When it was announced that Mackenzie Davis would lead the cast for a new “Terminator” sequel, it was surprising for a number of reasons. One reason is that Davis isn’t much of an established big-budget action star, as she’s won acclaim for her smaller roles in films such as “Tully” and TV shows such as “Black Mirror” and “Halt and Catch Fire.” And another reason is that there just didn’t seem like much desire for yet another lackluster “Terminator” sequel. But when has that stopped Hollywood? And so, “Terminator: Dark Fate” was released last year and fans didn’t support it. Now, Davis thinks it’s important to learn a lesson from that reaction at the box office.
Speaking to NME, Davis was asked about the possibility of yet another “Terminator” sequel, picking up from the events of ‘Dark Fate.’ For those that didn’t see the film, ‘Dark Fate’ essentially wipes away the events of every ‘Terminator’ film post-‘T2’ and creates a new path forward with the franchise with a new set of characters. Clearly, if the world embraced the sequel at the box office, then more films would have been a given. But as Davis said in her response, Hollywood needs to listen to the fans.
“I really loved the movie and I’m so proud of what we did, but there wasn’t a demand for it [at the box office] and to think that there’d be a demand for a seventh film is quite insane,” said Davis. “You should just pay attention to what audiences want – and they want new things and I want new things.”
She added, “There are many interesting people that don’t fit the mold of those who make these big franchises who have not had the chance to make movies. We should be investing in them right now.”
Not only does it sound as if Davis isn’t ready to come back to the ‘Terminator’ franchise, but it really does sound like the actress is burnt out from doing franchise films, in general. Previously, her only other escapade into the world of franchise filmmaking is with Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049.” And though that film has a legion of fans, the box office didn’t impress and that film also didn’t relaunch a franchise, as it was intended. So, it appears that Davis might be onto something. But we are talking about Hollywood studios, after all, and they sure do love to bleed IP dry when given the chance.