Exclusive: Fate of New Terminator Film with Annapurna and Arnold!

In August of 2010, we shared with you the news that an all-new Terminator animated film called Terminator 3000 was possibly in the works. Sadly, we had not heard many details about this project nor had we heard any new progress reports…until now! TheArnoldFans tracked down Hannover House’s president and T3K developer, Eric Parkinson, to get the answers. If this film gets the green-light we can expect it to have a CG animation style similar to James Cameron’s Avatar!

As many of you know, Megan Ellison and her Annapurna Productions are now the current holders of the Terminator license; however, we fans are pulling our hair out waiting and waiting for them to make an announcement of a new feature film. It’s been nearly a year since they acquired the rights, and we Terminator fans, in dire need of a new, well-made film, are left with the bitter taste of McG’s disaster. Will Annapurna Productions bring new life to the franchise? Before we get into it, check out this nice piece of art we obtained from Hannover House, created to pitch the film. This is not final art but their current title treatment.

Parkinson: “It’s in the time being in the hands of Megan Ellison and her Annapurna Productions, whether or not they want to proceed. We reached out to them, communicated with her council and expressed our outline with the basic story structure with the proposed principal creative team and how it can be financed and how Annapurna Productions can make a lot of money with upfront licensing. But there are issues at play that I am not privy to. I think that most people are aware of how long this ticking bomb that this Terminator licensing exists before it goes back to James Cameron.”

The rights are said to go back to Cameron in 2018, six years from now, and it’s more than likely, once they do, that he will not want to return to the franchise, much like not having a desire to do another True Lies film.

Schwarzenegger and Terminator fans really don’t understand why Annapurna Productions wouldn’t want to move right away with such a world-renowned licensing title as Terminator. Most important of all, I have just learned that Arnold Schwarzenegger himself is aware of this project and has expressed his interest if Annapurna Productions wants to move forward.

Parkinson: “I had the opportunity to talk about it with Arnold at the MidCOM Market, when they announced his proposed cartoon series (The Governator). So I was there and he remembered me from Hemdale and I told him, I am still trying to develop an animated thing (T3K), but that’s about when the bad news came out. But my feeling is, he is and will always be one of the biggest stars in the world. I think he’d do the voice of the T-800 in this proposed Terminator 3000."

“We’re excited about it, and we think it makes perfect sense and with all due respect to Arnold, I think this would be another great and quick way for him to get another movie out with just a short time in a recording studio.”

Along with Parkinson, I too believe that an animated feature film with CG characters in an all-out ballsy future war would be the best solution to dealing with Arnold’s age. Schwarzenegger was in his 30s when he starred in the original Terminator, and now he is 64. Unless Annapurna Productions wants to just produce a Terminator film with Arnold playing a human resistance soldier, personally, I would rather the Austrian Oak do more Jee-woon Kim movies over playing a mid-sixties Terminator. Better yet, maybe Megan Ellison will put out TWO Terminator films: one live action and one animated (T3K).

The Hanover House CEO tells TAFs how he is ready to deal with the aging issues.

Parkinson: “Oh certainly, we can create a character of him in his absolute peak. What we have in mind is something very similar to what Cameron utilized in Avatar in that we would use motion capture to create the base files of the bulk performers, including The Terminator. But yeah, it would be more of a 3D style motion capture proposed to live actors.”

Eric Parkinson hopes to soon have a live audience with Annapurna Productions to work out a deal and get the fans a Terminator film to be proud of once again.

Parkinson: “We were hoping to have a presentation last week in Los Angeles, but the schedules just didn’t work out. Will I ever be granted an audience to present this concept? Well, that’s up to the Terminator gods.”

“We have a good outline. We have a great story, and we potentially don’t want to turn it into a script now, because there’s going to be some creative input and we don’t want to paint ourselves into a corner and say, no, we envision it a different way. But we’ve got a pretty good framework for what we think will work. Who knows if this concept fits their overall plan for the franchise? Personally, I think it’s kicks-ass and would be a boost to the Terminator brand by introducing a new generation of viewers.”

I didn’t push Eric at this time about the plot, because it’s too soon and I think we should all embrace the current mystery. It’s quite possible he wants Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong back, and wouldn’t that be a perfect world with their voices and CG-rendered likenesses fighting T-800s, armies of endoskeletons, HKs and the rest of Skynet’s most deadly.

Terminator 3000 is all being created on spec and is subject to the approval and license of Annapurna Productions to proceed. They continue to seek a meeting and a license with them, and like Eric Parkinson said, it’s in the hands of the Terminator gods.

TheArnoldFans certainly hopes Megan Ellison and her Annapurna Productions will listen to the fans and grant us a new Terminator film. They have one of the most financially successful franchises under lock and key. You can hold a Terminator down only so long until he breaks the chains and is on the rise. A new Terminator film in the vein of Avatar animation with Arnold’s voice? Bring it!  Keep in mind this would not be an oddly modeled Schwarzenegger head as seen in T4 (created by a sculpted bust). Parkinson wants the actors scanned for CG likeness perfection.

I have one final thing to add before I give my blessing on any new Terminator film: the T-800 Schwarzenegger character MUST be bad! NO MORE protectors (the reason T3 was not a bigger success). Only when Arnold returns to his killing machine roots will it excite audiences again. This includes T3K. IF the current outline has only a protector T-800, make sure he turns bad and stays that way. As Arnold’s shirt says, “Born to be Bad!” Never should a Terminator know why we cry and fight with conflicting emotions. Let the bodies hit the floor, and let Annapurna Productions become self-aware of their potential gold mine.

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