‘Terminator 4′ Gunning for PG-13

Published by Jeff Leins on May 5, 2008

According to Variety, the Halcyon Company aims to deliver a PG-13 rated Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (T4) to Warner Bros.

This comes after Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) switched from being traditionally rated R to PG-13 for a wider audience. It became the most successful movie of the series with $382 million worldwide.

Halcyon and WB are hoping to do the same with the fourth Terminator, which so far has banked just over $1 billion (pinky to the mouth) with an R-rating.

The movie is scheduled for release on May 22, 2009. As far as I know it hasn’t started filming.

On board are Christian Bale as John Connor, Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, Sam Worthington as Marcus, and Moon Bloodgood as a freedom fighter. Rumored for the Terminator role is Josh Brolin.

As Puff Daddy said, “It’s all about the Benjamins.” The money. These companies don’t care about preserving the series for fans, they want to bring in new blood and keep as much of the original audience as before. If they really cared about the mythology or the Terminator fans they wouldn’t have decided to make a fourth movie or put out an awful TV series.

It’s about selling toys too. With a PG-13 rating, they can pump out action figures, video games, and other “merch” to the target audience for that kind of junk. Because who doesn’t want an action figure of the guy who played Batman fighting the guy who was in No Country for Old Men?

You know what, I don’t blame them. As much as I would love to see the Terminator sever the head of a helpless gentleman, it makes sense to appeal to a bigger audience, especially for a movie people are skeptical about to begin with. Did Die Hard 4 lose anything going to PG-13? Not really. So he didn’t say mother f*cker. Who cares?