Producer Megan Ellison has been plenty busy financing films like The Master, Killing Them Softly, and Zero Dark Thirty through her Annapurna Pictures banner, so you’d be forgiven for forgetting that she’s also the person behind the new Terminator film.  Ellison bought the rights to the franchise over a year ago with plans to move forward on a new movie, but after a few starts and stops, not much has come to fruition.  Per Deadline, she has now brought on her brother, David Ellison (True Grit, Star Trek Into Darkness), to be her financial and creative partner on the project as the rights deal for the franchise has now officially come to a close.

The film still has no script or studio attached, but David Ellison’s close relationship with Tom Cruise (he produced Ghost Protocol and Jack Reacher and is also producing M:I 5) has many wondering if Cruise might eventually be a part of the new Terminator film.  It’s frankly too early to start that kind of speculation, but I wouldn’t completely rule the notion out.  The Ellison siblings are now starting from scratch on the new Terminator as they set out to find a screenwriter to put on the project.

Movie series take many forms. Some, such as James Bond, are almost like non-episodic television, with very little connection between the individual films save for the primary character. On the other end of the spectrum is The Lord of the Rings series, serialized from start to finish, shot together and released on a schedule to maximize such. Somewhere in between lies the Terminator series, available now in the 5-disc Blu-ray box set Terminator Anthology.

What is interesting about the Terminator series as a collection of films is that they at once have that interconnectedness of story, due to their epic scope spanning the series, and episodic individuality, due not only to the vast periods of time that pass in between each story and the movies’ releases.  Hit the jump for my review of the box set.

Hot Toys has unveiled a couple of new collectible figures, and they’re pretty swell. First up is the 1/6th scale Mark VII Limited Edition Iron Man collectible figurine from The Avengers line.  It’s ridiculously detailed, and you can basically count the facial hairs on Tony Stark’s goatee with the helmet off.  The armored figure also includes a wrist laser, forearm rockets, fully deployable air flaps, interchangeable armor plates and more.

Additionally, a collectible The Terminator Endoskeleton has been made available via Sideshow Collectibles.  The figure has LED-lighted eyes, fully articulated fingers, and a plasma rifle.  Hit the jump to check out images of both figures or click here to pre-order.

Today’s Amazon Gold Box Deal is selling the Blu-ray books of Rocky, The Terminator, All About Eve, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Usual Suspects, The Hustler, Patton, An Affair to Remember, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Comancheros for $9.99 each (71% off).  A Blu-ray “book” is the Blu-ray case is a hardcover book shell, and there are pages inside with artwork, essays, and other neat stuff.

Click here to take advantage of this deal, which will expire at the end of the day.

Note: Collider earns a small referral fee when our readers purchase something on Amazon through one of our links. The money generated helps pay our staff and keep the site running. Thank you for reading and supporting Collider.

With Rooney Mara (Youth in Revolt) set to star as rebellious hacker Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo next week, we thought we’d take a look back at past female badasses in cinematic history. Noomi Rapace nailed the role in the original Swedish version, so Mara will have a lot to live up to. Not only will she be compared to the performance of her predecessor, but also to the relatively few female heroines that came before her. Will Mara equal or surpass Rapace? Can she hang with the baddest ladies in movie history? Will she impress us enough to fight her way to the top? Hit the jump to check out our selection of the five most badass female leads of all time.

Justin Lin has found tremendous success after this year’s Fast Five.  In addition to Fast and Furious 6 (which is May 24, 2013 unless Universal chickens out again and moves it to April), he’s signed to do the next Terminator film, the Western Brigands of Rattleborge, and the psychological drama We Disappear.  And now THR reports that Lin has set up a two-year development deal with Universal that will have him producing and possibly directing three more movies for the studio in addition to Fast 6.  Through his new production company Barnstorm Pictures, Lin will be developing the action-spy flick Leading Man, “an untitled project about a WWII Japanese American battalion that is the most decorated unit in American history”, and the sci-fi thriller we reported on back in June.  If that weren’t enough to keep him busy, he’s also developing an adaptation of Lone Wolf and Cub with Marissa McMahon and 1212 Entertainment.

Lin knows how to direct action although he’s not on my top-tier of action directors.  However, he does get a bit of a pass for directing the Community episode “Modern Warfare”, and since he’s clearly got a lot of films ahead of him, I’m hoping he makes some good ones (but I’m not holding out much hope for Fast & Furious 6).

Following the (surprising) critical and (not so surprising) commercial success of Fast Five, director Justin Lin has been mentioned among many director shortlists for some of Hollywood’s biggest projects, and recently found himself attached to the next film in the Terminator franchise. While one might surmise that Lin would strike while the iron’s hot and move on to another high profile franchise, looks as though the director’s follow-up to Fast Five will actually be the sixth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise (which just recently got a release date of May 2013).

Terminator fans need not fret though, as Lin is still working on Arnold Schwarzenegger-starred film. In fact, the director just recently met with  Schwarzenegger and James Cameron to talk a bit about the franchise. Hit the jump for more details, including why Lin turned down the directing job of Die Hard 5.

Amidst the firestorm that has engulfed his personal life, Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to postpone indefinitely what was once his full-speed ahead return to acting. TheWrap reports that the former Governor/actor has instructed Creative Artists Agency to “put all acting projects on hold” as he attempts to turn over a new leaf that doesn’t involve lying to his family for more than a decade. In a written statement, Schwarzenegger’s team says:

“Governor Schwarzenegger is focusing on personal matters and is not willing to commit to any production schedules or timelines. This includes Cry Macho, the Terminator franchise and other projects under consideration. We will resume discussions when Governor Schwarzenegger decides.”

In addition to Cry Macho and a Terminator sequel, news of Schwarzenegger’s delayed return also means that his animated TV series, The Governator, is also on hold for the time being (a tough pill to swallow, no doubt). For now, there is no way of knowing exactly how long the actor’s return will be put off. Nevertheless, it does seem as if the ball is entirely in his court meaning that, as soon as he’s ready to return to acting, there will most likely be projects waiting for him on the other side. Whether or not it will be the same ones listed above may depend on whether Cry Macho director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Terminator franchise rights-holder, Megan Ellison, want to wait around for Schwarzenegger to sort things out.

Lionsgate has missed out on the rights to The Terminator franchise again.  After losing the bidding war to Pacificor back in February 2010, the rights went back up for sale at Cannes and Lionsgate once again tried to grab the franchise.  But on Wednesday we learned that Megan Ellison, whose Annapurna Pictures had taken to backing prestige directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Kathryn Bigelow, unexpectedly threw her hat into the ring.  Now Deadline is reporting that Ellison has won the bidding war and it’s a surprising film to add to her indie-dominated portfolio.  Hit the jump for more on Ellison’s other projects and my thoughts on her Terminator acquisition.

Producer Megan Ellison and her Annapurna Pictures have entered a bidding war with Lionsgate over the rights to the Terminator franchise.  As you may recall, Ellison previously has set her production company to backing smaller films with acclaimed directors like Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama and Inherent Vice, and Kathryn Bigelow’s hunt for Osama Bin Laden film.  It looked like Lionsgate was going to win the rights with a bid yesterday, but Deadline reports that Ellison has submitted a higher amount even though she doesn’t have a distributor locked in (although it’s probably not too difficult to find a studio willing to distribute a Terminator film).

Hit the jump for more on this potential deal.

This weekend audiences will be treated to Justin Lin’s third entry in the T & Acceleration franchise Fast Five, a film that’s best quality is just how ridiculous it is. Earlier in the week it was announced that the director had been handed the keys to Terminator 5 and today the French film website Cinemateaser released an interview with the director, in which he discusses his next unnecessary 5^th entry in an action franchise. Lin is apparently a big fan of the Terminator movies and makes it clear that he doesn’t simply want this to be an empty collection of robot fight sequences, which is promising even if McG expressed similar sentiments back when he took over the series for Terminator Salvation. Hit the jump to read what Lin has to say about his potential cyborg action opus.

Yep, he’s back. After announcing he was looking for new projects following his tenure as Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to return to The Terminator franchise in a new film. Long rumored to be attached to a new Terminator film, Justin Lin (Fast Five) is indeed directing. Deadline reports that the two are shopping a rights package around town in order to set the new flick up at a studio.

Schwarzenegger has been attached to a number of projects in the past few months, and it was looking like was close to choosing Kim Ji-Woon’s The Last Stand as his comeback project. There’s no word on how soon the new Terminator film would go into production, but one would assume the studio that grabs the project will want to get going as quickly as possible. Hit the jump for more.

In February, we reported that Universal was interested in resurrecting the Terminator franchise with Fast Five director Justin Lin at the helm.  Our partners at Omelete spoke with Lin today at the Fast Five press junket and got him to comment on the possibility of reviving the Terminator franchise.  Briefly, Lin says he has a take on Terminator he would like to see and that he’s spoken with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  However, he’s also looking at other projects and hasn’t decided what will be his next directing gig.

Hit the jump for the full quote from Lin.  Fast Five opens April 29th.

Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to acting and considering offers, the question becomes: what roles are out there for a 63-year-old action star who hasn’t starred in a movie since 2003?  According to Arnold: plenty.  The Arnold Fans [via AICN] spoke to Schwarzenegger at his annual bodybuilding competition, The Arnold Classic.  When asked about what scripts he was considering, Schwarzenegger told his fans:

“Well, first of all it’s more 15 films, obvious ones from The Terminator to remakes of Predator and The Running Man and all of those things.  Then also a lot of original stuff too.  But I am also packaging a Comic Book character right now. I’m going to announce that sometime by the end of March or the beginning of April.”

Hit the jump for my thoughts on Arnold’s future.

Artist David O’Daniel has recently created some stunning, limited edition posters for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, The Evil Dead, Psycho, Robocop, and The Terminator.  The hand-made silkscreen posters were created for the Castro Theater in San Francisco.  All of the posters are $35 plus shipping ($9 for US, $15 for international).  Hit the jump to check them all out.