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James Cameron’s career took a turn in the ‘80s when the director released back-to-back hit sci-fi classics:The Terminator(1984) andAliens(1986). The critical and commercial success of these films made the director famous on a level that could rival even the A-list stars who headlined his projects.
Shortly after, Cameron transitioned to a tragic romance withTitanicin 1997 which remains one of the highest-grossing movies to date. However, it is Cameron’s first great hit,The Terminator, that also remains the biggest regret of his career – not in terms of its quality or success but because of the missed opportunity that resulted from it.
The Fight Behind the Scenes of theTerminatorSaga
It is not every day that a director gets struck by a lightning bolt of an idea that then becomes a surefire hit on the big screen. ButJames Cameron‘s ideas are always of epic proportions, ranging from the $2.2 billionTitanicto the $2.3 billionAvatar: The Way of Water.As such, it does not suit him to chase a concept that has been done and dusted unless he can see potential in it.
The Terminatorgave him the opportunity to chase after a great concept for a sequel which later becameTerminator 2: Judgment Day– one of the greatest follow-ups ever recorded in history. But withT2, Cameron found closure in his Terminator saga with no further stories that he wanted to explore.
Coupled with the studio filing for bankruptcy in 1995 and the messy fight for the rights to the films, the director backed out ofTerminator 3although he had initially considered writing and directing the threequel. At a 2014 Q&A for theLos Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival, he revealed [via/Film]:
I just felt as a filmmaker maybe I’ve gone beyond it. I really wasn’t that interested. I felt like I’d told the story I wanted to tell. I suppose I could have pursued it more aggressively and gone to the mat for it but I felt like I was laboring in someone else’s house to an extent because I had sold the rights very early on.
James Cameron Flexes His 3 Highest Grossing Movies of All Time to Silence His Haters Once and For All Who Don’t Like His “Cringe” Dialogues
The same, however, could not be said about the lead actor,Arnold Schwarzeneggerwho made the character his own, andRamboproducer Andrew Vajna who fought hard and dirty to acquire the rights to the films via backdoor negotiations and deals with the U.S. bankruptcy court. Vajna’s secretive ploy later contributed to the dissolution of his friendship with Cameron, one of the leading reasons why the director never returned to theTerminatorfranchise.
James Cameron Speaks of Missed Opportunities
Despite the messy fight behind the scenes and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s constant pleas for James Cameron to return to the franchise, the director was steadfast in his decision to not be involved in studio politics. Cameron never expressed any interest in buying theTerminatorrights for himself, even when Schwarzenegger pitched him the idea after hearing the initial offer from Fox.
Only later did I learn [Fox] were making these ridiculous lowball offers, like $750,000. We could have owned [the rights to Terminator] ourselves, but Jim didn’t want to be in that business.
For Cameron, the accumulated price of buying the rights, producing the film, and paying Schwarzenegger’s $25 million salary would have ballooned the overall cost ofTerminator 3to $100 million. That amount did not seem worth the effort at the time. Later, Cameron began to regret his decision –“There was a point in time where I debated going after the rights”but he“had to let it go.”
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In an interview withToronto Sunin 2009, Cameron revealed that he had sold the rights to the movie for $1 back in the ’80s on the condition that he would be allowed to direct the story. Regretting his decision after the film’s $78.4 million success, he claimed:
I wish I hadn’t sold the rights for one dollar. If I had a little time machine and I could only send back something the length of a tweet, it’d be – ‘Don’t sell.’
Sadly, if Cameron had held on to his rights at the time, the director would have boasted a net worth even higher than George Lucas, the creator ofStar Warshimself. Being the richest filmmaker, Lucas currently holds the position at the top of the ladder with $8 billion while Cameron has a net worth of $800 million [viaCelebrity Net Worth].
Now, James Cameron serves as a creative adviser on the films as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton still remain attached to the franchise as its two primary leads. The sixth and latestfilm installment,Terminator: Dark Fatewhich premiered in 2019, raked in 70% onRotten Tomatoesand was declared an immediate flop.
The Terminatoris available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2409
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
