Investment is wasted! Terminator 6: Dark Fate may lose $100 million

As the latest film in the classic sci-fi series, Terminator: Dark Fate, although it claims to be a direct successor to Terminator 2, leaving aside the three sequels that were criticized in the series, and also invited back the Governor and Kang's mother to star, the film's box office performance is still dismal. For Paramount, Skydance and Disney, Terminator: Dark Fate is almost destined to be a huge failure.

Dark Fate opened at $29 million in North America and $102 million overseas, disappointing numbers for a film that cost $185 million to make. Add in $80 million to $100 million in global marketing expenses, and unless Terminator 6 can have an unusually large impact in the next few weeks, Varity predicts that the film may end up losing up to $100 million. After the film is released, Terminator: Dark Fate should be able to recoup some of its losses through TV, streaming licensing deals and home rental licensing.

Paramount, Skydance and Disney's 20th Century Fox co-financed the film, with the three studios each providing 30% of the budget, with Tencent providing the rest. Box office experts say Terminator: Dark Fate needs around $450 million to break even, but they expect it to gross $180 million to $200 million worldwide, which is less than satisfactory.

“They made a mistake by greenlighting this movie with such a high budget,” said Eric Handler, media analyst at MKM Partners. “They clearly hoped the movie would still resonate overseas (China, for example, was considered a key market, but it only took in $28 million), but that was not the case.”

"This is an old film, the actors are old, and the reviews are very mediocre. Although the acting skills of this cast are still online in the film, they are not as attractive now."

Terminator: Dark Fate is another failure for Paramount and Skydance this fall following Gemini Man, which faces a loss of up to $75 million.