The Battle for the Terminator's Salvation

The rights to the franchise have been sold, installments five and six have been outlined, people want to direct the next so bad they're going to court and still others are thinking that maybe the Terminator should take a mulligan.

On Monday it was announced that Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor had bought the rights to "Terminator" for $29.5 million from Halcyon, the same company to whom they had lent $30 million in 2007 to buy the Terminator rights, reported Deadline Hollywood.

If you suffered through the last two "Terminators," "Rise of the Machines" or "Salvation," you know that something needed to be done to breathe new life into this foundering saga.

But, lo! McG, the man who helmed the unfortunate "Salvation," would have none of it and went to court to demand that Pacificor be forced to honor his right of first refusal to direct the next Terminator movie, reported the Los Angeles Times. Mercifully, the judge mustered all the wisdom of Solomon (and possibly his own memories of "Salvation") in ruling that the best McG could hope for was a suit against Halcyon. Phew.

Later this week came the good news that William Wisher, who helped James Cameron write the first two films, has penned a 24-page treatment for No. 5 and a 4-page outline for No. 6, both of which are said to be promising.

And in this, the year that "reboot" has become the No. 1 Hollywood buzzword, there's the possibility of starting from scratch, which Cinematical sees as (depressingly) inevitable.

Could we please just back up a truck full of cash to Cameron's house and ask him very nicely to give the world the 4D, Sensurround extravaganza we all desperately want? Starring the future ex-governor of California, maybe?

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