'Terminator' Box Office: Franchise May Lose $120 Million With 'Dark Fate'

The "Terminator" franchise may soon reach a dark fate. The arrival of the latest installment "Terminator: Dark Fate" failed to perform at the box office this weekend after debuting with a dismal $29 million in the US. It still managed to reach number one but it still leaves a huge question in the franchise’s future.

Not even the foreign box office fared well after only getting $94.6 overseas during the weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film only took in a worldwide total of $123.6 million after tallying it with the foreign box office numbers. Despite the return of director James Cameron as a producer along with original stars Linda Hamilton, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, it still wasn’t enough to draw an audience to see the newest film in the long-running franchise.

The film is already predicted to lose more than $120 million for distributors Skydance, 20th Century Fox and Paramount. Originally, the film was predicted to bring in between $30-$40 million domestically. The underperformance certainly raises the question of whether or not the franchise has run its course after the lukewarm responses from the last three "Terminator" films. The film's audience was 58 percent male while 78 percent was between the ages of 18-44.

"Dark Fate" was marketed as a direct sequel to the 1991 sci-fi flick "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" while ignoring the rest of the films that came after it to give the franchise a fresh start. The R-rated movie brought in a new vision with "Deadpool" director Tim Miller behind the camera. The film cost a heavy $185 million to produce before marketing.

This was Skydance’s second attempt at reviving the franchise after the failure of 2015’s "Terminator: Genisys." The studio was hoping to rack in more money by bringing back James Cameron as a producer as well as Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. The new film also brought in some new talent, including Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes and Gabriel Luna, to bring in audiences who weren’t familiar with the franchise. There were already plans for a new trilogy to complete the story that began with the 1984 original film, but it is no longer clear if the arc will be completed.