Terminator: Dark Fate was an unmitigated box office flop when it was released in October, as it debuted to just $29 million in America. It has even been predicted that Dark Fate could lose Paramount around $130 million, and it is safe to assume that it is the final nail in the coffin of the Terminator franchise.
Director Tim Miller has now opened up about the failure of Terminator: Dark Fate, telling The Hollywood Reporter that they could “write a book” on why it flopped.
Dark Fate producer and the original creator of the Terminator franchise James Cameron previously said the blockbuster was “forged in fire” and that the “blood is still being scrubbed off the walls from these creative battles.” While Miller didn’t go that far he did give some additional insight into the creative disputes on the film.
SYDNEY, NSW – MAY 27: Multi Academy Award winning director James Cameron at The Game Changer conference for Vivid Sydney on May 27, 2018, at The City Recital Hall in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Speed Media/ Icon Sportswire)
“Even though Jim is a producer and David Ellison is a producer and they technically have final cut and ultimate power, my name is still on it as director. Even if I’m going to lose the fight … I still feel this obligation to fight because that is what the director is supposed to do. Fight for the movie.”
It turns out that one of Miller’s main battles with Cameron was over several “poetic and beautiful lines” that Miller loved. “I would fight for that line, because it was important to me,” Miller recalled. “But does the audience really care? Probably not. As far as donnybrooks go, it’s not that big of a deal.”
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As a result, Miller can’t see himself working with Cameron again any time soon, declaring, “I just want to be in a situation again where I don’t have the control to do what I think is right.”
However, the relationship between Cameron and Miller isn’t completely ruined, as the pair have already made plans to have a clear the air beer in December when Cameron is back in LA.
