While the 2024 TV schedule can claim success with the Netflix original series Terminator Zero, the world of movies hasn’t seen a follow-up to one of the best sci-fi movies in five years. Everyone knows why, as the massive box office disaster that was Terminator: Dark Fate is a debacle that some are still smarting from to this day. Series creator James Cameron seems to be in on that action himself, as the writer/director became surprisingly blunt on why the sixth film in the series bombed.
James Cameron’s Blunt Reasons Why He Doomed Terminator: Dark Fate To Failure
What better time for Cameron to talk with Empire about the wreckage of Dark Fate than during an interview commemorating the 40th anniversary of The Terminator. As the legendary helmer spoke with the publication, he admitted that while he still loves that picture, there was one huge miscalculation at fault for Dark Fate’s dismal opening weekend “victory,” and its overall disastrous run.
In his own opinion, here’s what James Cameron thinks went wrong with Terminator: Dark Fate:
Our problem was not that the film didn’t work. The problem was, people didn’t show up. I’ve owned this to Tim Miller many times. I said, ‘I torpedoed that movie before we ever wrote a word or shot a foot of film.’ … We achieved our goal. We made a legit sequel to a movie where the people that were actually going to theaters at the time that movie came out are all either dead, retired, crippled, or have dementia. It was a non-starter. There was nothing in the movie for a new audience.
James Cameron - Empire
Wow, Mr. Cameron. I thought Terminators couldn't self-terminate, but these new criticisms have me thinking otherwise. Admittedly you wouldn't expect Titanic’s “king of the world” director to level such harshness against his own involvement. At the same time, it’s a level of honesty that works both ways when talking about this iconic moviemaker, as we also saw in James Cameron’s blunt response to Aliens fans criticizing the 4K remaster of that very film.
However, the most surprisingly raw part of that whole rundown, for me at least, was claiming that a good number of the fans that showed up for The Terminator in 1984 are aging out of the prime demos studios aim to please. I don’t know if I’d have gone as far as mentioning all of the potential maladies that could prevent OG fans from “showing up” for Terminator: Dark Fate, but that could be part of why he’s James Cameron, and I’m not.
Don't Worry, James Cameron Still Loves Terminator: Dark Fate
Though Terminator: Dark Fate’s producer and story contributor admits to defeat, he doesn’t disown this particular picture at all. And while James Cameron was easily critical to what went wrong, he did pay the following respects to what he loved about the Tim Miller directed movie got right:
I think the Rev-9 was cool as shit. … Personally, I think that’s as good as anything that we did back then. … I think the film’s cracking. I still think mine are the best, but I put it in solid third.
James Cameron - Empire
Even as a Terminator fan who absolutely abhorred Dark Fate, I can still get behind the fact that the Rev-9 was indeed “cool as shit.” But not even Gabriel Luna’s impressive killing machine made up for the fact that by that point in the series the John Connor plotline became pretty old hat.
At that point you needed to do one of two things: move on, or do something innovative with the supposed savior of humanity; which is the reason why I think both Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Genysis played out a lot better than Terminator: Dark Fate did.
As a kid who grew up with both the original film running on HBO and Terminator 2: Judgment Day entering heavy rotation on VHS, I’ve only actually missed one entry theatrically - but I eventually did rent Terminator: Salvation when it hit DVD back in the day. So I like to consider myself living proof of the counterargument that there were plenty of us Terminator fans around that could have seen Dark Fate in theaters.
At the same time, James Cameron’s consideration that maybe John and Sarah Connor didn’t need to come back to the fold is something that I absolutely endorse. Terminator Zero has already proven that point rather wonderfully, and even Cameron has been making the rounds stating that something new needs to happen.
Though Linda Hamilton’s thoughts on Terminator: Dark Fate “killing” the franchise felt valid, a brand new entry with a more enlightened Cameron just might help the series avoid a Judgment Day of its own. At the very least, reading the iconoclast director coming to terms with what really harmed the series is something that even a machine could appreciate.
If you want to take a look at Terminator: Dark Fate to see if you agree or disagree with what’s been said above, it can currently be streamed by TBS, TNT, and truTV’s cable adjacent platforms. But if you want to see what a John Connor-less future could look like, I firmly recommend using your Netflix subscription to watch Terminator Zero’s entire first season, which is also available for perusal.
