The Tim Miller-directed and James Cameron-produced Terminator movie will now be known as Terminator: Dark Fate. And by the way, Novomber 1 looks to still be a blood bath with two franchise movies, Paramount/Skydance’s Terminator: Dark Fate and Sony’s Charlie’s Angels fighting for the masses.
As far as we hear, Paramount has no intentions whatsoever of moving Terminator: Dark Fate. They’re extremely confident in the movie. Let’s face it, both titles are aimed at older males. There might be the thinking that Charlie’s Angels is squarely aimed at females, but female-action driven pics can be a challenge when it comes to drawing women: Look what happened at Alita: Battle Angel, and in the first weekend of release, Disney’s Captain Marvel drew more males.
The reason why Sony selected Nov. 1 for its Elizabeth Banks-directed Charlie’s Angels reboot is because that’s when the first feature take on the hit 70s/80s TV series opened 19 years ago. It may be prudent to abandon tradition. In all fairness, Sony was on the date first, announcing the news on the evening of Oct. 22, after Wonder Woman 1984 jumped to summer 2020. Paramount announced that Terminator was marching on the same opening date the following morning on Oct. 23. However, Terminator is the older, more robust grossing franchise and essentially this war of franchises is a game of chicken. Both movies are looking for second lives; the last Charlie’s Angels was back in 2003, and the previous Terminator under Skydance, Terminator: Genisys, is the lowest grossing installment stateside at $89M since the original 1984 movie ($38.3M).
Terminator thespians Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger return for the Tim Miller version. Josh Friedman, David Goyer, Billy Ray and Justin Rhodes wrote the screenplay. Cameron, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger producer. Fox is also a producer and handling overseas to Par’s domestic.
Also opening on Nov. 1, but in a clear case of counter-programming, is Warner Bros. Ed Norton-directed period drama Motherless Brooklyn and Entertainment Studios’ Arctic Dogs.
