A couple of sci-fi franchises that dominated the 1980s are starting to hit their stride in the 21st century. Predator has already released a well-reviewed animated film, Predator: Killer of Killers, in 2025, and it will follow that up with Predator: Badlands, another entry from Dan Trachtenberg. Meanwhile, following the success of Alien: Romulus, Xenomorphs are taking their talents to the small screen with Alien: Earth, which is set a couple of years before the events of the original film. While Noah Hawley is serving as showrunner for the FX series, Ridley Scott is back, serving as executive producer. Scott can’t stay away from his baby, and the same can be said of another major sci-fi filmmaker.
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James Cameron is working to get the third Avatar film, Fire and Ash, ready for release in December 2025. The expectations are massive after Avatar: The Way of Water proved the decade-long break between movies was worth it. However, Cameron has another franchise to worry about, one he’s been part of a lot longer than Avatar, and it seems like he’s ready to go down with the ship.
James Cameron Is Supposed to Be Writing a New Terminator Movie
It’s safe to say that the Terminator franchise has been on a downward trajectory since Cameron walked away. Of course, he directed and helped write the first two movies, which changed the sci-fi genre forever with their commentary on machines and unique story. Issues behind the scenes forced Cameron to walk away, but Terminator movies didn’t stop coming out. The next three entries in the franchise failed to reach the heights of the original two, as they couldn’t push past being more than generic sci-fi movies with a recognizable name attached. Enough was enough, and Cameron returned for the sixth film, Terminator: Dark Fate, helping write and produce the project.
While Dark Fate didn’t put a lot of butts in seats, some of the magic was back. Cameron even agreed to begin working on a script for the next Terminator movie, but the news since that announcement has been scarce. In fact, just recently, Cameron let it be known that he’s having trouble starting the story because technology has caught up to the problems he first envisioned in the ’80s. AI is a daily part of life, and there’s only so much a Terminator movie can say that the world doesn’t already know. With that being the case, Cameron is turning his attention to other projects.
Projects Are Lining Up for James Cameron That Have Nothing to Do With Terminator
Most studios can’t think further than a trilogy of movies. It’s just hard to imagine a story having so much juice that it goes beyond three films. Cameron likes to do things his own way, though, so his Avatar franchise will consist of five films, with the last one set to release in 2031. Since each Avatar movie easily clears $1 billion at the box office, it’s hard to imagine Cameron taking a significant break of any kind to work on something as emotionally taxing as a Terminator script. However, he does have other projects in the works, including a movie about the dropping of the atomic bombs during World War II and an adaptation of the best-selling Joe Abercrombie novel The Devils.
Cameron didn’t state outright that he’s willing to hand off his Terminator duties to someone else. He might believe an idea will come to him in the next couple of years that’s worth exploring. But it’s looking more and more like Terminator is about to hit the shelf again, and maybe that’s for the best. If someone as talented as Cameron believes the well is dry, there’s no reason to move forward.
Are you disappointed that Terminator 7 isn’t coming anytime soon? Will you be watching James Cameron’s other movies? Let us know in the comments below!
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