'Terminator: Dark Fate' Bombs at the Box Office
by EG
The production company that brought you last month's bomb, Gemini Man, was back this week with a new sci-fi movie that few moviegoers wanted to see. Terminator: Dark Fate drew little interest at the box office, suggesting that it might be time for Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron to give up on trying to keep the franchise alive. Read on for details.
Talk about complete concept rejection.
Skydance, Paramount and Fox/Disney's Terminator: Dark Fate reboot — which hoped to revive the franchise after three failed attempts — bombed in its domestic box office debut over the weekend with $29 million from 4,086 theaters, well behind expectations though still bowing at No. 1.
Not even the return of James Cameron in the producer's chair and original series stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger could spark interest among many fans and the general moviegoing public.
Nor is the movie likely to be rescued by the foreign box office, where it finished Sunday with a offshore tally of $94.6 million (including a lackluster China launch of $28 million) for a global total of $123.6 million (it first began rolling out overseas last weekend).
A direct sequel to Cameron's Terminator: Judgment Day (1991), the R-rated Dark Fate was directed by Deadpool helmer Tim Miller and cost a hefty $185 million to produce before marketing. Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna and Diego Boneta also star.
Dark Fate, in addition to putting The Terminator franchise back on ice, faces losses of $120 million-plus for partners Skydance, Paramount and Disney/Fox (Disney inherited the movie and is handling its release abroad). China's Tencent has a smaller stake.
"It is time to let this franchise finally go to the great beyond," says Wall Street analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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