Exclusive: 3D Arnold Deathmatch in Terminator Genisys

Let’s get ready to rumble!

A source close to the production of Terminator Genisys has been talking about ‘Arnold’ (CGI 1984 Terminator Arnold) Vs’ ‘The Guardian’ (Older Arnold) in Terminator Genisys to TheTerminatorFans.com

We already discussed that the punks may survive this time around in a previous exclusive news story but now we have information on the fight of the decade; T-800 Vs T-800.

We won’t tell you everything we know, but what we can tell you is we will see a definitive T-800 brawl/wrestle at Griffith Observatory that will see the environment used to full effect.

Source close to production of Terminator Genisys told us the following:

“The battle will be better than the T-800 and T-1000 from T2. The ground will break on the wrestling fight.”

The fight will be somewhat akin to an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, the younger bad T-800 won’t have any time to put clothes on when the old T-800 turns up to deal with the problem of the killer cyborg that has been sent back to kill his surrogate daughter.The Aged T-800 (nicknamed by crew as ‘The Guardian’) is the ultimate protector that has been allowed to live in society and to learn (to be a parent), could a Terminator ever learn to love, to become more than just a cybernetic organism? In the trailer Arnold’s Terminator seems to show human traits in his behavior. Just how protective over Sarah Connor could he be in Terminator Genisys and just how self-aware has he become?

We have witnessed early 3D images of the fight which shows 2 bald CG models of the T-800 embraced in a violent physical grip.

The 3D models we saw look great even in the early stages without textures/color/hair and full rendering- it looks great. The rails of Griffith observatory can be seen in a plain backdrop (background/color not added) the 3D images are in a grey generic tone (no color) but display fantastic 3D modelling of both Schwarzenegger characters in a fight to the death.

We can not show you such images but here is a quick abstract interpretation by us to give you an idea of what we have seen. However the battle damage on ‘The Terminator’ was not featured in the original image. The 3D models we saw were perfect 3D of Arnold both young (1984) and his present age.

In this particular sequence the young digitally enhanced T-800 is doing a forward lunge double fist punch and/or crushing the aged T-800’s face with both its knuckles pile-driving into the real Arnold Schwarzenegger’s metal skull, like something out of a wrestling match.

The aged T-800 has its left arm locked under the T-800’s right shoulder as if it is going to make a deadly move on the younger T-800. The sequence or choreography could change in the finished product but what we’ve seen looks good! The moves will be devastating and the battle will probably be one of the most spectacular scenes in the movie especially in the VFX department.

The young T-800 is unclothed as he does this attack on the aged T-800, while the 3D model of the aged T-800 is wearing the clothing in the Trailer scene when he tells ‘The Terminator’ that he has been waiting for him… This is the equivalent of Tanks colliding, the machines are heavy. Battle damage is an obvious issue when Terminators Fight.

Aged Arnold will require gloves after this battle and will sustain other injuries. It will be the first significant stage of battle damage for Arnold’s character and it will be a stage familiar to fans of T2. However with the major time span Arnold’s character will exist in the movie he will eventually heal from this fight to live on another day to help Sarah and Kyle in the future as his hair color will change from brown to grey.

The movie on a whole should put the CGI Arnold in Terminator Salvation to shame and we can obviously expect many other stages of various battle damage in the movies. T2 was notable for having several versions of make-up for Arnold after sustaining injury in the movie’s major action sequences.

Our source close to the production stated that Skydance are unhappy with some of the shots filmed for the fight and that instead of doing re-shoots with Schwarzenegger; they will instead also create a CGI digital older version of Schwarzenegger for the fight.

It is also possible in having most violence done with full CGI characters may allow them to stay in the parameters of producing a PG-13 movie but to the limits of the rating an example would be The Dark Knight in which the joker brandishes knives and impales people on pencils with sheer suggestion and camera trickery,- or could the movie studio be making the film more ‘hardcore’ due to fan backlash across the internet?

Sometimes in movies a body-double is also used and they will digitally map an actor’s face over them, this is also the case for Genisys but at some points of the fight both T-800s will be FULLY 3D.

Apparently the studio (Skydance Productions) are comfortable with digitally recreating the older Arnold for necessary segments of the fight and they aim to make the fight “more brutal” than possibly originally planned. Obviously footage of the real Arnold will still exist in the fight. So for some shots of the T-800 battle frenzy both cyborgs will be full CGI if these images are anything to go by or perhaps interlaced with other footage.

Anything that makes Terminator Genisys more “brutal” or darker sounds good to us.

Also in doing the scenes as CGI they will obviously not have to get Arnold back for re-shoots which can be costly business. Instead the money will go into 3D shots which will enhance the fight itself. Although Schwarzenegger may have to be available for facial scanning if it already hasn’t been done. The 3D scanning of the 1984 Arnold will be based on the casts taken of Arnold at Stan Winston’s studio back when the first movie was made. These models will be extremely accurate.

Terminator Genisys will also be released in 3D at theaters, so perhaps expect an Arnold or 2 to get thrown into your face at points in the fight.

Skydance have made a hell of a task for themselves in terms of visual effects. Terminator Salvation’s digital cameo of Schwarzenegger is nothing compared to what Terminator Genisys is attempting to do. If Skydance pull this off in the right way without too many unnecessary callbacks to the series (and the correct edits). I do believe Genisys could be better than people anticipate and I really hope it exceeds audience expectation.

Even though we are finding out much more about Terminator Genisys we want the movie to keep remaining a mystery for you…

The ultimate question is of course; if Sarah Connor and aged (Guardian) Schwarzenegger have “dealt” with ‘The Terminator’ who will win in the one and one deathmatch? And, what happens to ‘The Terminator’,- will he be back in the movie/or a sequel or will he be Terminated for good?

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