Terminator 5 Will Face Off Against Independence Day 2

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

terminatorThe Terminator reboot trilogy recently found a director in the form of Alan Taylor, who will follow up his work on Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World with Terminator 5. While the film is still in the very early stages of pre-production, Paramount has pushed the film’s release date from late June 2015 to early July.

Signs of a pushed release date often speak to worries about the quality of a film, but that’s clearly not the case since Paramount is only pushing the film back one week, from June 26, 2015, to July 1. Although there will be some healthy competition with other big summer blockbusters, Paramount feels the first week of July is the perfect time for the franchise to “be back.”

On its original release date, Terminator 5 didn’t any another new summer blockbuster to contend with, which is surprising considering the large array of huge tentpole films scheduled for summer 2015. July 1, however, will have the Terminator reboot opening two days before Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day 2. Terminator 5 will have to make as much money as possible in the two days before the long-awaited Independence Day sequel invades theaters nationwide. It’s going to be a tough call, and only one movie can win the box office opening weekend. Needless to say, it’s going to be an interesting Fourth of July weekend in 2015.

Historically, all of the Terminator films except the original were released during the summer. Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 were released in July of 1991 and 2003, respectively, while Terminator Salvation was released in May 2009. The original Terminator was released in October 1984.

A few months ago, Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions, along with Paramount Pictures, announced that they would be rebooting the Terminator franchise with a new stand-alone trilogy starting with Terminator 5. It’s unclear what the story of the new film trilogy will be, but its biggest star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, will be back. By the time T5 hits theaters, it will have been 12 years since Schwarzenegger (not counting the CGI version from Salvation) appeared in a Terminator film. The last time was in 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Meanwhile, there are rumors that Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson might be cast as the film’s Terminator killing machine. If this is the case, then Johnson might go head-to-head against Schwarzenegger. There are also rumors that Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn might reprise their roles as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. Let’s hope that they are in some sort of dream sequence or flashback, instead of an alternate reality as rumors suggest. While this premise might sound silly, take all the rumors with a grain of salt.

Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier are tasked with penning the script for Terminator 5. Kalogridis’ writing credits include Shutter Island and the long-in-development Battle Angel Alita for James Cameron. She also produced Cameron’s Avatar. Patrick Lussier was the writer and director of Dracula 2000 and Drive Angry. Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World, Game of Thrones) will direct the film.

Terminator 5 will hit theaters everywhere on July 1, 2015. Which of the two movies will you watch opening weekend: Terminator 5 or Independence Day 2?f