Same make, same model, new studio.
Already home to such mega-franchises as Harry Potter, Batman and The Matrix, Warner Bros. has added another to its stable. The studio won the fierce bidding war, reportedly against Dream- Works and Paramount for the domestic distribution and video rights to Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, it was announced Monday.
What's more, the company revealed that this is only a new beginning for the Terminator series, that they hope to make more sequels in the future.
Shooting on the third installment will commence in April with the highest approved budget ever, reportedly between $165 million and $180 million. Arnold Schwarzenegger is commanding an unprecedented $30 million of that for his reprisal of the T-800 series of killing machines. The picture is targeted for a summer 2003 release, likely July 4 weekend, as Warner Bros. plans to launch The Matrix Reloaded Memorial Day weekend.
Set 10 years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, T3 will center on John Connor, now in his 20s, and his trusty cyborg (Schwarzenegger) as they take on a Terminatrix, a new TX model with morph- ing and other abilities more powerful than ever before.
Edward Furlong, who played Connor in T2, is not expected to return.
"Warner's pulled out all of the stops and committed the full support and extensive resources we wanted from the entire AOL Time Warner organization," said production company C-2 Pictures co-chairmen Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna.
"Terminator and Terminator II: Judgment Day were revolutionary motion pictures, both artistically and commercially," said Alan Horn, Warner Bros. president and chief operating officer, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, president of Worldwide Production, "and we couldn't be happier to be involved with the highly anticipated third installment."
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