyone for entering!

Don’t forget to enter our Screen Rant giveaway, time is almost up! Thanks to the most excellent Art You Grew Up With we’re running a contest for a cool Terminator Salvation fine art limited edition print, created from original artwork overseen by Terminator Salvation production designer Martin Laing.

This limited edition print is limited to only 100 copies and we’ve got one to give away (which will also be signed by the artist).

In the Wrap Up this Week:

The box office is UP; Robert Downey Jr might still saddle up for Cowboys and Aliens; Lucy beats Nicole Kidman to the Punch; Natalie Portman, Danny McBride and James Franco salute Your Highness; Seann William Scott and Adam Brody are A Couple of Dicks and Chevy Chase dips his toes in the Hot Tub Time Machine and he may return as Fletch.

SPOILER ALERT!!! Most of the debate on Screen Rant’s Terminator Salvation discussion forum has been over what many felt were glaring plot holes in the film’s story. Questions like “How did Skynet know about Kyle Reese?”, “Why does Skynet need a T-800 when it already has Marcus Wright?” or “Since when are T-800s impervious to molten steel?” have popped up again and again and again.

Well, MTV News recently decided to end the trend of circular questioning by taking some of the most debated plot holes straight to Terminator Salvation director McG, who tried his best to plug them with some logical explanation.

This week:
Ben Stiller has no time for Salvation at the box office; George Clooney is a Private Gentleman; Lyndsy Fonseca gets into the Hot Tub Time Machine; Milla Jovovich throws a Stone; Ridley Scott looks for a younger Robin Hood and Kevin Costner makes a western - I’m not kidding.

It appears that Terminator Salvation is going to be (pun alert!) terminated at the box office on its opening weekend, by none other than the family-friendly Ben Stiller comedy/adventure sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

The final numbers from the Memorial Day long weekend have yet to be tallied, but as of now, it appears that Night at the Museum 2 has a clear lock on the no. 1 spot at the U.S. box office.

Here are the three lucky winners of this great Terminator Salvation giveaway:

• Thomas W. Hicks - Roswell, GA
• Alex Olivo - Lompoc, CA
• Natalie Henderson - Kent, UK

Thanks for entering and keep an eye out for more contests here at Screen Rant!

Thanks to Titan Books we have a pretty sweet giveaway for you. Of course we won’t know until the film actually comes out if Terminator Salvation turns out to be as great as it looks, but I’m optimistic.

So to commemorate the release of the film on May 22nd we’re giving away a triple, triple prize pack.

If you’ve been following Terminator Salvation news, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen updates, or both – Then you’ve probably heard of the little robot franchise feud between McG and Michael Bay, the directors of the two respective films, that’s been going on for a while.

Their back-and-forth ranged from Bay claiming ownership of big robots for his movies to McG wanting to measure his private parts against Bay’s. Putting that aside, let us move on to what’s really important: For John Connor, the savior of humanity against the machines, it doesn’t matter what franchise the robots come from, all of them are his enemy.

One of our most popular new features here at Screen Rant has been the movie spoiler discussion post, where people can feel free to talk about all aspects of a film without having to worry about spoiling it for others. You can check out our Terminator Salvation review but if you want to talk about the movie after having seen it I suggest you do so right here.

So discuss Terminator Salvation below to your heart’s content!

Today we have a little collection of set photos for the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake. Some are of the awesome set pieces being put together and the newer ones are of Sam Worthington on set and in costume as Perseus.

Sam Worthington is huge in Hollywood and he’s still not ever had a big movie hit theaters! This all changes very soon with the Australian actor playing a major part in this Thursday’s Terminator Salvation, and the starring in James Cameron’s game-changer 3-D epic Avatar this December and he’s currently shooting this upcoming remake of Clash of the Titans.

With the release of the sci-fi blockbuster Terminator Salvation looming, the inevitable first and early reviews for the movie have been made available. And the words are not as positive as you might be hoping or thinking.

There aren’t enough reviews to even call this even a handful, but the three that there are, from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and a college website - “One of these things is not like the others…” - join together for an overall verdict of “mixed.” Variety and College Times are quite positive (with reservations), but THR is… well, let’s just say less positive about it. Check out some excerpts from the trio of reviews:

As we near the release of the highly anticipated Terminator Salvation, troubled MGM Studios is hoping to get into the Terminator game by positioning itself to take over the distribution of Terminator 5, part two in the planned new trilogy.  Yep, shock waves are being felt around Hollywood, since Warner Bros. and Sony are distributing next week’s Terminator Film.

The summer season is upon us with big movies X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek already out in theaters and plenty more on the way. The next biggie for me is Terminator Salvation which opens in just two weeks.

Similar to Trek and Wolverine, there’s already talk of sequels for Terminator Salvation. If the trailers we’ve seen so far for this movie are any indicator, then that talk is certainly justified. However, I’m starting to get just a wee bit worried with the release of this extended trailer.

We all remember the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike that lasted 100 days (from late 2007 to early 2008) and cost Hollywood a couple of billion dollars in lost wages and revenue.  Sure, plenty of movies went into production anyway so there would be at least some new movies, but without writers to do onset re-writes has the quality suffered?

For example, the recent James Bond film Quantum of Solace; writer Paul Haggis turned in the script right before the WGA strike began in November 2007, and the film started shooting soon after.  Production was well underway by the time the strike ended, so it is possible they had some rewrites done, especially if there were any major reshoots.

We’re now less than a month away from the release of Terminator Salvation, the latest installment in one of the most successful sci-fi franchises of all time. Fans are gearing themselves up for an explosive time at the theater, expecting plenty of bang for their buck, and I’m sure the final product won’t let them down.

They call him Wolverine, and he’s the best at what he does, and what he does is shred the box office with berserker rage!  Okay, enough of the Wolverine analogies, but you can’t help but be impressed with the $87 million haul of X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

What a way to start off the summer–with the 2009 box office up over last year, people are still hungry for movies, even in this economy. Fox need not fret any more about the pirated version that leaked out, hurting the box office, because the Hugh Jackman-starrer proved that people love to see movies in the theaters.

Last week, Screen Rant posted about two new TV spots for Terminator Salvation that were geared towards showing off the finished special effects of the film. Today, we have two new spots which also show off some of the cool action (obviously) but also reveal some more character stuff.

Terminator Salvation is directed directed by McG and stars Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Helena Bonham Carter and Jadagrace.

Another week means another wrap up.

This week:
We Tell No One about a new remake; Hollywood decides to tell us about The Day They Stole The Mona Lisa; Wolverine’s Danny Huston is beyond the Poseidon adventure; Maria Bello and Craig T. Nelson are Company Men and Amanda Peet Travels with Jack Black.

A few brand new TV spots for Terminator Salvation have made their way online and they are awesome!

We haven’t seen nearly as much marketing for this movie as we have for some of its competitors in the month of May – specifically X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek but I’m sure they are about to gear up for the release as the summer season kicks off this Friday.

The teasers show off the finished special effects of the movie and emphasize the post-apocalyptic backdrop of the story. There’s a ton of new footage in these short trailers so check these two out:

The folks over at JoBlo and Total Film got an exclusive look at some of the images that will be featured in the Official Movie Companion book for Terminator Salvation.

While the movie doesn’t hit theaters until May 22, the book hits shelves tomorrow, April 28th so you can get an early look at many behind-the-scenes shots and concept art for the fourth installment of the Terminator franchise.

Here are the lucky winners of our Terminator Salvation prequel novel contest:

• Amanda Medina - Hanford, CA
• John Richards - Provo, UT
• Brian Matus - Pawtucket, RI
• Sharon Nikfarjam - Roslyn NY

Thanks to everyone who entered and keep an eye out for our next giveaway!

Lucky you, it’s time for another Screen Rant giveaway. Terminator Salvation is looking better and better - and we’re giving away something that will help you enjoy the film: Four (4) copies of the the official movie prequel novel Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes.

Here’s the official description of Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes (The official movie prequel novel):

[UPDATE: It has been confirmed that we will be seeing a CGI version of Arnold in the film.]

Last week Screen Rant reported on the status of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s possible cameo in the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster Terminator Salvation. The Governator’s involvement with T4 has been looking increasingly doubtful, considering that it’s already mid-April, the film is just over a month away, and his cameo hasn’t even been locked down yet (better get on that one, McG…).

In a recent webcast interview, Schwarzenegger talked about his proposed cameo in Salvation. One bit of info he gave was pretty conflicting: he said he met with the director (McG) and agreed to be in the film, so long as he didn’t have to perform.

I’m sorry, Arnie… what?…

MTV had the opportunity to speak with Terminator Salvation director, McG, about the new ending of the film and the possibility of a sequel (or two).

The conclusion of this fourth installment in the Terminator franchise has been a long-running issue for the filmmakers and studio executives. It started when an early leak revealed the controversial big-twist ending of the movie which made the people behind the film very displeased. As a result, the ending was completely re-done to avoid rampant spoilers.

With Terminator Salvation mere weeks away, it seems Arnold Schwarzenegger’s involvement in the film is still far from certain. Despite numerous reports that Schwarzenegger would return in his signature role of the T-800 (for a cameo) it now looks like Schwarzenegger might not be back after all.

Director McG spoke with MTV about the star’s involvement in the film and he also gave away a few tidbits about the plot of the film. Meanwhile, Moviehole has some news on where (and how) Schwarzenegger would be integrated into the film.

Beware MINOR SPOILERS

A collection of concept art for this summer’s Terminator Salvation has been made available online and the images look awesome.

The pictures originate from Industrial Light & Magic and feature shots of several of the vehicles and scenery we’ll be seeing in this fourth installment of the Terminator franchise.  One of the images also hints at a possible (and insane) scene from the movie.

A pair of new posters for Terminator Salvation and a new one-sheet for 2012 have arrived and we have them here for you to see.

The two Terminator ones are a little brighter then we’re used to be they keep within the same color scheme and style we’ve seen in the previous posters. They’re nothing special but they show us a Terminator unit and the two main characters and that’s all they really need.

It would be fair to say that Terminator Salvation is one of the most anticipated films of the next eight months (it made number four on Screen Rant’s Most Anticipated Movies Of 2009 list). Not only does it have all those fans of the original films (mainly the first and second, not so much the third) looking forward to it, but it’s a big-budget action film, the type which always draws in mass audiences.

A few months back, Screen Rant reported that Robert Patrick (the liquid metal T-1000 from Terminator 2) was being eyed by Terminator Salvation director McG for a possible role in the sequel to Salvation, which has already been green-lit.

Well now Robert Patrick has responded to the rumors, saying that he is ready and willing to jump back into the Terminator universe.

For those not in the know, ShoWest is a convention for theater owners where studios pimp out their movies with the hopes of making a mark regarding their up and coming films. Yesterday, at ShoWest in Las Vegas studios decided to give one another a run for their money. Warner Bros. president Alan Horn showed clips of Terminator Salvation and the new Harry Potter. Both were things we’ve seen before and nothing particularly special.