Best Terminator Movie Was Franchise's Biggest Box Office Flop

Summary:

• The Terminator, the most iconic and incomparable installment of the entire franchise, made the least money with only $78 million, while Terminator Genisys made $432 million.
• The Orion company did not believe in the film and did not want to promote it, canceling almost all test screenings, and Hollywood agents had to fight for the film.
• In spite of the difficult start, The Terminator managed to become a cult favorite and has been and still is quoted in a number of other projects.

On a cold October night in 1984, the Terminator arrived in Los Angeles – and changed the fate of mankind forever. The low-budget action movie about a cyborg killer from the future became the standard for the genre and took the world by storm.

In the 80s, James Cameron was hired, fired, and then rehired to direct the trash horror movie Piranha II: The Spawning. Filming went awry, the producer took control of the editing, and then Cameron fell ill. In his feverish visions, he saw a merciless metal skeleton coming towards him from the fire.

Thus, according to legend, the first Terminator was born, and its greatness would not be surpassed by the future sequels and prequels of this franchise.

The cult status of The Terminator is undeniably accepted by perhaps all movie buffs in the world, while some spin-offs have been considered outright failures.

The Terminator Had the Lowest Gross of the Entire Franchise

And the greatest injustice of Hollywood is that The Terminator earned the least amount of all installments – only $78 million, while Terminator Genisys (which has a rating of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes) enjoyed a massive box office success of $432 million.

Contrary to popular belief, The Terminator was not an overnight success. It spent two weeks at the top of the box office and eventually grossed nearly $40 million in the US – a good result for a budget of only $6.4 million.

But for comparison, Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, released the same year, made four to five times more.

Orion Didn’t Want to Promote The Terminator

The Orion company did not believe in the success of The Terminator, did not promote it in cinemas and, fearing devastating reviews, canceled almost all press screenings.

Hollywood agents had to fight for the film – the manager of Michael Biehn, who played the role of Kyle Reese, told all his friends about The Terminator and threatened to break off cooperation with Orion if they did not take the distribution of the film seriously.

The Terminator Still Managed to Become a Cult Movie

Meanwhile, the cyborg slowly became a cult figure. The Terminator continued to be shown around the world, and its VHS release became a bestseller in 1985. The movie found new life on TV.

Over the next few years, every self-respecting movie character had to say "I'll be back" – from Rambo to Arnold Schwarzenegger's own character in The Running Man.