The "Terminator Salvation will make over 250 million" club

After seeing the Terminator Salvation trailer, I have to say I am fully and completely on board with this. It has skyrocketed on my anticipation level. The trailer is so cool. I think it will clear 250 and may even reach 300 million. They are even talking about the possibility of a PG-13 rating, and I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, the sky is the limit here. I never thought I would actually be excited for this film, after the let down that was the third, but they have absolutely roped me in.

I'm out. I believe the ceiling is $240 million. Plus the film will be PG-13 and therefore, that will piss off the die-hards (I also believe that this one will have a worse fan reception than Rise Of The Machines due to the PG-13).

I think it can get $250 million, so I'm in.

Yeah, it has no Arnold (supposedly), maybe PG-13, and directed from the guy behind Charlie's Angels 2. Then again...

- it has Christian Bale. From The Dark Knight, the upcoming Public Enemies, and his legendary rant, he has become quite the household name.

- it has no competition. None. It comes out against a kids movie and a dance movie. There's no other guy-orientated action flick until Transformers 2, or maybe The Taking of Pelham 123.

- it has the Terminator name. Which means something, because the shitty 3rd one made over $150 million.

I can see it playing very much like Iron Man. The OW somewhere near $100 million (5-day Memorial Day) and ending up at $300 million.

I'm in, the new trailer looks awesome.

Also the Pg-13 rating didnt hurt Die Hard at all.

Ok.. Just saw the new trailer, and it is BEYOND SEXY!

This is a perfect example of how to make a good trailer. Hopefully hype starts to build up for this.

Here it is for those of you who haven't seen it:

They showed the new trailer at Wonder-con last weekend, during the panel with McG, Common, and others from the film. They also showed two clips from the flick. I gotta say, I didn't know one way or the other before, but after seeing those clips, I'm so in...

i'm a sucker for all things Terminator (even though, imo, things have only gone downhill since the original)--and, i gotta admit, this new trailer looks pretty sweet.. as Zack Snyder proved: NIN + action montages = badass.. there's a lot of factors to weigh in here.. the director himself (whose very name indicates where the movie industry might, unfortunately, be headed) is just one of the concerns.. T3 might have been the most underwhelming movie in recent memory.. a Terminator without Michael Biehn OR a Sarah Connor character seems like a doomed project.. to date, a major reason for the franchise's success has been the fact that they neglect to show you the (seemingly) most intriguing part of the story.. (played like the heist itself in Reservoir Dogs).. after all the build-up, could it possibly live up to our expectations? maybe Watchmen will help us further pinpoint the exact relationship between hype, expectation, and that inevitable moment when the long-awaited experience is finally delivered.. Christian Bale's presence can only help this movie.. i mean, the fact that he beat up his mother and sister didn't seem to deter anyone from loving the Dark Knight... why would yelling at a lighting guy be any different? also, i realize that quality only rarely dictates the success of a movie, but i think that (in this case, at least) the movie is going to have to WORK to hit this magic number.. any semblance to T3, and this baby is gonna sink well before crossing the $200M line.. the less-than-enthusiastic response that The Sarah Connor Chronicles has received might not be indicative of how this movie will do at the box office, but it sure doesn't help things.. i've seen every episode, and i'm still not sold on it.. all in all, i think $250M is a stretch... having said that, i'm going to go rewatch that trailer...............again

I kinda agree with NSpan- I personally don't think it'll make 250, but I do think that it's possible.

Yet, it's a packed summer, especially May, with Wolverine, Angels and Demons, Night at the Museum, and Up (note how I'm NOT mentioning Star Trek) providing stiff competition. I'd say we'll be seeing a lot of the summer films breaching 200 mil, but not so much 250 or 300. I'd say Transformers 2 or Harry Potter have the best chance of being the king of 09.

As someone who thought Terminator was genius, T2 was ok, T3 was horrendous, this trailer looks great. Of course since the director is on my hated list, I still have doubts but I am starting to come around. Thanks Barcs.

the trailer is amazing it has Christan Bale im in it will do 250.

I've never understood the hate for Rise Of The Machines. Yes it's not the first two, but it's still a watchable sequel. You can do a lot worse but some people don't seem to realize that.

I'm not in. Nobody cares about Sarah Connor Chronicles why would this film make such huge numbers?

Let's see, its got a month to do it before Transformers is released and that trailer has most certainly heightened expectations. I didn't put it on my top 10 grossing movies of the year fearing it would only make $170m. However, my thoughts are changing now, and I think it can get very close. Still I think there are too many movies released before it and it will probably peter out just under $250m. So I guess I'm not in.

Speed Racer, Prince Caspian, Meet Dave, and The Love Guru were all released in the summer. They weren't hits. You still didn't answer why would the same public that summarily rejected Sarah Connor Chronicles would embrace yet another incarnation of a dying franchise.

Actually I wasn't answering your question. And yes, of course last year did have a series of bombs, but those movies were generally not on the same scale as those released this year. All the big guns generally performed: Iron Man, Indy IV, TDK, Wall-E, Hancock and Kung Fu Panda. The likes of Meet Dave and The Love Guru are not in the same league.

Now, onto your question. I didn't particularly watch The Sarah Conner Chronicles, it didn't appeal to me. However, even before the trailer was released I knew I would be watching the movie, this is something else. And I'm sure many others would feel the same. The fact that the trailer kicks ass has just heightened my anticipation, and no doubt countless others who were not even that interested in the first place. I know at least a couple of guys in my work who have been going on about it ever since it was released. This 'dying franchise' has been revitalised.

In if its PG-13.

And it has been reported that this will be in front of Watchmen along with new trailers for Public Enemies, Wolverine, and Star Trek (and I guess Angels and Demons).

To answer your question JackO:

Because Sarah Conner Chronicles is a horrible show. I watched the first episode. It seemed like a stupid fake rip-off of the Terminator franchise. It had no resemblance of a plot that was anywhere close to the Terminator we know and love.

I was never excited for the show. What is there to get excited for? I am a firm believer that the the series should have died at two, my long time favorite all time film. I didn't like the third one simply because I thought it was unnecessary. As buscemi said, it was passable, but if you slap the name Terminator on your film, it better be a whole shit load better than passable.

The reasons I feel this film will finally bring back the fans:

1) Great fucking trailer. Did you watch the thing? Anyone who loves the franchise, especially T2, will watch that and, to steal from Andy Samberg, "jizz in their pants." It is one of the best trailers I have ever seen. It has completely turned me from being unexcited and debating whether or not to just wait for the dvd, to knowing I will be their opening day. Big difference.

2) Christian Bale. He may have anger issues, but any press is good press. He is Batman, ya know, the film that made 530 million last summer. He is one of Hollywood's best actors. He is a huge draw. On top of that, the man just doesn't make bad movies. He even refused to play this role if they couldn't shape the script to something that would have been great even without all of the special effects. The man is brilliant.

3) It is not a television show in a poor time slot hoping to rekindle the magic of a long dead franchise. It is a humongous action blockbuster set to open smack dab in the middle of Summer. Comparing the two seems ridiculous at this point.

4) It is unlike anything we have seen. It is finally going to show us the war. What we have all been waiting for. What started it all. What Terminator fan hasn't always thought "Wouldn't it be totally badass if we could see what this war actually looked like." I love the prequel aspect of it. Terminator 3 was completely unnecessary, because they stopped Skynet in the second one. Salvation is a prequel, set after, but before the first one (yeah, confusing, but you know what I mean).

5) Series Reboot. It worked for Batman and Casino Royale. Why the hell wouldn't it work here.

6) Potential PG-13. If that is the case, look out. If not, I actually think it will help out Night At The Museum quite a bit, with kids sneaking into Terminator. But if it goes PG-13, my number jumps to around 280-300.

There you have it. My reasons for liking the chances of Terminator Salvation.

J.I. wrote:In if its PG-13.

And it has been reported that this will be in front of Watchmen along with new trailers for Public Enemies, Wolverine, and Star Trek (and I guess Angels and Demons).

It will be. The ones you mentioned will be on prints also, along with Observe & Report, Inglorious Basterds, Up (new full trailer!), something called Hangover, Knowing, Haunting In Conneticut, Night At The Museum 2,etc.

I myself was hoping for a trailer for G.I. Joe, but no luck.

I imagine that they're saving G.I. Joe for Monsters vs. Aliens (since both are Paramount).

I also think that the trailer for Pandorum (with Dennis Quaid) will be on prints, since the trailer was just put online.

Good post, Geez, and I agree with you on some points. The main one being that the trailer is the main reason why this film will do well. It's dark, it's tense, it's scary. It's far more thrilling than the Wolverine trailer, for example. And there's a big enough gap between T4 and Transformers 2 to ensure that it'll dominate the teen and young adult market for a few weeks.


I don't think it'll be any good. While it looks good, at this stage I'm pretty much convinced that it'll be an all-out action fest. What made T1 and T2 great was that it had some great action sequences, but it balanced that with a sense of humanity, a sense of character, which made the action sense even more tense because you actually cared for the characters' well-being. Considering McG's past, I have no hopes for anything besides big explosions and lots of shooting.


As for The Sarah Conor Chronicles, I thought it was... adequate. There were some great episodes, like when John was locked in a bunker with a terminator in sleep mode. The only way to get out was to take the keychain from around the terminator's neck. Tense stuff. Plus, the show is interesting in the Conors' relationship with their Terminator, and how they keep assuming it'll get more humane but it never does. Adequate, but not great.

What a funny group we are! Many have made good points about the trailer for T4 and how it has won them over, but it actually had the opposite effect on me! What interest I had has actually left because I think the trailers have pretty much summed up the movie and what will happen. I've been de-hooked which is surely not what they intended!

You don't think that Christian Bale is going to have anything to do with making the film more emotional so you actually care about the characters? I believe him when he says he would not have taken the role if it didn't work without all the special effects. You know the man is serious about his craft. I don't think he would take a role that was just a fluff actioner at this point in his career.

As much as I like Bale as an actor, and in almost every movie he's great, but that doesn't make the movie good. I didn't like The New World, I didn't like Equilibrium, I didn't like 3:10 to Yuma. So I'm not going to trust him. But yeah, as a selling point it does help to have Batman in the lead role

Based on the trailer, I will be seeing this flick, but I'm not in for the $250 million. It takes folks going back to see a film multiple times to get to that elevated level, and I just don't see that happening with this one.

numbersix_99 wrote:


I don't think it'll be any good. While it looks good, at this stage I'm pretty much convinced that it'll be an all-out action fest.

Actually, what they did (McG, Bale, and others involved at the higher end) was sit down with the script and do readings, with no effects. They didn't settle on a script until they had a story that they loved without all the effects, so it wouldn't be mindless action. It was one of the things discussed at Wonder-con. I believe it was one of Bale's prerequisites for doing the role.

Also, don't forget, this is the first of a trilogy...