The Rules have Changed in the First 'Terminator Genisys' Trailer

There's a good reason why fans haven't exactly been eager for Terminator Genisys, a sequel/reboot of James Cameron's sci-fi franchise. The last film, the McG-directed Terminator Salvation, was largely killed by the audience it was targeting, to the point where even Cameron wanted nothing to do with it.  The bigger problem is the confusing plot, which seems to be an homage, a reimagining, a sequel; who the heck knows? Now that the first trailer has been unveiled some of the questions are beginning to be answered, but certainly some new ones need to be asked.

Directed by Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World), the film brings back Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, and if his age should be a concern...well, the wonky time travel stuff should take care of it. Starring Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, Jason Clarke as her son John Connor, and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, the film flips the tables on some aspects, such as Sarah's "Come with me if you want to live", while keeping some aspects firmly in place. We see Reese sent back in time by John Connor, only to discover the version of 1984 he was expecting has been seriously altered.  From what little we know of the plot, Sarah was orphaned as a child and raised by the Terminator, who she refers to as "Pops". There's also a liquid metal Terminator chasing them down who looks somewhat like Robert Patrick, but not quite.

Exciting, yes, but will it be enough to satisfy the Terminator die-hards? Terminator Genisys opens July 1st 2015.


Terminator Genisys Trailer by Stuff We Like

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Take Aim with New 'Terminator: Genisys' Photos Featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger

 *Updated with more images, including one of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, or as Sarah Connor calls him now, "Pops"*

For a franchise that's trying to appeal to both new audiences and fans of the original, the first Terminator: Genisys images revealed yesterday were not impressive. And if you thought those were lousy, chances are you'll find this latest pair of stills equally lame.

CBM has snapped a couple more photos from the EW piece, and they show Emilia Clarke's Sarah Connor and Matt Smith's mystery character taking aim and drawing flies into their enormous pie holes. These are pretty cheesy and aren't likely to convince a skeptical audience who are already scratching their heads about the story's big twist:

Sarah Connor isn’t the innocent she was when Linda Hamilton first sported feathered hair and acid-washed jeans in the role. Nor is she Hamilton’s steely zero body-fat warrior in 1991’s T2. Rather, the mother of humanity’s messiah was orphaned by a Terminator at age 9. Since then, she’s been raised by (brace yourself) Schwarzenegger’s Terminator—an older T-800 she calls “Pops”—who is programmed to guard rather than to kill. As a result, Sarah is a highly trained antisocial recluse who’s great with a sniper rifle but not so skilled at the nuances of human emotion.

Yeah, okay. Hopefully the eventual trailer will be more convincing?  Starring Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke with Alan Taylor directing, Terminator: Genisys opens July 1st 2015. 

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It's Hell on Wheels in the First Images from 'Terminator: Genisys'

Has the totally relaunched, all-new Terminator: Genisys been flying under the radar a little bit? Absolutely it has. Despite the franchise's 30-year history and status as a sci-fi classic, there simply hasn't been much excitement for what next year's film will bring. But maybe that will change now that EW has provided our first looks at the cast, along with dropping some brain-twisting plot details that we hadn't heard until today.

The magazine's twin covers offer a look at Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, both sporting a Harley Davidson like the classic Terminator was so fond of; the other features Jason Clarke as Sarah's son and future hero John Connor, and former Doctor Who star Matt Smith. No sign of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 just yet, but based on the newly-revealed plot he and the other characters won't be as we remember them.

The beginning of Terminator: Genisys, the first of three planned films that Paramount hopes will relaunch the beloved sci-fi franchise, is set 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 (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Divergent‘s Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original film, Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor’s mother, Sarah (Game of Thrones‘ 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.

Okay, that sounds familiar, but that's about where the similarities end...

 Sarah Connor isn’t the innocent she was when Linda Hamilton first sported feathered hair and acid-washed jeans in the role. Nor is she Hamilton’s steely zero body-fat warrior in 1991’s T2. Rather, the mother of humanity’s messiah was orphaned by a Terminator at age 9. Since then, she’s been raised by (brace yourself) Schwarzenegger’s Terminator—an older T-800 she calls “Pops”—who is programmed to guard rather than to kill. As a result, Sarah is a highly trained antisocial recluse who’s great with a sniper rifle but not so skilled at the nuances of human emotion.

Crazy, and a good way to give these Terminator films a voice all their own.  Hopefully a trailer is right around the corner. Directed by Alan Taylor, Terminator: Genisys opens July 1st 2015. 

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'Terminator Genisys' Sequels Set for 2017 and 2018; May Shoot Back-to-Back

If it seems like Paramount is racing through their Terminator reboot plans a little bit it's for very good reason. The rights to the futuristic franchise revert back to James Cameron in 2019, which means their planned trilogy needs to be all wrapped up in 2018. With Alan Taylor's Terminator Genisys set for next year, the last two films have now been dated and a plan drawn up to make sure everything is completed on time.

Paramount has dated the tentatively titled Terminator 2 for May 19th 2017 and Terminator 3 for June 29th 2018. Don't let the titles fool you as these are actually the sixth and seventh movies in the long-running franchise. With only a year passing between the two movies it's looking as if the plan will be to shoot them back-to-back but that completely depends on Genisys being a hit.

Terminator Genisys opens July 1st 2015 with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, JK Simmons, Matt Smith, Dayo Okeniyi and Lee Byung Hun starring.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals Stupid Title of the 'Terminator' Reboot

I've never quite understood the benefit of hiding a movie's title, nor has it made sense when film sites obsess over them. Sometimes a title says a lot, like X-men: Days of Future Past, but other times like with the Terminator reboot it's all just sort of silly. For the longest time we thought it was called Terminator Genesis, which made sense for a relaunch of the sci-fi franchise. Then it was simply Terminator, which...okay whatever, that's fine. Now as production has wrapped Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed the official title for Alan Taylor's film, and frankly they should have left well enough alone.

Schwarzenegger Instagramed the heck out of a boring photo showing him sitting in a chair labeled with the movie title, Terminator Genisys. Maybe there's some storyline reason for the idiotic spelling but right now it just looks like a cheap gimmick. Here's the Governator's statement released via his Facebook page:

“Hasta la vista, baby. I want to thank the cast and crew of Terminator Genisys for a fantastic shoot. It was challenging, it was fun, and it was rewarding. From our director to the producers, from the camera team to catering, from visual effects to hair and makeup – we couldn’t have done it without you. I can’t wait to see our finished project and I know we’ll remind the fans why they fell in love with the Terminator. On July 1, 2015, I’ll be back.”

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