The Terminator is a well established franchise but it is being beaten by an unheard of manga adaptation called Alita: Battle Angel proving that people crave originality.

Terminator: Dark Fate is not a bad movie, as a matter of fact it is being praised as the best Terminator movie since T2, but unfortunately it is bombing at the box office. What does that tell us about the current state of the film industry?

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Perhaps it is that people are craving original content. To many it seems as though Hollywood has lost its creative edge and instead relies on rebooting classic film series, and even characters; as is so clear with this list of movies they plan on rebooting in the coming years.

Alita box office numbers beat Terminator: Dark Fate

Some of our favourite characters are even receiving complete gender and racial make overs to appease the demand for diversity in modern films; the red-headed Scandinavian mermaid we know as Ariel is now a dread-locked African beauty. The new Captain America is rumoured to be a battle harden butch lesbian, so on and so forth. But Terminator: Dark Fate remained, somewhat, faithful to its source material so why is it bombing?

Fans are ready for fresh content and Alita: Battle Angel is a perfect example of that. Not only did it outperform Terminator at the box office but was exceedingly successful in home media sales despite its lacklustre advertising campaign. It has also inspired the creation of one of the most passionate and wonderful fan communities in existence known as #AlitaArmy.

Terminator: Dark Fate’s numbers after a week are abysmal for such an established franchise earning only USD$160 mill. The entire budget of the film was almost 200 million, same as Alita: Battle Angel which earned close to USD$500 mill worldwide after its four week run; that may not seem impressive but it truly is when you consider that it’s a film adaptation of a 30 year old manga… Ghost in the Shell starring Scarlett Johansson didn’t come close to those figures.

Alita box office numbers may appear better but Terminator: Dark Fate is another masterfully done film by James Cameron. There is a possibility that in the not so distant future we may see Alita fight the Terminator, but for that to happen I think they’d want more people to go see the new Terminator flick.