Schwarzenegger Says Terminator 5 Will Happen

He said he’d be back. And Arnold Schwarzenegger always keeps his promises (except maybe to his wife, but that’s a story for a gossip blog). He’s back in showbiz alright, and in a major way too. For the next 2 years alone, we’ll be getting 4 Arnie flicks. But what about that much talked-about but perpetually stuck in development hell project known as “Terminator 5″? All we’ve known to date is that independent financier Megan Ellison (a billionaire who has a reputation as a savior of projects that need saving) secured the rights for the next two sequels. And earlier this year, “Fast 5″ director Justin Lin was talking about getting involved. Then, silence.

Until today. CHUD.com scooped a big quote from the Austrian Oak himself, who revealed that not only is T5 a reality, it will be shooting next year for a 2014 release. Schwarzenegger said: “I can’t say too much. They want it held in secret if you know what I mean, but I will say that next year I will start filming it and it’s going to be one of the hardest films I have ever done, I can tell you that already for sure. They have six months set aside just for filming, so I will be training and getting into the best physical shape I possibly can before filming starts. It does follow Salvation although some of the producers and franchise owner were not too happy about the job McG did with it. But they felt it was good enough to continue on and they want the fifth and sixth installments to be the closing of the franchise.”

I’m not sure I like the idea of following on from “Terminator Salvation” as that movie was a missed opportunity. Also, in all honesty Arnie is simply too old to play a cyborg. No matter how well he tones his body up, his face can’t hide his age. They’ll have to do some serious de-aging CGI on him, and even then, look how well a CGI Arnie turned out the last time. Even if they write his weathered looks into the story (say, this particular T800 Series Model 101 sports an older appearance for more realism) it’ll still come off a bit silly. He would be way more credible playing the human subject that the 800 series was physically modeled after. Possibly a scientist or refugee role.

As for Lin, his involvement is unclear at this point, but producer Ellison had previously hinted that they were waiting for the director to be available to helm one or both films. More developments as we get em. Stay tuned…