Other than a premiere at Century City two days earlier, Tri-Star Pictures released Terminator 2: Judgment Day on 3 July 1991 throughout North America. It was released slowly around the world over the following six months.
I probably like Terminator 2 more than I should. And by that, I mean that I got excited to watch Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. And that was a disappointment! But it didn’t do much worse at the box office. I think that’s really what drives Hollywood. As William Goldman taught us, “Nobody knows anything.” Critics and audiences are chaotic. They might like something good. Or not. Whatever. Nobody knows anything, and all that matters is making a bunch of money.
But I love Terminator 2. And I especially like the extended version. As with The Abyss, most of the cool parts that make me love each film was taken out of the release cut. That results in a more standard telling of the stories. But it doesn’t make much sense. How does cutting 15 minutes matter? The release cut is well over 2 hours long; in for a penny; in for a pound.
I’m not saying that the rest of the franchise sucks. I quite liked Terminator: Dark Fate. But I haven’t seen Terminator Salvation and Terminator Genisys. I don’t see much point. I think Sarah Connor is the only really interesting character. I’m a big fan of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Of course, as is typical, the show was canceled. And it left us with perhaps the most annoying cliff-hanger in TV history.
But Terminator 2: Judgment Day is always good fun. Wouldn’t it be great if we could watch the extended cut for free?! If only we lived in such a world! Oh, I forgot! We have the Internet Archive with a great print!
Other 3 July Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Thomas Narcejac (1908-1998): Author (with Pierre Boileau) of many crime novels used in films like Les Diaboliques and Vertigo.
- George Sanders (1906-1972): Actor known for Village of the Damned and Psychomania.
- Ken Russell (1927-2011): Director known for The Devils, Altered States, and more.
Films
- Back To the Future (1985): Time travel silliness with TV stars.
- Red Sonja (1985): The female Conon.
- Adventures in Babysitting (1987): Babysitter must get kids out of the city and back home.
- Surf Nazis Must Die (1987): Mother of a murdered boy takes on neo-Nazis.
- Die Hard 2 (1990): Die Hard but in an airport. Arguably better than the first.
- Maximum Impact (1992): Regular guy witnesses a murder and must now protect his family.
- Independence Day (1996): Space aliens invade and colorful Americans must stop them.
- Men In Black II (2002): Undoes the ending of the first film and is otherwise the same. It would have been so much better with Linda Fiorentino.
- Mummy Maniac (2007): Serial killer kidnaps women and mummifies them.
- The Amazing Spider-Man (2012): Post-Raimi Spider-Man.
- The Lone Ranger (2013): Fun romp with the classic characters, which people largely hated.
- Midsommar (2019): Swedish folk horror that non-horror fans went crazy for.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day poster image taken from Wikipedia and used under Fair Use.
