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…
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The movie opened on May 21st in North America to bring in around $42.5 million, significantly less than its monthly competitors in Star Trek, Up and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. A big factor in this is the fact that it opened on the date as Night of the Museum 2 which devoured the family segment of the moviegoers that weekend and ended up being the number one film, beating out the fourth Terminator installment.
That being said, I’m sure the awful reviews of the film didn’t help it much either. On Rotten Tomatoes, Terminator Salvation is sitting at 34% and as of today, Terminator Salvation has only brought in around $120 million worldwide while its production budget was $200. It’ll still bring in more with its foreign releases but its near done in its key markets with new films opening every week taking the viewers away.
For instance, this weekend we had Up and Drag Me to Hell open to fantastic reviews and positive fan reception and next weekend we have a pair of new comedies, so I can’t see many people going to see T4 now with all the other options and Star Trek still traveling at warp speed.
Is the moral of the story that Terminator needs Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead? Many fans thought that leading up to Salvation and it seems the Studio now thinks that too with their most recent act of desperation to bring in more fans to see the flick. The latest TV spot for the movie reveals one of the surprise treats of the movie that wasn’t really a big surprise for those following updates for the movie online. That surprise is a cameo by Arnold, digitally added to the classic T-800 unit for a short scene in the film.
I guess its no longer a spoiler anymore since it is in the TV commercials – Check it out for yourself:
Don’t be fooled by this – What you see in the trailer is pretty much all the screen time he gets in the movie.
It’s too bad this film wasn’t better. It looked polished and finished unlike Wolverine but there was so little to it and none of the interesting plots were explored. Instead, a bunch of set pieces and action sequences were just thrown together with big special effects and references here and there to try and tie it in with the prior films.
If there’s another one, I hope we get a big improvement.
Can Christian Bale truly sell a movie on his own like Arnold could? What do you think of the TV spot showing off Arnold and the idea of another Terminator movie?
Sources: Box Office Mojo, Trailer Addict
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91 Comments
it came out here in aus yesterday hahaha so pathetic with the T 1&2 quote usages as well as the stupid action scenes
and what ever happened to the “rubber skinned” terminators never saw those in the film or pretty much anyother robot except for one or two here and there, me and my mates were laughing at the movie rather than watching it making fun of how sam worthington had to scream about every 10 minutes hehehe
i hope it does pull in more than its budget so that they make a new one so people have something else to laugh at and mok hehehe
i think the digital arnie has about 30 to 40 seconds of screentime. I for one hope they make another. I liked this film alot. i think it will make around 30-50 million internationally this weekend.
i dont no why in the hell they didnt show arnold earlyer in the trailers. to little to late.
The WB is obviously reading the online feedback on this film.
Terminator doesn’t need Arnold to star. His cameo was cool but to star?, he’s really only needed for one more crucial scene when Connor sends him back to protect in the previous films respectively.
They can use CGI on that too, who cares I’m telling you Arnold is too old and too deep into politics to act anymore…
I seriously doubt you will ever see him star in another film again.
I don’t think they should do another…end the series like it shoulh have done already.
…and by “it” I mean T2.
Mcg is going to be fired from Terminator. (IMO)
I wonder if Bale will attempt to distance himself as well after the theatrical run is over?
I like you was disappointed with this movie as it was my number one anticipated film of the year. Still a pretty good action movie, but those trailers duped me into thinking it might have been on par or close to being on par as the first Terminator. I didn’t have as high of hopes to think it could be as good as the second but you know, being as good as the first Terminator was still pretty high hopes.
I saw it and I was not disappointed. I need to see it again to be sure if I really liked it or if it was just ok. I think the editing of the movie was not good. the movie did not flow like Star Trek did. I did not think the plot was silly. I was really pleased with Christian, Sam and the rest of the cast. I loved arnold’s cameo. I hope they do complete the trilogy and they put more time in the editing room, but again I was not disappointed.
Came out here on Wednesday, I saw it yesterday. Now granted, I went to a 12:00 noon matinée showing, but there were total about 10 people in my theater to see the film.
Also, I just want to say that as a Terminator film, most of the plot makes little to no sense which I didn’t like, but if you simply take the film as what it is, it’s actually rather enjoyable, the action’s good, effects are stellar and even the Arnold “cameo” almost looked real (for the two seconds he was there… in shadow, very well done).
This flick is no where near as bad as they say. In fact it’s probably better then most of the other crap that’s been coming out. It definitely isn’t perfect but it serves its purpose.
Hah, that will teach them not to let McCrap direct anymore
The fake Arnold looks fake – his skin looks like plastic. Given that it is only a couple of seconds you’d think they would have been able to do better.
I guess you don’t know much about capabilities of CGI. This is the very best quality that the technology offers at this point. They even used an advanced new program developed for James Cameron’s Avatar flick. The work on CG Arnold was done by the most talented visual effects artists in the best visual effects department in the world ILM. I assure it doesn’t get any better. The effect was top of the line and looked great.
Agreed, filmguy. It jut got released here (UK) and I saw it last night (in a fairly empty cinema). Having low expectations probably helped but to be honest I do think the reviews are way too harsh.
I did hate T3 because of its jokey approach, and this one definitely has its fair share of flaws… but I personally thought it made a great summer film. I don’t really get why everyone is moaning about plot holes, there wasn’t anything that glaringly made no sense.
Sod the reviews, I liked it. Then again I enjoyed Wolverine, so my opinion probably isn’t worth much
Regarding the trailer… sticking Arnie in is really misleading, and reeks of desperation. Unlikely to make any difference to the box office either.
And CG Arnie looked better than the real thing in T3
I think they did a great job with Arnie. I feel the reason you think it was bad was because you knew it was fake going in. Had you not been aware that Arnie wasn’t actually in the film and it was just a CG fake, you’d likely have not noticed.
And as for plot holes, while watching the film they didn’t stand out to me as much, but in retrospect, when you try to make everything in all 4 films make sense… it doesn’t. But then there are very few franchises that employ Time travel as a story device that actually end up making a lot of sensein the end.
Even still, a few things in the just the 4th film that have nothing to do with the others didn’t make a lot of sense eihter. I won’t go into them because of spoilers, but they were there.
Saw it finally. Not as great as it looked, but certainly an enjoyable film. Deserves better than what it’s getting. It’s sad to see the low numbers this movie is leaps and bounds better than that Transformers garbage that rakes in the cash.
It’s crazy how the movie isn’t doing well. It wasn’t bad and it’s pg-13. They should have made it R and done it exactly how they wanted to if this is the case. Mind boggling to me.
@Daniel
Explain how it’s better than transformers because you made no points in your empty statement.
I have not seen this movie, I haven’t seen any of the big films out there recently–Star Trek, Up, Terminator, Wolverine, Angels & Demons, and even Drag Me To Hell which I really want to see. Basically I have seen nothing, and my buddies tell me “you gotta see Terminator, Arnold’s part is awesome! The action is great!” The main concensus is Arnold and the action, double AA.
Now after seeing this trailer, WOW, honestly I desperately want to see this film now even knowing all the shyte reviews out there and Rob’s verdict. The one part that got me really excited was seeing Arnold, 84 just retired from Mr. Olympia-post Conan Arnold in form, even though it is CGI.
Well this trailer has done its job for me and I will be seeing it, again even knowing the negativity towards the film. Warner Bros. should have put this trailer initially, Arnold the King still sells!
I have said it in a previous thread that for overseas they should include Arnold’s name alongside Bale & Worthington.
790, you know we’re cool about T3 but how can you say that about the King? I wanna see Arnold back in the movies!
Nice article. I agree that the movie was a disappointment, as there was absolutely no purpose for the storyline to take place at that particular moment in John Connor’s life.
And adding Arnold Schwarzenegger? That might fill a few more seats, but the first thing they need to do is improve the plot.
The thing about comparing this with Transformers is that at least with Transformers, we knew what we were getting and the movie delivered. We were told that Michael Bay was making a movie about giant robots that transform into other things and fight each other… and we got a Michael Bay movie about giant robots that transform into other things and fight each other.
With Terminator, a lot of the hate is coming from the fact that we all thought this was going to be a smart movie, something akin to what the first two movies, and (to an extent) the third movie gave us (3rd movie sucked, but the ending was, if anything, ballsy). Along with the trailers, we were all gearing up for a real grown up action movie, at least closer to Terminator 2 than Terminator 3.
What we got… well it was a disappointment.
That’s why people like Transformers better, we don’t expect a lot from those films… we do from our Terminators.
That said, as I said before, I liked this film and there’s no guarantee I’ll like Transformers 2.
WHY IS REVIEWS SAY ONE THING AND THE COMMERCIAL REVIEWS (CLAIM ANOTHER)?
Reviews picked out to be used in a commercial aren’t going to be from bad reviews. And as it is, there are a few reviewers out there, even highly respected ones, who feel this movie is good, and it’s their quotes that are being used to sell the movie.
As such, the majority of reviewers out there didn’t like this film, but a few did, so that’s who the commercials are focusing on.
It was inevitable that they used Arnold in the advertising .
Its probably not going to make a big difference.
It might help a little though .
Good point Joshi, thanks
The reviews are WAY too negative and harsh. It’s ridiculous. It’s like they are purposely trying to tear this movie down for no good reason at all.
I saw the movie, and while it wasn’t as good as T2 and did have some missed potential, it was still an enjoyable movie experience and I don’t know why it’s getting all the criticism it is. Everybody I have talked to who has seen it liked it as well. About the only negative thing I’ve heard is that the ending was somehow too “wussy” or “lame” (I do think it was a little silly) but otherwise…
I DO agree that John Conner was miscast. Sam Worthington stole the show and I can see why he was originally wanted as John Conner. Christian Bale shouldn’t have been anywhere near this movie. Unfortunate.
This movie failed at the box office because the trailers made it look like a dark, depressing movie, and people don’t want that right now. Star Trek, Night at the Museum, Up, even Wolverine, are all way “happier” films.
I will never understand why people tear this movie apart. The action was great, the acting was on par or better than the other three, and the story holds up just as well as the first two. Yes, it does. Remove those rose-tinted glasses and rewatch the first two, especially the second one, and you’ll realize there are just as many stupid plot holes in those movies as there are in this one.
And since you’ll call me out on that, I’ll list a few off the top of my head: The time travel theory used is completely different in both films (you CAN’T change the past in the first one, you CAN in the second). The first Terminator only wore sunglasses because he was missing an eye, so why then did the second one feel the need to wear them? How did the T-1000 go through the time machine, when it is obviously not covered in living tissue?
@Josh R
You have loads of good points, the first two did have a lot of plot holes (forgetting the time paradoxes for a moment, the ultimate killing machine was Terminated by a waitress).
But Salvation has some doozy’s. Like…
*SPOILERS FOR SALVATION*
Why the hell did the machines target Reese. Someone guide me through the plot of all the movies so that we can get from the point that Kyle Reese fathers Conner to the point where the robots of this time know about it.
Skynet made a robot out of Worthington… why the hell not put a switch in him so that when he’s actually face to face with either Conner or Reese, he doesn’t just rip their heads off? How is it the machines had absolutely no control over Worthington?
Or, why not kill Reese when they had him instead of using him as bait seeing as, at no point does Conner have any indication that Reese is alive in that place and still goes in anyway. At least you’d have one of them dead.
And really, the biker-bots or whatever they were called. Cool little creations, but who exactly designed them so that they could be ridden fairly easily by humans? Conner sits on one like it’s a motorbike… why does it have handles?
Yes, the other films have glaring plot holes as well (”I am powered by mini-nuclear reactors that can explode if removed from me… why I never used it to kill your mother in the first film I’ll never know”)… but Salvation really does take the cake here.
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