,em>Terminator 4 Also Joins the May 2009 Release Day Club
So with the announcement about Paramount switching Star Trek to a May 2009 release along with the Fox network’s X-men Origins: Wolverine slated to release in May as well, the new Terminator movie has joined the the club.
Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is set to be the first of what is a new Terminator trilogy set in the future that the previous movies desperately tried to stop. Christian Bale will star as John Conner and the film will be directed by action movie veteran McG.
Warner Bros. will open on May 22, 2009, the start of Memorial Day weekend.
That puts two tentpoles on the same date, even though the release calendar for summer 2009 is still relatively open it seems that May is a big draw for early gross opportunity. X-men will begin the summer blockbuster schedule, followed by Star Trek a week later and now Terminator.
I wonder what good summer movies will be left for June and July?
Variety reports that Twentieth Century Fox had already staked out May 22 for the bow of the Ben Stiller sequel Night at the Museum II: Escape From the Smithsonian. First film grossed $250.9 million domestically.
Warner will distribute the pic in North America through a deal with Halcyon Co., which owns all franchise rights to the “Terminator” series.
“T4″ begins lensing in New Mexico for two months on May 5. The state has become a favorite locale for producers because of its production tax incentives.
Source: Variety
It is going to be interesting which movies will win the month of may gross war. X-men has historically done well in the summer but so has Star Trek. Terminator is on the outside looking in but you could say Star Trek is too because of their recent history. However, Terminator is in a unique position due to the fact that the Sarah Conner Chronicles is renewing interest there. My bet is on X-men right now because they are still riding the coat tales of the previous 3 films and Wolverine was good direction to go for a spin-off/origin film. Star Trek may suprise me but I think they had a better opportunity with a Christmas release especially since Oscar movies aren’t a big draw during that time like they were a few years ago. Terminator is in the best shape right now because they do not have to directly compete with any of those films because Star Trek will have been out for 2 weeks and Wolverine 3 or 4 weeks so they are in a unique spot to make some good summer cash in the states. It will certainly be interesting to have 3 films in the same month with very large fanboy communities.
