Arnold Schwarzenegger was certainly not kidding when he said “I’ll be back.” In honor of the iconic sequel’s 35th anniversary, T-800 will return to the big screen in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The movie has received plenty of love from fans and critics, winning four Oscars and boasting a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90%. The audience score is even better at 95%.
The sequel to the 1984 Terminator, Judgment Day is the highest-grossing movie in the franchise. Judgment Day is more than just an action film—coming out in 1991, it was a reflection of the fears of the time, with more and more advanced tech looming on the horizon. It takes the public’s fascination with robots, explored in other 1980s movies like Blade Runner and Tron, and introduces a fear of being overtaken by our own creations.
Now, more than ever, the same fear is valid. In a world where people willingly give up their power and ability to think for themselves to AI, a movie like this is sorely needed.
“I believe it’s safe to do spoilers after 35 years, so SPOILER ALERT: the good guys win against the AI superintelligence!” said director James Cameron. “And maybe that’s a message of hope we all could use this summer.”
Judgment Day was hardly the end of the franchise, with four more movies coming out after its release. The most recent movie, Dark Fate, was actually a direct sequel to Judgment Day. Now, Cameron is working on yet another installment to the franchise. In an interview with io9, he said he believes the topic still very relevant.
“Science fiction has caught up and is actually overwhelming us at this point. We’re living in a science fiction world, and we’re literally having to deal with problems that in the past only existed in science fiction books and movies. Now we’re living it for real.”
If we can’t have the new one now, we’ll settle for watching the franchise’s highest-rated movie on the big screen. Terminator 2: Judgment Day will return to theaters starting on August 28 until early September, in honor of the movie’s “judgment day” date (Aug. 29).