TERMINATOR GENISYS
Terminator Genisys begins in 2029, when the Future War is raging and a group of human rebels has the evil artificial-intelligence system Skynet on the ropes. John Connor (Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original ‘The Terminator’ (1984), Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor’s mother, Sarah (Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator programmed to kill her so that she won’t ever give birth to John. But what Reese finds on the other side is nothing like he expected.
Paramount has released two clips from Terminator Genosys, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney.
In a new time-line, Kyle Reese (Courtney) teams up with Sarah Connor (Clarke) and an aging T-800 Terminator (Schwarzenegger) in an attempt to prevent Judgement Day.
The story
In 2029, John Connor, leader of the human resistance, leads the war against the machines. At the Los Angeles offensive, John’s fears of the unknown future begin to emerge when John is notified by his army unit, Tech-Com, that Skynet will attack him from two fronts, past and future, and will ultimately change warfare forever.
Therefore he sets up 2 units, the Colorado Unit tasked to destroy the heart of Skynet and the unit to destroy Skynet’s final weapon. Reese wanted to join the Colorado Unit fearing the unit’s attack will fail but is persuaded by Connor to join his unit in destroying Skynet’s final weapon.
As they begin their attack on Skynet, Skynet already knew the plan and launched its final weapon to ensure its survival, it sent a unit back in time to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor and stop the attempt of having a resistance. The unit went back in time just as the Colorado Unit succeeded and took down all Skynet’s units at the time.
John and Kyle found the weapon and knew it was already activated, he knew he must stop the unit going back in time to save him and the world from Skynet. He asks for a volunteer to go back in time and save Sarah. Kyle volunteers and reasons with John why he should go back in time. John agrees and sends him back in time. When Kyle almost departs, Skynet attacks the group posing as a soldier resulting in killing the group and making John a terminator.
Kyle finds the original past changed, however; he meets an alternate version of Connor’s mother, Sarah Connor, who already knows about Skynet, Judgment Day, and Reese’s predestined roles as both her protector and yet-to-be conceived son’s father. A decade before, a Terminator was sent back in time to kill Sarah as a child and so the Resistance sent their own cyborg back in time to protect her; their arrivals on that point in time causes a fractured timeline that differs from Kyle’s. After the assassin killed her parents, the reprogrammed T-800 raised and trained her to face her destiny, which she adamantly tries to reject. Being stranded in the past, the reprogrammed Terminator also struggles to integrate into human society while hiding its true nature. In addition, due to the timeline’s alteration, it is ambiguous as to whether Sarah and Kyle would fulfill their respective roles as John Connor’s parents despite needing each other for battling Skynet.
Now, after Sarah, the Terminator, and Kyle are acquainted, they are faced with a new mission while dreading the newly undetermined future since everything has changed. Even though the Terminator destroys Kyle’s quarry upon its arrival from the original timeline, Skynet sends additional terminators to take over its mission in addition to kill Sarah’s allies; including a T-1000, as well as a new and horrific enemy: John Connor himself, who has been converted into a nanotechnological human-cyborg hybrid, the T-3000. With John Connor apparently compromised, they must avoid detection from their enemies and find a way to prevent Judgment Day from happening.
Teminator
While Terminator Salvation was initially intended to begin a new trilogy, production of a fifth film was halted by legal trouble, as well as The Halcyon Company filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. By late September 2009, the rights to the franchise were once again up for sale as The Halcyon Company tried to emerge from bankruptcy. Late the following month, Halcyon announced it would auction off the rights to future Terminator material and was seeking $60 million to $70 million, although the only offer was made by filmmaker Joss Whedon for $10,000. In December 2009, Halcyon issued a statement saying that it was looking at various options, including sale and refinancing of the rights, with an announcement on the outcome no later than February 1, 2010. On February 8, 2010, an auction was held for the Terminator rights. After studios Sony Pictures and Lions Gate Entertainment bid separately, Pacificor, the hedge fund that pushed Halcyon into bankruptcy, made a deal for $29.5 million. In May 2010, Pacificor hired an agency to sell off the rights to the franchise.
By August 2010, a new Terminator film was being developed. It was not to be a direct sequel to Salvation, but rather a 3D animated reboot of the series, titled Terminator 3000 and to be shot by Hannover House. However, Pacificor had not given any official license to Hannover House to develop a film. In February 2011, Universal Studios was considering a fifth Terminator film, with Arnold Schwarzenegger returning in the title role, Justin Lin directing, and Chris Morgan as screenwriter. Within two months, a Terminator project with Schwarzenegger, Lin and producer Robert W. Cort attached, but no screenwriter, was circulating among studios including Universal, Sony, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS Films.
By May 2011, Megan Ellison and her production company Annapurna Pictures y had won the rights at auction to make at least two more Terminator films, including Terminator 5. On December 4, 2012, the deal was finally closed, with possible merchandise to include TV projects and video games. Now titled Terminator: Genesis, the film was being produced by Megan Ellison, with David Ellison of Skydance Productions. The executive producers were Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake. Laeta Kalorgridis and Patrick Lussier were commissioned to write the screenplay.
Paramount Pictures was negotiating to distribute the film with Laeta Kalogridish (screenwriter of Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier (screenwriter of Dracula 2000 and Drive Angry) writing the script. The film was left without a director as Justin Lin, who was originally in discussions to direct, chose to direct Fast & Furious 6 instead. By June 27, 2013, Paramount had pushed the film’s release date back from June 26, 2015, to July 1, 2015. By September 2013, Alan Taylor was in talks to direct the film, after Rian Johnson and Denis Villeneuve had been considered and after a deal with Ang Lee could not be reached. By January 2014, Annapurna was no longer funding the film and Megan Ellison, instead, will serve as executive producer.
During an interview, the director of the first two Terminator films, James Cameron, admitted that he had been asked to be involved in the film by Megan Ellison. Cameron later had held several meetings with David Ellison, where they discussed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role and how to stay true to the original T-800 character. On August 6, 2014, Schwarzenegger posted a picture on his Twitter account of himself sitting in a production chair on set. The picture revealed the correct spelling of the film’s title Terminator Genisys. After having watched the film’s prerelease screening, Cameron unequivocally voices his support for Terminator Genisys, characterizing it “as being extremely respectful of the first two movies” and counting it as the official third film in the franchise.
Casting
On June 13, 2013, Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would be back for his fourth film as the Terminator/T-800. By early November 2013, Garrett Hedlund, Tom Hardy, Taylor Kitsch, and Nicholas Hoult were being tested for the role of Kyle Reese. By the following month, Jason Clarke had entered talks to play John Connor. In November 2013, it was reported that Emilia Clarke, Tatiana Maslany and Brie Larson were the finalists for the role of Sarah Connor; the next month, Clarke was announced as having won the role. In February 2014, the studio was considering Jai Courtney and Boyd Bolbrook for Reese, and planning for the character to be in at least two films; later that month, it was confirmed that Courtney was cast. On March 13, 2014, it was reported that J.K Simmons was in talks for a role as a weary and alcoholic detective who has followed a bizarre case involving Sarah Connor and robots for more than three decades. On March 25, 2014, Schwarzenegger revealed that he is indeed playing a Terminator character, in which human tissue has aged. On March 28, 2014, it was announced that Dayo Okeniyi was cast as Danny Dyson. On March 31, 2014, it was announced that Lee Byung-hun wast cast in a lead role, also Michael Gladis and Sandrine Holt joined the cast. On May 2, 2014, Matt Smith joined the cast of the film in a major role. On July 10, 2014, Douglas Smith joined the cast of the film.
Marketing
WWE’s WrestleMania 31 event on March 29, 2015 promoted the film with an elaborate entrance stage for Triple H in his match against Sting. The stage featured Triple H donning a Terminator-style outfit and a video of Schwarzenegger telling fans that “Judgment Day is here. It’s time to play the game.” On June 14, 2015, Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendlenton where an advanced screening of Terminator Genisys was presented. On June 16, 2015, the mobile navigation app Waze added the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the role of a Terminator, as an option for the voice providing users with turn-by-turn voice navigation and alerts. On June 19, 2015, Schwarzenegger and Clarke were featured on The Graham Norton Show to promote the movie.
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriter: Patrick Lussier, Laeta Kalogridis
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, Matt Smith, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Byung-hun Lee, Michael Gladis, Sandrine Holt, Matt Smith
