Getting a jump on a season that's chock full of franchise fare, including continuations of The Avengers and Jurassic Park, Paramount Pictures recently showcased a few minutes of action-packed footage from Terminator: Genisys.
Key cast members, including Schwarzenegger, were also made available - all to help generate early buzz for what the studio hopes will be a bona fide summer blockbuster.
Paramount is on a major push to restore its once robust production prowess. Although its franchises, including Transformers and Mission: Impossible, are successful, the studio has lagged behind its Hollywood counterparts in recent years.
Seated on a massive couch next to his three new co-stars, Schwarzenegger seemed glad to be back. "I watched all the movies again to really get up to speed with the character," he said.
The film opens in a familiar spot - 2029, when the war against the all-powerful artificial intelligence system Skynet is raging. Resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) once again sends soldier Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to save his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), from being killed by a Terminator.
But this time, things are different. Sarah has her own protector: An aged Terminator who has raised her since childhood.
"We're really harking back to James Cameron's original characters that were in one and two and we're taking it from there," said Emilia Clarke, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in the hit TV series Game of Thrones.
The footage - basically a trailer on steroids - takes what fans have already seen in the first trailer, which debuted in December, and gives everything a bit more context, like what happens when Kyle pops up in 1984 and why that school bus starts cartwheeling on the Golden Gate Bridge, in addition to one massive secret.
The project is an intensely hush-hush endeavour, but director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) has said many times that, at its heart, the film is about man's relationship to technology in the modern age. In 2015, that idea has evolved from when James Cameron first introduced us to the T-800 31 years ago.
"In '84, this was total science fiction - when machines take over. And now, we're there," said Schwarzenegger. "That's the wild thing about it. When we did this movie, it was kind of almost reality, unlike in 1984 where we thought, 'oh well wouldn't this be a funny world'. Things have changed."
While there are many Terminator die-hards out there waiting, as Courtney says, "to criticise this thing," when it finally hits theatres on July 1, the Australian actor believes they'll be pleasantly surprised.
"The beauty of what we've done is not only stayed loyal to the original source material but opened it up to a whole new generation," said Courtney. "I think we'll succeed in bringing them in."
Movie preview
What: Terminator: Genisys.
When: Opens in New Zealand on July 1.
- AAP
