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.

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.

Following the proclamation from the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, that he’s ready to head back to acting, studios are now interested in resuscitating the Terminator franchise. Apparently, Universal is interested in restarting the blockbuster franchise (yet again). Deadline reports that the studio is looking for a new project for director Justin Lin (Fast Five), and they have their eye on Terminator.

The film franchise has been dormant since McG’s lackluster reboot in the form of Terminator: Salvation in 2009. The franchise was left in limbo after ending up in bankruptcy court, where Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor won the rights, thereby negating any future plans McG had for his trilogy which will now thankfully never see the light of day. It’s important to note that Universal hasn’t officially made a move on the franchise yet, and Lin isn’t guaranteed to direct if they do, but this is what the studio is thinking at this time.

Well, that was quick.  We reported earlier today that Hanover House intends to make a 3D animated feature titled Terminator 3000.  This apparently didn’t sit too well with Pacificor, the company that owns the rights to the Terminator franchise — they sent a cease and desist letter to keep the film in a state of limbo.  Hanover House CEO Eric Parkinson claims the press release announcing Terminator 3D was a response to someone associated with the project who discussed it publicly.  He acknowledges that they’re in a bind now, unless they can reach a mutual agreement with Pacificor.  Parkinson lamented, “The best way to put it is,  they can’t make an animated film without me, and we might not be able to make it without them.”  In case you are fluent in legalese, you can read the full cease and desist letter after the jump.

Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day are among the best action movies of all time.  Rise of the Machines and Salvation are not.  But there may be hope yet for the next installment in the time-traveling-killer-robot saga.  According to Mike Fleming at Deadline, William Wisher (who collaborated with James Cameron on the first two films) is making a strong case to potentially write the next two movies in the franchise.  Wisher has already written a “detailed, 24-page treatment for Terminator 5” and a “4-page concept outline for Terminator 6.”  Fleming goes on to say that there will be “several new villains and plenty of firepower.”  One more note of interest:  There’s a part for Linda Hamilton and even Arnold Schwarzenegger in Wisher’s stories.

To get my thoughts on the project, hit the jump.

A few days ago, we reported the rights to the Terminator franchise were going to be auctioned off today, and after a marathon bidding session between a number of parties, it seems the Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor has won the auction and now owns the rights to all future Terminator movies and TV shows.  While Sony and Lionsgate both submitted bids, it seems the offer from Pacificor was too sweet, as they not only paid $29.5 million for the rights, but they let Halcyon keep the revenue streams from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation.  In addition, Halcyon will also get $5 million for every Terminator movie made from now on.  It’s a hell of deal for  Halcyon, as they not only got a nice lump sum payout, but Terminator 3 and Salvation will continue to generate money for the foreseeable future.

While the future of the Terminator franchise is not yet known, Pacificor is now in the drivers seat.  I’m confident we’re going to see more Terminator movies, it’s just a matter of time. (via Deadline)

UPDATE: It seems Pacificor is now talking with Sony and Lionsgate to handle future Terminator films. These talks are currently underway, so expect plenty of updates.  (via LATimes)

As most of you know, the Halcyon Group put the Terminator franchise up for sale in September of last year.  Up for grabs are all future rights to Terminator TV series, DVDs, merchandise, and, of course, feature films.  This is one of the reasons a sequel to McG’s Terminator Salvation hasn’t happened yet.

With bidding for the rights to the Terminator franchise set to close today, I was wondering who was going to step forward at the last minute and submit an offer.  While Lionsgate submitted a bid last month (they offered  $15 million and a 5% cut of future gross receipts), Sony decided to get in the ring today as they also submitted an offer.

More after the jump:

Sigourney Weaver hosted last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live, and a good friend of hers appeared with her in the evening’s digital short: James Cameron.  The sketch has Cameron pitching a film to SNL producer Lorne Michaels that is equal parts Terminator, Aliens, Avatar, and bad.  The short’s clever, and it proves Cameron knows how to make a little fun of himself and some of his bolder assertions (like telling anyone who’d listen that Avatar would be a film industry “game changer”).  Watch the sketch for yourself after the jump.

Last night I posted the first of my “7 Days with Producer Dan Lin”.  As I explained yesterday, I spoke at length with the Sherlock Holmes producer about not only his latest film, but everything he has in development.  Since the conversation ran so long, I’ve decided to break up the interview into many smaller parts.  Yesterday we covered the Lego movie and Gangster Squad, and today it’s about the Terminator franchise.

As one of the executive producers of Terminator Salvation, I decided to ask Lin what he thought about the ending they released versus the one that got shelved due to it leaking on the internet.  I also asked him what’s the status of future Terminator movies and was Salvation a profitable experience for all parties.

Hit the jump for what he had to say:

Trained at the Tisch School of the Arts program at New York University, and with a background working on the New York stage, Bryce Dallas Howard has already amassed an impressive list of film credits. As part of such franchises as Spider-Man, Terminator and now The Twilight Saga, the actress is balancing big-budget blockbusters with smaller independent roles, including her latest in The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, from an original Tennessee Williams screenplay.

During the press day for that film, Bryce Dallas Howard gave some hints about her role in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, her involvement in the Clint Eastwood supernatural thriller Hereafter, and whether she’ll return for Spider-Man 4.

Read what she had to say after the jump:

We have a little grab bag of geek news for you tonight.  First up, Jack Black is getting animated again, this time would focus on cryptozoological animals like Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, and James Carville.  Based on a pitch from screenwriter Jason Micallef, Black is currently set to produce, but Heat Vision says he’s not committed to voice act in the project at this point. Black’s vocals led 2008′s Kung Fu Panada which went on to gross $216 million domestically and $631 million worldwide.  He’ll return to voice Po the Panda in the 2011 sequel, Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom.  He also did a great job voicing lead character Eddie Riggs in Tim Schaeffer’s video game Brütal Legend (unfortunately, the game itself was one of the biggest disappointments of 2009).

In another story, Director McG (which stands for “I’ll spend the rest of my career explaining why I call myself ‘McG’”) said in a commentary on BD-Live for Terminator: Salvation last night (where he was asked why he calls himself “McG”) that he wants to make Terminator 5 and 6.  While McG wants this, Halcyon is still trying to auction off the rights to the franchise.  Also, Terminator: Salvation only managed to break even with a worldwide gross of $371 million.  While that is considerably more than its reported $200 million budget, once you factor in prints and advertising it was not the successful re-launch folks were hoping for after 2003′s Rise of the Machines.  So the question becomes once somebody buys the rights to the franchise, will they want McG continuing his intended trilogy?  [Gizmodo]

Finally, two more featurettes for Avatar have come online.  To see the featurette about the ecosystem of Pandora click here, and hit the jump to see the featurette about the story.  Remember six months ago when we hardly knew anything about this movie?  I miss those days.

Earlier today we reported that this week the rights for the “Terminator” were up for auction.  Now self-proclaimed movie-mogul, the mastermind behind such films as “Titan A.E.”, “Parenthood” (not the movie or the new TV series), and “Alien Resurrection” (although he really wishes you wouldn’t credit him for that), is interested in buying the “Terminator” rights for…TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! [Whedon raises pinky to his lips].  Hit the jump to read Mr. Whedon’s open letter about why he thinks he could re-invigorate the franchise (one idea: more porn).

After seeing “Terminator Salvation” and its disappointing gross of $125 million (according to Box Office Mojo, it cost $200 million to make), I made a prediction that the series would see a re-boot before it saw another sequel.  Since “Terminator” is one of the few major franchises not owned by one of the big studios, the rights will be auctioned off this week.  Its sale price will signal not only the worth of “Terminator” but the value of intellectual property in Hollywood.  Hit the jump to see if its worth more than just scrap metal.

The producing duo behind “Terminator Salvation” aren’t in the best financial situation. In August, Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek filed for Chapter 11. Now, a U.S. Bankruptcy judge has freed up some money that will allow the duo’s company, Halcyon Co. to continue developing future “Terminator” movies during its ongoing lawsuit with its lenders. The Los Angeles judge freed up $2.1 million in tax rebates the company is owed. More on this exhausting legal nightmare after the jump.