I struggle to think of any film with more versions than Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Since the 1991 theatrical release, we’ve seen – *deep breath* – the Special Edition Director’s Cut, The Ultimate Cut and the T-1000 Edition Cut. Now, you can add one more to that list, with a 3D remaster of the film due in cinemas on August 25th.
James Cameron is obviously no stranger to using 3D, having kickstarted the trend with Avatar. Back in 2014, he was asked whether a 3D conversion of his Terminator films was on the cards. His response was a ‘no’ on The Terminator (“You could upgrade it to 3D, but it’s pretty gritty low budget filmmaking. We’d spend more converting it to 3D than we spent on the movie,” he said) but a ‘maybe’ on Terminator 2, explaining his reasoning as such:
Terminator 2 is a more polished film and, I think, it has a kind of timeless appeal. If there was someone who was interested in doing that, and we could make a good case for the business model like, perhaps let’s say, it’s never been on screens in China which in the next few years is about to become the biggest market for films worldwide. That alone might justify the cost of a conversion which might be 6 or 7 million dollars. And then a 3D re-release might attract some eyeballs in North American and Europe and then the Chinese release, which would be the first release on the big screen, might pay for it.
This re-release misses last year’s 25th-anniversary celebrations, but is welcome nonetheless. At the very least, it should remind us what a good Terminator film looks like, after the rubbish Terminator: Salvation and Terminator Genisys failed to capture some of the slick, high-octane action that made Terminator 2 an all-time action classic.
Of course, true Terminator fans (or Termies, as they like to be called) will know that this won’t be the first time the Terminator 2 cast will be seen in 3D. That honor belongs to T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, an attraction for many years at Universal Studios Hollywood. The film/ride starred Schwarzenegger as the T-800 as well as bringing back Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong and Robert Patrick. I only saw it as a child, but it was great – and the only place you’ll ever see the T-1000000, a ludicrous liquid metal giant monster.
Sadly, it’s now been replaced by the depressingly crap sounding Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem – so if you missed out, tough luck.
