We found out last year that the 1986 rock ‘n roll horror film Trick or Treat, one of my all-time favorite movies, would be getting a Blu-ray and 4K UHD release from Synapse Films. They were originally aiming for a Halloween 2023 release, but since they missed that month they ended up giving the movie a limited edition release (there were just 6,666 units) last month. Those 6,666 units sold out so fast, with fans crashing the Synapse Films website along the way, that the company has now wisely decided to put together a standard edition of the Blu-ray and 4K UHD release as well. Today, they announced that the street date for the standard edition is March 11th.
Directed by Charles Martin Smith from a screenplay by Rhet Topham, Joel Soisson, and Michael S. Murphey (with an uncredited polish from the Final Destination duo of James Wong and Glen Morgan), Trick or Treat has the following synopsis: This mesmerizing horror adventure takes you into the terrifying dark side of rock’n’roll. Marc Price (Family Ties) stars as Eddie Weinbauer, a teenage outcast who idolizes Sammi Curr, a heavy metal rock superstar. After Sammi dies a violent death, his spirit returns to help Eddie get even with his high school tormentors. In doing so, Sammi begins to gain control over Eddie’s life and brings him deeper into the world of the occult. When Eddie realizes that he has become the tool of Sammi’s evil revenge, he attempts to stop him. The horrifying events that follow leave no one unscathed.
Marc Price is joined in the cast by Lisa Orgolini, Doug Savant, Elaine Joyce, and Glen Morgan, with Tony Fields as Sammi Curr and special appearances by Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons.
Special features on the Synapse Films release include: – 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative mastered in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) and approved by Academy Award-winning Director of Photography Robert Elswit – Limited edition o-card available on FIRST PRESSING ONLY! – Lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio of the original 2.0 theatrical mix and an all-new 5.1 surround sound mix – Audio commentary with director Charles Martin Smith, moderated by filmmaker Mark Savage – Audio interviews with writer/producer Michael S. Murphey and writer Rhet Topham, moderated by film historian Michael Felsher – Audio conversation with Paul Corupe and Allison Lang, authors of Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s – Rock & Shock: The Making of TRICK OR TREAT – An all-new retrospective featuring director Charles Martin Smith, actors Marc Price, Glen Morgan, Elise Richards, and Larry Sprinkle, writer/producer Joel Soisson, costume designer Jill Ohanneson, assistant set costumer Francine Decoursey, construction foreman Tom Jones, Jr., special make-up effects artist Everett Burrell, music executive producer Stephen E. Smith, composer Christopher Young, and a special appearance by Gene Simmons – In The Spotlight: A Tribute to Tony Fields, featuring interviews with the late actor’s family and friends – Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: The Filming Locations of TRICK OR TREAT with Sean Clark – “After Midnight” music video – Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots and Radio Spots – Still Gallery featuring optional audio interview with still photographer Phillip V. Caruso – Vintage electronic press kit – Region free for worldwide playback
The standard edition Trick or Treat 4K UHD can be pre-ordered at THIS LINK. The standard edition Blu-ray can be pre-ordered HERE.
Are you a fan of Trick or Treat, and will you be adding the standard edition 4K UHD and/or Blu-ray to your collection? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The Day of the Jackal will see more days as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Peacock has renewed the thriller for another season. Our Alex Maidy enjoyed the show as he said in his review, “This grounded, realistic thriller takes time to develop the protagonist and antagonist while leaving audiences wondering which side they trust and whether they should or should not. This is not a clean-cut espionage story or even an action-oriented tale. The Day of the Jackal is a worthy modernization of the classic novel and delivers two of the year’s better performances on film or the small screen.”
According to THR, “The series drew 3 million viewers in its first week on [U.K. broadcast] Sky Atlantic, the best series debut there in two years. On Peacock, the show ranked among the top five original streaming series in the U.S. for its opening weekend, based on preliminary Nielsen data.” It’s not known yet whether stars Eddie Redmayne or Lashana Lynch will reprise their roles or if the next season will follow a new set of characters.
The globe-trotting thriller stars Eddie Redmayne as an unrivalled and highly elusive assassin known only as the Jackal, who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.
The series also starred Úrsula Corberó (Snake Eyes), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Richard Dormer (Fortitude), Chukwudi Iwuji (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Lia Williams (The Crown), Khalid Abdalla (United 93), Eleanor Matsuura (The Walking Dead), and Jonjo O’Neill (Pennyworth). Ronan Bennett (Gunpowder) serves as writer and showrunner, with Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones) directing.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly in September, Redmayne said the series will give more insight into his character than the 1973 movie was able to. “One of the things that appealed to me about doing this series was, in Edward Fox’s version — it’s two hours, that movie — Edward is so filled with charisma… and kind of wit and elegance, but you never get to learn anything about it,” Redmayne said. “I wanted to see if through this 10-hour thing, we could get to know someone, but always be second guessing.” Redmayne added that the 1973 film was “one of those movies that my family would watch again and again and again.“
“And so I thought, wow, this is bold, that they’re going to try and reimagine this. And what I read, I just found completely thrilling and compelling, and at each moment it threw me off course and it kind of discombobulated me, but I couldn’t stop turning the pages,” Redmayne said. “I hadn’t done television for a few years, but the idea of getting to spend a proper amount of time with this enigma felt like great material to mine.“
Plot: One year after her parents are cursed and become literal monsters, Princess Eilian ventures into the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness to find a cure that brings her parents back to their rightful forms before the kingdom discovers their secret.
Review:Princess-led animated films are a dime-a-dozen. Since 1937, when Snow White shacked up with seven dwarves and introduced the concept of a spell-breaking “true love kiss” to the masses, we’ve met many beauties in various states of distress and self-discovery. As Father Time has marched through ticks and tocks, his aging bones quivering inside his loosening skin, princesses evolved, gaining grace and agency in the face of mediocre princes and opportunistic father figures. Today, the Elsas, Meridas, Tianas, and Mulans of the world help redefine the princess in fiction and the eyes of adoring young women. We’ve reached a point when a princess can be a conduit for aspirations beyond wishing for a happy ending, even if that means the lesson is harsh. In Spellbound, Princess Eilian, too, breaks the shackles of outdated tropes, bringing a different concept of familial love to the stage.
Skydance Animation‘s Spellbound centers on Princess Eilian, a 15-year-old who shoulders the weight of her kingdom after her parents mysteriously transform into literal monsters. Eilian, tired of waiting for a miracle, ventures into the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness (I love this name) to rekindle her parents’ light, thus turning them back into their former selves. While the plot sounds standard, there’s more bubbling beneath the surface of Eilian’s journey and the reason for her parents’ transformation.
It’s important to remember that Eilian is just a child. She wants to be a normal kid with everyday problems, not risking life and limb in an enchanted jungle. Despite her royal position, it’s unfair to expect the world of her. To salvage her childhood and bring her parents back, she must face the unknown and confront disheartening truths before setting things right. Thankfully, Rachel Zegler understands the assignment well and perfectly plays Eilian with enthusiasm, determination, and humility as her core characteristics. Zegler’s performance is awe-inspiring given that her work on Spellbound began seven years ago before she starred in films like West Side Story and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Cutting your teeth on animated musicals is challenging, yet Zegler shines throughout.
Another fun performance in Spellbound hails from John Lithgow, who voiced Lord Farquad in Vicky Jenson’s feature directorial debut, Shrek. While Lithgow’s self-absorbed Bolinar is a hoot in his human-like form, his transformation into another creature of the kingdom yields his best moments. Few actors portray petulantness, like Lithgow, and Spellbound allows him to whine his way into our hearts. In contrast, Jennifer Lewis delivers a commanding performance as Nazara, an aid to the royal family managing the fallout of the King and Queen’s monstrous circumstances. Together, Lithgow and Lewis perform one of the film’s best songs, “Step by Step,” a spirited number displaying their frustration and not-so-brilliant plot to replace the King and Queen with their daughter, Princess Eilian.
Other delightful performances come from Nathan Lane and Tituss Burgess, who play Luno – the Oracle of the Moon, and Sunny – the Oracle of the Sun, respectively. The “coded” couple delivers lots of laughs with their Oscar and Felix Unger-like dynamic, and their song, “Look for the Light,” composed by Alan Menkin with lyrics by Glenn Slater, is an adorable ray of… well, light, in dark times. The Oracles never outstay their welcome, bringing comedy and charming banter to the stage.
Finally, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are Queen Ellsmere and King Solon, respectively. Despite spending a portion of the film as snarling beasts, the duo eventually speaks monosyllabically throughout much of the film. Kidman’s performance is enchanting and adorable on all fronts. I imagine her in the recording booth and smile at the thought of her growling and searching for words. Bardem’s timbre adds an impressive amount of character and gravitas to his character, making the couple a highlight of Spellbound‘s endearing vocal performances.
While the kingdom of Lumbria is a picturesque fantasyland of gushing waterfalls, brightly colored flower fields, and craggy cliffsides, one aspect of the world fails to touch the light: the citizens. As a critical-thinking adult, I found aspects of Lumbria’s population increasingly frustrating. No one and I mean no one, puts two and two together when Eilian attempts to explain her parents’ condition. The General (Olga Merediz) jumps to conclusions and, as a result, endangers the royal family’s lives.
Before I go any further, I understand that ignoring Eilian’s pleas and explanations is essential to the film. Adults rarely listen to children. They often dismiss their explanations as stories and make matters worse by not taking the time to listen. While I appreciate this aspect of the plot and where it’s coming from, ignoring Eilian’s petitions makes the General and her guard wholly inept at their jobs. Adding to this, the second they realize what’s happening, they’re immediately on board, and all their efforts to imprison the monsters and force Eilian out of the kingdom become forgotten. While five-year-olds will look past this repeated display of maladroitness, I could not resolve my frustration with the guard’s lack of smarts and their unaccountability. Am I being ridiculous? Perhaps.
Moreover, the rules of Spellbound‘s world could use some clarification. If negativity, malice, and arguments bring about life-altering consequences, why aren’t other monsters like the King and Queen in Lumbria’s history? Are we to believe no one harbors resentment in a wide-spread kingdom of diverse individuals? Has no one done anything to warrant a similar transformation, thus making the King and Queen’s predicament familiar? Are the General and her guard unaware of how the Dark Forest functions on the outskirts of the kingdom? Again, the target demographic might wave these factors away with ease. However, I needed clarification on the unfamiliarity of the kingdom’s ordinances. Do I need to switch to decaf? Never. How dare you.
Hyper-specific and questionable hang-ups aside, Spellbound is a joy to behold. The film proudly wears its musical roots, offering audiences emotionally charged songs that service the plot, build character quirks, and add to the atmosphere of an animated movie overflowing with personality. Eilian is a terrific character with depth, and the final act offers a unique spin on the “happy ending” formula that’s mature and satisfying. Parents could find themselves needing to explain adult relationship dynamics and how love between two people can change with time to their young ones, but better them than someone else. I applaud Spellbound for delving into such shaky territory, offering something unconventional and thought-provoking to young minds, and hitting adults with an alternate perspective regarding how their actions and behavior extend throughout the family unit. Spellbound is a story worth telling. I hope that people will listen.
Eight months have gone by since we heard that Aaron Taylor-Johnson of Bullet Train and The Fall Guy had been chosen as the latest actor to take on the role of super spy James Bond – and while the former Bond, Daniel Craig, doesn’t care who’s going to follow in his footsteps, fans are still anxiously waiting to hear if Taylor-Johnson is going to be Bond, or if the role is going to someone else. While we continue to wait, the release date of Taylor-Johnson’s next film, Sony’s Marvel Comics adaptation Kraven the Hunter, is swiftly approaching. The movie is set to reach theatres on December 13th – and Taylor-Johnson recommends that Bond fans check it out.
Directed by J. C. Chandor from a screenplay by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, Kraven the Hunter has the following synopsis: Kraven the Hunter is the visceral, action-packed origin story of how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Taylor-Johnson is joined in the cast by Ariana DeBose as voodoo priestess Calypso Ezili, Fred Hechinger as Kraven’s estranged brother and master of disguise Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon, Alessandro Nivola as Russian mercenary and human-rhino hybrid Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino, Christopher Abbott as a mercenary and assassin known as the Foreigner, and Russell Crowe as Kraven’s estranged father, the ruthless crime lord Nikolai Kravinoff.
When ComicBook.com asked him about the James Bond rumors, Taylor-Johnson answered, “I think, you know, if that’s the thing you’re really into [Bond] and that’s the kind of movie you love, then you should come see this movie [Kraven the Hunter] because the action in this is insane and super exciting. So, yeah, honestly, I don’t think it would disappoint, brother.“
As of earlier this month, Bond franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson weren’t willing to confirm or deny the Aaron Taylor-Johnson rumors to the Associated Press. They would only say the next Bond “will be a man. He’ll likely be in his 30s. Whiteness is not a given. And whoever says yes is doing so with the expectation of at least a decade’s worth of films.” Wilson said, “Every time we cast a new actor, the films change. It’s the excitement of a new Bond, a new direction. Every one of these people who took on the role offered something new and different.“
Are you a James Bond fan, and will you be watching Kraven the Hunter? What do you think of the idea of Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing Bond? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Get more of your action fix with another trailer from Well Go USA. This week, the distributor released the hard-hitting first look at the Tony Jaa action film Striking Rescue. In that trailer, Jaa looks to return to form after capitalizing on his exploding career by starring in international films like Furious 7, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, Skin Trade, Triple Threat and KillZone 2. While his new movie isn’t a Thai production, it brings back the hardcore fighting that broke him out in Ong Bak.
Now, take a look at Donnie Yen as he stars in the new legal action film The Prosecutor. Yen steps in to direct and stars in the film alongside Julian Cheung, Francis Ng, Kent Cheng, Adam Pak, Kang Yu and Locker Lam. The official plot synopsis reads, “Inspired by an actual legal case in Hong Kong, THE PROSECUTOR follows the story of a man who falsely pleads guilty to drug trafficking after being framed. Despite the confession, the veteran policeman-turned-prosecutor (Donnie Yen) handling the case is convinced of the man’s innocence and pursues his own investigation, risking both his career and his life to bring the real perpetrator to justice.”
Yen recently fought foes alongside Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 and Lionsgate was keen on spinning his character, Caine, off into his own film. Especially with the ominous post-credits teaser at the end of the movie. “From the moment Donnie Yen appeared on screen in John Wick: Chapter 4, he captivated audiences and created an authentic, emotional connection that left an indelible mark and had fans asking for more,” said Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair. “The John Wick universe that Chad, Basil, Erica and Keanu have built offers a tapestry of fascinating characters brought to life by the most extraordinary performers, and we’re excited to have one of the world’s biggest superstars on board to continue this journey.”
“Working on John Wick: Chapter 4 was an extraordinary experience,” said Yen. “The reason these films resonate so deeply is because, like myself, Chad, Basil, and Erica push themselves to create action, fights, and stunts that are not only thrilling, inventive and artistic, but also expressive of character, story, and emotion. Caine is an incredible character with a haunted past, and I am excited to return to the role.”
Black Myth: Wukong turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the year, and the action-adventure game is currently racking up awards. During an acceptance speech for one of those trophies, the cofounder of the studio behind the game said fans can expect a new surprise next month.
Black Myth: Wukong turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the year, and the action-adventure game is currently racking up awards. During an acceptance speech for one of those trophies, the cofounder of the studio behind the game said fans can expect a new surprise next month.
Pokémon TCG Pocket has been quite the roller coaster ride. It’s absolutely got its hooks in a lot of us at Kotaku, and we’re playing it every day. But at the same time, it’s unquestionably a predatory gacha game using a children’s IP. What a muddle. But there’s one thing that’s unambiguous: there’s a lot of room for…
Pokémon TCG Pocket has been quite the roller coaster ride. It’s absolutely got its hooks in a lot of us at Kotaku, and we’re playing it every day. But at the same time, it’s unquestionably a predatory gacha game using a children’s IP. What a muddle. But there’s one thing that’s unambiguous: there’s a lot of room for…
You know that fake commercial in Tropic Thunder where Tugg Speedman and the Scorcher franchise keep coming back again… again… and again? That’s pretty much the Terminator franchise by 2019. Where over and over again it respawns and says “I’ll be back… but this time it’ll be different. It’ll be a re-imagining! Accompanied by another trilogy. No, this time we’re back with the old cast! And it’ll be like before!” It’s like Jim Carrey yelling at Matthew Broderick in The Cable Guy “I can fix it! I can make it cool again, Stephen!” But will they? For some! Not for all. This is the story of what happened to Terminator: Dark Fate. The film that may have killed the Terminator movie franchise for good.
When Terminator Genisys performed poorly at the domestic box office, Skydance Productions (which suspiciously sounds like Skynet) was left with a choice. Forge ahead with their planned trilogy or wipe the slate clean. Originally, Skydance was happy enough with what the film did on a worldwide scale to move forward. But first, they wanted to know what went wrong at home. They would take their time and take a deep look into the market research to see how they should adjust. Apparently what that market research told them was to go with their first instinct and light it all on fire. And so they did.
After leaving Deadpool 2 due to creative differences with Ryan Reynolds, director Tim Miller was hired for the job. Miller had been the co-founder of visual effects company Blur Studio, where he created the killer opening sequence for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo among many other projects. And, of course, the insanely succesful Deadpool. But what the Hell was this film going to be about? What did the market research tell Skydance? It apparently told them to go and try to make Terminator 2 again. Thanks, market research.
So, what do you do if you want Terminator 2? You go and get you James Cameron. Who, thankfully wasn’t too neck deep in blue people at the time and was ready to, in some fashion, return to the franchise he created. So long as they promised to bring back his buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger. Which, if you can believe how stupid this is, some folks working on the project hadn’t intended to do.
Cameron, enticed by the idea of terminating the inferior sequels to his original films and making a direct sequel to Terminator 2, signed on as a producer. He had worked with Miller and his design studio before, and the production desperately needed a seal of approval from the man who made the originals. Although Cameron did give his seal of approval on Genisys. He effectively put a cigarette out on its forehead and moved on, saying, “we’re pretending the other films were a bad dream”. Ouch, Jim.
But what would this super superior sequel be about? We can’t just remake Terminator 2. You have to put lipstick on it first. They hired a team of novelists to come up with their takes on what the future of the franchise could look like. They then took that inspiration and hired “guy who has written every movie you’ve ever seen from the Dark Knight to Kickboxer 2”, David S. Goyer. As well as Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray. The latter of which had quite an interesting writing career to that point; having written both Bruce Willis erotica with Color of Night, and Tommy Lee Jones disaster flick Volcano. That’s range.
While these three gentleman are credited as the only screenplay writers, this script was touched by more hands than an in store X-Box 360 demo display on Black Friday in a 2005 Target Electronics Section. The Sarah Connor Chronicles creator Josh Friedman was among an entire group who helped Cameron come up with an idea for the initial story and Miller wrote many of the action scenes. Others were handed down to him by Cameron as ideas he’d thought of over the years but had never made. Even the actors had their hands in the crafting of the script at times with Schwarzenegger changing some of his lines and Linda Hamilton changing lines she didn’t feel were true to Sarah Connor. Cameron was sometimes sending over shots to be filmed by Miller just a day before they went to camera. The story that came out of all this haberdashery was a doozy.
The overall bones of the film were simple enough. A new Terminator called a Rev-9 with all sorts of cool new tricks would be sent back in time to kill a future adversary. This time, that future leader of humankind was a young girl named Dani Ramos. Not John Connor. Because they kill him off in the opening act *Record scratch* WHAT? Yeah, they scrolled down their list of options and decided to take everything that happened in one of the greatest action films we’ll ever see in our life time and make it pointless. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off.
Of the decision, Cameron (a guy who once made a quip about other filmmakers “pissing in the soup” of his franchise) said, “Let’s just pull the carpet out from underneath all of our assumptions of what a Terminator movie is going to be about.” And with those words you would think the rest of the story was going to go places we never expe-no, it doesn’t.
The resistance also sends back their own genetically enhanced soldier to protect newJohn, then they team up with the T-800 and fight off the Rev-9 to save the future. Only the kicker is… this T-800 is the Schwarzenegger model Skynet originally sent to kill CGI John Connor in the first few minutes of the film. Having fulfilled his orders, he’s become a drapery specialist, the caretaker of a family, and spends his days anonymously texting Sarah Connor new Terminator locations. Because he feels bad about shooting her son in the face. Clearly, realizing it was him brings up old memories for Sarah. And the film reminds us of this every several minutes for the remainder of the film. All the way up until the T-800 gives his robot life to save them all with the parting words… “For John.”
The irony that the entire movie ended up as an ode to John Connor when the first few minutes were about booting his character from the franchise are in the words of Linkin Park “all too much to take in” for some. Miller would say of the moment, “You want to slap the audience in the face and say, ‘Wake up. This is going to be different’. I think I accomplished that.” Now there’s something we can agree on.
With the story decided and written production began 2018 in Spain, Hungary, and the United States. Arnold was a go from the beginning and brought his trademark comic levity along with a great haircut. Linda Hamilton reprising the role of Sarah Connor was a bit bumpier. Having mostly retired from acting, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do the role at all. Cameron reached out with an email listing all the reasons she should and shouldn’t come back. In the end she decided to return to the role despite previously judging other sequels to T2, saying, “There will always be those who will try and milk the cow.”
The film will in many ways work or not work for you depending on how you feel about her performance. Dark Fate is largely centered on her character and her Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween 2018-esque return to the franchise. You could find it to be an impressive and rugged action performance. Or you might see it as a very rusty actress trying to bring too much of a “badass” edge to a character that becomes a little cringy.
One cool aspect of the requel sequel is Diego Luna’s Rev-9 character. The new T-1000 brings with him from the future some gnarly new gimmicks. The effects don’t quite live up to the jaw dropping moments coming out of the T-1000 back in 1991, but the ideas are cool, nonetheless. And Luna has the desired “determined yet quizzical” face structure and movements for the role. Halt and Catch Fire’s Mackenzie Davis fought hard for and eventually earned the role of Grace; the human/robot hybrid protector. Davis brought both a believable physicality to the role and just the right amount of rebellious attitude you would expect from a human being who people will not stop calling a robot.
Natalia Reyes was cast as essentially the new John Connor of the story and we were off. Reyes was likeable but it was hard to ever see what the movie was trying to explain to us this character would be in the future. Sure, Edward Furlong was a punk teenager in Terminator 2, but there was a rebellious side to him where you could picture him being a future leader of the resistance. Just needed a little bit of trauma and a few protein bars.
Speaking of young John Connor, the production had Edward Furlong on set for a day so that they could portray his likeness onto body double Jude Collie with motion capture technology. This small amount of participation bummed Furlong out quite a bit. The actor had been hoping to have a bigger role in the film but was ultimately brought in so that his avatar could be shot while ordering his mom a Corona at a beach bar. It’s a rough business. Schwarzenegger’s jacked child murdering T-800 was played by the same body double who played Arnold in Terminator Genisys, Brett Azar. Hamilton had her own body double for the scene in actress Maddy Curley, and she did not enjoy it. She continuously gave Curley notes about having the wrong movements or reactions and eventually went home and “cried her eyes out” after watching Curley play her character. She also, in her own words, said she “got a little crazy trying to micromanage” other stunt actresses movements during the rest of the shoot. Hamilton also said that she had a hard time understanding the script because of the large amount of action. And there was a lot of action.
Ultimately the film uses over 2600 digital effects with once again Industrial Light & Magic taking the lead on the project. But they did have to call in multiple other companies to help with the large workload. One action scene in particular featured a plane sequence which was filmed on the largest gimbal ever built at 85 tons. A design that took over five months to build and was sixty feet long, with a blue screen on one side for digital effects to be added.
There were great action set pieces throughout Dark Fate. From a factory throwdown to the chase scene that followed with the Rev-9 showing off some innovative updates to his abilities. Ultimately, though, the CGI was palpable throughout and sometimes the movements of the characters looked unnatural. It definitely didn’t have the attention to detail of a movie like T2, but what does? Cameron used that attention to detail ability in the editing booth for Dark Fate, knocking off a whopping 42 minutes from the films original run time. Cameron and Miller often budded heads in a friendly way throughout the production, and ultimately remain friends. Though Miller has said he likely wouldn’t work with Cameron again in this capacity, citing a need for more control over his own projects.
This leaves us with the question of why Cameron didn’t just direct the darn thing himself? And the answer is he was busy filming Avatar sequels. Always with the Avatar.
Terminator Dark Fate would release unto the world in the fall of 2019 and become an immensely disappointing box office bomb. The film grossed just over $260 million worldwide total. More than enough to buy groceries if there’s a good sale. But not for a movie with a nearly $200 million starting budget and a hefty marketing price tag. Dark Fate had needed to rake in almost double what it made. Just to break even.
Who knows why it bombed exactly. Perhaps the seal of approval from James Cameron meant little after he had just recently promoted Genisys? Were people not buying the lack of Schwarzenegger? It wasn’t the critical response. Dark Fate opened up to a “Fresh” score of 70% on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes and currently holds an 82% fresh audience score. Maybe it’s just time for the film franchise to take a long break. I said FILM franchise. Terminator Zero rules. Or maybe it’s what Linda Hamilton said herself, from the top rope one last time, “The story’s been told, and it’s been done to death.”
Maybe it’s because the people involved were so certain that their absence was the reason previous films didn’t work out. Yet, Dark Fate seemingly had nothing to say the first two films didn’t already cover. Still yet, for some, Dark Fate does round out a nice trilogy paired with the first two Cameron films and for them… that’s enough. And that is what happened to Terminator Dark Fate.
A couple of the previous episodes of What Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
