Reduced from the original idea of two cyborgs into one (the idea would inform Terminator 2: Judgment Day), The terminator was made for approximately $6.4 million and grossed $78 million worldwide, including $38 million domestically, earning it sleeper hit status.
“But to give you an idea, the same year [Karate Kid] made $90 million, so it was a success, but it wasn’t a huge, huge success,” Michael Biehnwho played future soldier Kyle Reese, told Ain’t It Cool News in 2011. “It came out in 1984, that’s when most people started getting their VHS players and I think that’s really where this movie took off. Everybody saw it on VHS.”
Biehn also worked with Cameron on Extraterrestrials And The abyss.
Hamilton, who found Cameron for T2and briefly joined him in holy matrimony, probably couldn’t imagine that she and her biceps would show up for work 35 years after the original’s 2019 release. Terminator: Dark Fate.
“I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll always be Linda ‘The Terminator’ Hamilton,” she told MTV News in 2009. “I go out into the world and people just scream, ‘I love you!’ This is a great job description. It’s wonderful to have made something that will live longer than me.”
And the rest is science fiction history. Here are some epic secrets about making The Terminator:
