Halcyon, a privately funded company, has bought the rights to the Terminator franchise from Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar, with plans to produce a fourth film, Variety reported. The first three Terminator films all featured Arnold Schwarzenegger; it's unlikely the current governor of California would be involved in the fourth film.
Terminator 4 would be based on a script by writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who penned Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The script, which has been kept under tight wraps, picks up with John Connor in his 30s, leading what's left of the human race against the machines. It is being seen as the start of a new trilogy and an attempt to reinvent the franchise with new cast and plotlines, a la Batman Begins and Casino Royale.
Moritz Borman, the former CEO of Intermedia Films and executive producer of T3, will produce. Kubicek and Anderson will co-produce, and former PolyGram Films marketing president Peter D. Graves will be executive producer and oversee marketing of the picture.
Halcyon was created by entrepreneurs Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson. It acquired the right to produce Terminator films, future merchandising and licensing ventures.
No director or cast has yet been secured for Terminator 4, which is being earmarked for a summer 2009 release.
Meanwhile, the trade paper reported that the Fox broadcast network is said to be impressed with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a Warner Brothers TV-produced hourlong drama pilot based on the Terminator characters and mythology. It could be ordered to series as early as this week.
