Thank you, China! Or maybe not. Terminator Genisys topped the foreign box office in a pretty quiet weekend for the movie business. The fifth installment in the future/present day cyborg series didn’t make a huge dent in the US but has led overseas charts for three weeks thanks to a big lift from Chinese crowds. It racked up a leading $11.5 million, pushing its worldwide total to $435 million. The overwhelming majority of its weekend gross came from China, where the picture has made $108.8 million. It is now the second highest-grossing Terminator film when not adjusted for inflation.

Forbes magazine wrote an article and made sure to mention that Genisys has outgrossed the similarly budgeted Mad Max: Fury Road. While true, it should be pointed out that the Chinese government hasn’t permitted Mad Max: Fury Road to play there yet.

Fury Road was very well received both critically and commercially, having strong domestic numbers in the form of a $45 million debut and a $152 million finish. Compare that to Terminator Genisys, which pulled in a $44 million Wednesday to Sunday debut, including a $29 million Friday to Sunday weekend, which went on to fall flat with US audiences and end with $89 million domestically. Both films were budgeted in the $150 million range.

There’s two things to consider to this story. The first being the growing strength of the foreign market. For years we’ve seen movies perform OK stateside but really find an audience around the world. Mad Max: Fury Road has earned $221 million overseas for a $374 million worldwide haul. As of ten days ago, Terminator Genisys had earned $235 million overseas, which gave the film a $324 million worldwide total.

Many people were proclaiming the Terminator franchise dead and buried after the US numbers were looking dismal but based on the impressive China numbers, it’s a good bet we’ll see more of the apocalyptic future series. Which brings me to the second point.

Will we be seeing studios tailoring movies for foreign audiences? I’ve read that some films film additional scenes that are added onto the movie when they play in certain regions. That’s just good business. It’s been written that the Chinese are fans of certain actors, supporting whatever movie they appear in. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of those actors on the beloved list. It doesn’t take a rocket science to see where the future Terminator movies will be going: Arnold front and center of the action.

It does take stress off of the studio, knowing that a less than decent opening here doesn’t mean it’s over for a movie’s future but opens up lots of discussion points.

Will Hollywood start a slippery slope in influencing movies more and more for a more universal appeal? Instead of an added scene or two, will scripts be overhauled to maximize box office dollar? What if Terminator Genisys bombed here but performed spectacularly overseas? Would they get a sequel while US audiences got nothing? While it might seem unlikely, you never know when it comes to Hollywood and box office dollars.