When the rights to the Terminator franchise were sold to a hedge fund earlier this year for nearly $30 million, many wondered whether an entity with no entertainment experience would now how to exploit the rights, and also whether the failure of Terminator: Salvation meant they’d massively overpaid for a dwindling franchise.
However they appear to have found some life in the series, although not in the live action form we’re used to. Instead production company Hannover House has announced that it is teaming with Vancouver-based Red Bear Entertainment to develop Terminator 3000, a $70-million dollar budgeted, 3D animated feature film based on the characters and situations introduced in the original Terminator.
They’re not saying anything about the story at the moment, but the writers and producers have been told to aim for a PG-13 level of violence. Although it’s good the franchise isn’t completely dead, CGI-animated sci-fi has had a notoriously rocky road at the box office. Indeed, even the mighty Star Wars couldn’t interest many in it’s CGI Clone Wars movies. It does seem that even though many sci-fi films are about 90% CG anyway nowadays, they still need a bit of live-action to make them a success. Obviously Terminator 3000 will be hoping to buck this trend.
Hannover is currently putting all the pieces together, is anticipation of starting production early next year. (Source: Movieweb)