TERMINATOR 5 to be set in 2011 London?

Terminator Salvation can be pretty much written off as a bomb at this point. It currently looks unlikely to even earn back its $200 million budget. But a franchise with that kind of staying power is unlikely to be felled by one box-office disappointment, and Bleeding Cool has an "industry source" claiming that the fifth film is already in the works and will be set in England, with Christian Bale returning as a time-traveling John Connor.

In May, director McG told Filmjournal about his plans for the sequel:

“I strongly suspect the next movie is going to take place in a [pre-Judgment Day] 2011,” McG reveals. “John Connor is going to travel back in time and he’s going to have to galvanize the militaries of the world for an impending Skynet invasion. They’ve figured out time travel to the degree where they can send more than one naked entity. So you’re going to have hunter killers and transports and harvesters and everything arriving in our time and Connor fighting back with conventional military warfare, which I think is going to be f***ing awesome. I also think he’s going to meet a scientist that’s going to look a lot like present-day Robert Patrick [who famously played the T-1000 in Terminator 2], talking about stem-cell research and how we can all live as idealized, younger versions of ourselves.”

Setting the film in modern times could have several advantages. It wouldn't require so many sets and props to be made from scratch, which would help keep costs down. (And believe me, after the debacle of Terminator Salvation, keeping costs down will be paramount on the studio's mind.) It would also potentially make the film feel more like a part of the Terminator universe than Salvation did. One of the many common complaints about Salvation was that with an all-new cast (even Schwarzenegger was gone) and an unfamiliar, post-apocalyptic setting, the film just didn't feel like a part of the Terminator franchise. Setting the sequel in a modern city and having a familiar face like Patrick on hand could fix that.

I have some doubt Bale would return, however. His performance hasn't scored a lot of rave reviews, and his diva-ish behavior on the Salvation set has become the stuff of legend. I'd say Bale and the Terminator franchise are done, professionally.


Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.