Justin Lin has been forced to exit his dream project,
Terminator 5, for something else,
Fast and Furious 6. Hmm, wrong choice, my friend...
EXCLUSIVE: Things are starting to move on The Terminator
franchise, but a plan by rights owner Megan Ellison and Arnold
Schwarzenegger to put the first of two pictures in production for the
fourth quarter of 2012 has forced director Justin Lin to drop out. But
borrowing the film’s signature phrase “I’ll be back,” Lin has left the
door open to a return if Ellison and Schwarzenegger will wait until he completes the sixth installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise.
The Terminator franchise has been under the radar since Ellison’s Annapurna Films spent
over $20 million to buy film rights during the Cannes Film Festival,
with Lin and Schwarzenegger attached. Lin wants to make the film but
simply won’t be available, the same situation that prompted him to
withdraw from Summit’s Highlander. Lin has been working closely
with Schwarzenegger and Ellison to figure a way to end the James
Cameron-hatched battle between humans and the cyborgs of Skynet. It
would require some effort for Ellison to get the film underway by late
next year. She hasn’t got a script and I don’t think she’s even hired a
screenwriter yet. She also hasn’t set a studio partner, even though
several are interested.
There
is some reason to move quickly. One of the caveats involved in the
rights deal with Pacificor (which spent $29.5 million to win the rights
in bankruptcy court) is that certain rights revert back to Cameron due
to a stipulation in copyright law that if you assign your rights, you
get them back in 35 years. Cameron assigned his rights to Hemdale, and
the North American rights will revert back to him in 2018. Even that
part of the story has gotten intriguing: While Cameron washed his hands
of the Terminator franchise years ago, his close friend
Schwarzenegger has dragged him into a brainstorming meeting or two, even
though he is not officially involved. It’s also hard to imagine that
Ellison can’t make two films and satisfactorily end the series by the
time that rights situation develops.
Thanks to
Deadline for the scoop.
