Terminator: Dark Fate is on pace to lose $120 million, putting the future of the franchise in limbo.
When all was said and done, Dark Fate earned only $29 million at the domestic box office — falling significantly short of early projections, which estimated the film would earn anywhere from $35 million to $45 million stateside. The film managed to exceed yesterday’s new projection of $27.1 million, but only just.
Added to the takes from other territories, including a similarly disappointing debut in the increasingly important Chinese market and countries where it was released last week, the film’s current box office tally stands at $123.6 million, which doesn’t even match the film’s budget, estimated as somewhere between $185 and $196 million. To simply break even, it’s estimated the film needs to pull in a further $357 million, which after such a lackluster opening, seems highly unlikely, and as a result production company Skydance reportedly has no plans to follow up the film. Right now, Dark Fate is on track to lose $120 million.
Even though the film has been met with positive feedback, Dark Fate‘s $29 million domestic launch is on par with that of the critically-panned 2015 film Terminator: Genisys, which pulled in $27 million during its opening weekend in the States. Meanwhile, 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and 2009’s Terminator Salvation — the other two Terminator films released this side of the millennium — both earned over $40 million domestically during their own respective opening weekends.
Directed by Tim Miller and produced by James Cameron, Terminator: Dark Fate stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna, Natalia Reyes and Diego Boneta. The film is in theaters now.
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