It took a lot maneuvering to get the Terminator franchise moving again, but they got it going and they pulling in a great director with Justin Lin. Now it seems like their desire to get the movie made quickly means that Lin has to leave the project.
The current production schedule has the movie set to start production in the 4th Quarter of 2012. Unfortunately, that conflicts with Lin’s gig as the director of the 6th Fast and Furious movie.
Lin has already said that if they can delay the filming, he’ll still be happy to do it. However, there is an issue with the rights agreement that landed the property in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lap. Based on how copyright law is written, character rights revert back to the creator after 35 years. That means that the North American rights for Terminator would revert back to James Cameron in 2018, so Schwarzenegger has to work quickly if he wants to make back the 29.5 million dollars that he put into getting the rights.