Last week we learned that an investment advisor called Pacificor had won the Terminator rights at auction, beating the likes of Lionsgate and Sony. This means that we can expect more Terminator movies in the future, as Pacificor will no doubt want to get their money’s worth out of them.

The auction was followed by buzz that William Wisher, writer of the first and second Terminator movies (the good ones) has written a treatment for Terminator 5 and 6. This would be cool if something became of it; however it’s still early days yet. Even if the original writer returns to the franchise, James Cameron made it quite clear to MTV that he wouldn’t be.

Where do you want the Terminator franchise to go from here? Should it die? Do you want a reboot, or did Terminator Salvation leave you wanting a Terminator 5?

We’ve been following the plight of the Terminator rights since it was announced they would be going to auction last November. According to Deadline Hollywood the rights were sold today during a bidding war that lasted 5 hours. Both Sony (who distributed Terminator Salvation) and Lionsgate were interested in the rights, with the latter hoping to make “a complete re-boot, back to basics, with real emotional stories, and effects that will be secondary.”

Unfortunately for both studios they were outbid…by an investment advisor.

Halcyon Holding Corp accepted the $29.5 million bid from, of all parties, the debtholder which pushed it into bankruptcy, Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. (This is the same Pacificor whom Halcyon accused in a lawsuit of extortion, bribery, and fraud and demanded $30M in damages.)

Tonight, Sony and Lionsgate dropped out at just under $29.5 million when it became clear that Pacificor “was willing to pay almost any amount of money for Terminator,” an insider tells me. Halcyon will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie made from now on, as well as retains the rich revenue streams from the movies Terminator 3 and 4.

Ideally James Cameron would have turned up to the auction by private jet, outbid everyone for the franchise he created, and put the rights in a safe for 10 years so nobody could expolit them. Alas, some company looking to make a quick buck will be in charge of the franchise, so we can expect either a reboot or Terminator 5 over the next few years.

Update: According to the L.A Times Sony and Lionsgate are jointly in talks with Pacificor to “take control of the property”. Pacificor has no experience making movies whatsoever, so they will need to work with studios if they are to put the rights into good use.

Back in September we heard that Halcyon were interested in selling the rights to the Terminator franchise as they were trying to work their way out of bankruptcy. Now according to the Financial Times an auction for the rights will take place later this month.

Several financial buyers have expressed interest, including Platinum Equity, the Beverly Hills firm that owns Delphi, the auto parts maker .

All the big film studios have also registered interest in the rights, with Sony Pictures a leading contender, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Summit Entertainment, the company behind the Twilight series, is tracking the sale, as is Media Rights Capital, which produced Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno.

It will be interesting to see who wins the rights, and then to see what they do with them. Will they move forward with a sequel to Terminator Salvation, or will they wait a few years and make their own reboot?

Back in 2007 producers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek bought the rights to the Terminator franchise for $25 million. This was a bit of surprise because they hadn’t really done anything, apart from a movie called Cook-Off! which they starred in themselves. They then made Terminator Salvation which wasn’t a bad movie, although it could have been better. It wasn’t really a flop as it made $370+ million worldwide, although it should have made more than $125 million in the US.

Now according to the L.A Times the Terminator rights will be trading hands once again.

Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, who acquired the science-fiction franchise in 2007 for $25 million and produced this year’s sequel “Terminator Salvation,” are now looking to sell them partially or outright as several companies owned by the duo work their way through bankruptcy.

Anderson and Kubicek’s Halcyon Holding Group has engaged financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors, pending bankruptcy court approval, to “evaluate strategic alternatives,” according to a statement. Since Halcyon’s only valuable asset is the Terminator rights, any deal would involve an investment in, or outright sale, of them.

A Halcyon spokesperson said that the company will pay back all of its debts in full following a Terminator transaction.

A few months ago director McG was talking about setting Terminator 5 in a pre-Judgment Day 2011, but I doubt there will be another further developments until the rights are sorted out.

Terminator Salvation will be released later this month by Warner Bros in the US and Sony overseas, however some studio drama may occur regarding who will finance and distribute Terminator 5, which is currently in development.

From Variety:

MGM has a 30-day right of first refusal to finance and distribute the fifth “Terminator” film, a right earned through the settlement of a lawsuit between the studio and Halcyon partners Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson. According to sources, MGM has every intention of making a serious play for the franchise, potentially trumping Warner Bros., which is distributing “Terminator Salvation” in domestic territories, and Sony, which is releasing the film overseas.

The distribution drama promises to be a real cliffhanger that will begin once Halcyon delivers its demands to MGM along with a first draft of the screenplay for the fifth “Terminator.”

“Salvation” was a much riskier prospect then than the fifth “Terminator” is now. At the time, MGM made its decision knowing only that franchise linchpin Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t returning, and the studio had only an early script by “Terminator 3″ scribes John Brancato and Michael Ferris they developed with “T3″ helmer Jonathan Mostow. That script has changed significantly, with uncredited work done by Jonah Nolan, Paul Haggis, Shawn Ryan and Anthony Zuiker. Though Halcyon hasn’t yet set a writer for the fifth film, the prospects are strong because McG is returning as director, and Christian Bale will reprise as John Connor.

The MGM-Halcyon drama may not play out until a year from now, when Kubicek and Anderson get an early script, but the stakes may well be supremacy for summer 2011 or 2012.

As long as a movie is good I don’t really care which studio is behind it, however you have to feel a bit sorry for Warner Bros (even if they do earn billions). First they had the Watchmen/Fox legal battle and now they could lose a potential franchise they set up.

Terminator Salvation takes place in 2018 where Skynet and the machines are running the show. John Connor (Christian Bale) is leading the human resistance who are trying to stay alive and take down Skynet. However, for the sequel McG has suggested that we may see John Connor battling machines in a modern day 2011.

From Film Journal:

“I strongly suspect the next movie is going to take place in a [pre-Judgment Day] 2011,” McG reveals. “John Connor is going to travel back in time and he’s going to have to galvanize the militaries of the world for an impending Skynet invasion. They’ve figured out time travel to the degree where they can send more than one naked entity. So you’re going to have hunter killers and transports and harvesters and everything arriving in our time and Connor fighting back with conventional military warfare, which I think is going to be fucking awesome.

I also think he’s going to meet a scientist that’s going to look a lot like present-day Robert Patrick [who famously played the T-1000 in Terminator 2], talking about stem-cell research and how we can all live as idealized, younger versions of ourselves.”

McG has said in the past that he has a outline for the new trilogy, so this will no doubt be part of the master plan. I wonder where the third film will take place? When you introduce time travel anything is possible. Skynet vs. the dinosaurs anyone?

The whole plan from the beginning was to reboot the Terminator franchise and spawn a few sequels. If Terminator Salvation brings in the money next month (which it probably will) then that will happen, and Terminator Salvation director McG already has those sequels planned out.

From MTV:

“If we have good fortune we have indeed planned out two more ‘Terminator’ pictures,” explained the director, keeping his fingers crossed that “Salvation” opens strongly on May 21st. “There’s an arc of story [in the new sequels].”

This arc will be left open with the ending of “Salvation,” which will point to a “Terminator 5” film. “The ending is indeed elliptical,” McG told us. ‘And it challenges the audience. It’s not a happy little bow of an ending at all. The ending is tough and requires reflection, and in some degrees it bifurcates the audience. You walk back to the car and one person thinks it means this, and the other person thinks it means that.”

As fans know, McG recently signed on to a film version of the Broadway hit “Spring Awakening,” and is also working on an update of another sci-fi classic.

“I’m working on ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ out of Disney,” he said of the update of the Jules Verne tale. “I’m prepping that.”

But if “Salvation” is a big enough hit, those other movies might have to wait until McG and Christian Bale reunite for the fifth “Terminator” flick.

“I would never presume there would be another picture – that is up to the audience,” he explained. “But if the audience jumps up and likes it and wants another one, Christian and I have been talking about it and we’ll see what happens.”

“You have to see how the film is received,” McG added. “And that’s in the hands of the fans.”

Terminator Salvation director McG (although until the film is released and enjoyed he will simply be known as the ‘Charlie’s Angels guy’) has decided to accept the $8 million pay check and will direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo. As Disney are behind the film it will be family orientated, and it is apparently being fast tracked so filming can start this year.

From Variety:

Scripted by Bill Marsilli, the film is an origin story of Nemo as he creates his warship, the Nautilus. The characters come from the Jules Verne novel.

The 1954 original “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” was the first live-action film made by Walt Disney, who famously bet his studio on a movie best remembered for the giant squid scene. It became the second-highest grossing film that year and won three Oscars. The film has also been the basis for various rides at the Disney theme park over the years.

McG recently announced that he would be working on Terminator 5 which Halcyon hopes to have ready for release in Summer 2011, which means that the film would have to go into production by April 2010. This should give McG more than enough time to make Nemo in between (if all goes according to plan).

While taking a break from working on Terminator Salvation, director McG took a plane to Dubai to attend the Dubai International Film Festival, where he announced that he will be developing a sequel to Terminator Salvation.

From Variety:

Halcyon Co. toppers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek are developing a fifth instalment of the man-vs.-machine franchise.

Helmer McG, who directed the upcoming fourth pic, “Terminator Salvation,” is working with the Halcyon duo on the latest project.

No decision has been made as to where to film the next “Terminator,” although the Middle East was mentioned as a locale.

The duo had originally planned to wait until the release of “Terminator Salvation” next summer before deciding on whether to proceed with the next chapter, but the positive studio, fan and media reaction to footage from the current pic has encouraged them to move forward ahead of schedule.

Christian Bale has signed on in the role of John Connor for all three films, and the next installment, after Terminator Salvation, is tentatively scheduled for a 2011 release.