Justin Lin's “Terminator 5” in Jeopardy

The fatigued indifference we once felt about a "Terminator 5" was replaced with unbridled, childlike glee when we heard the news that Justin Lin would be directing the film. But now that glee has wilted to sadness at word that Lin may have to back out.

Megan Ellison, everyone's favorite fundie filmmaker, wants the first of two Terminator films to go into production by the end of 2012, which would force Lin to recuse himself in deference to "Fast Six," reported Deadline.

Ellison bought the rights to the Terminator franchise for $29.5 million, and is feeling pressed for time by the fact that they revert back to James Cameron in 2018, per copyright laws. Cameron has previous said he's done with the franchise, as "the soup's already been pissed in," but apparently the returning Arnold Schwarzenegger has got him all in a lather about the project again.

Fortunately, Lin is still eager to make the film if Ellison can just wait, and frankly, if she doesn't even have a script yet, she can't be in that big a hurry. Furthermore, it would justy make sense to shoot "T5" and "T6" at the same time, so why not wait until 2013 to start production?

We've said it before, we'll say it again: When you consider what he had to work with, Justin Lin's "Fast Five" was an eye-popping triumph. We would love to see what he could do for Teh Terminator.

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