James Cameron is remastering The Terminator for the film's 40th anniversary, so why is social media already upset over the result?

The 1984 film that launched a million terrible Arnold impersonations, The Terminator, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this October, and director James Cameron hopes that his plan to release it in 4K UHD will give it a youthful glow. As he has done previously with his action blockbusters (The Abyss, Aliens, and True Lies), Cameron believes taking these big technical swings will pay off in the long run. However, fan reactions have been mixed, with many arguing that the move causes a rift.

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According to recent interviews, Cameron’s decision to up it to 4K UHD on film appears to be twofold. The first is not solely relying on digital versions because, well, technology happens. Digital copies get corrupted, degraded, mismanaged, or just lost, so having physical and digital masters can ensure the longevity of the film for fans to pass on from generation to generation.

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Believe it or not, Reddit had some thoughts on how it’s a big miss in previous Cameron 4K attempts. Redditor NYC_Goody writes, “He’s literally using an ai upscaller on top of the dnr to create fake details that aren’t even there. A disc isn’t just gonna make that disappear.” Fellow subreddit contributor pkersey6996 adds, “Aliens looks hideous. I could not get over how horrible it looked on the iTunes file compared to the 30th anniversary Blu-ray.

The Terminator may be looking to the future by scaling up to the 4K UHD this October, but Cameron has quite a few minds of longtime fans to change if he expects them to go along with him and Arnold “if they want to live” in the hearts of fans

  • Dr. WeskerEnglish
    7•2 months ago

    I watched this on LaserDisc recently. There’s no need for an upscale, we already have perfection.

  • UKFilmNerdMEnglish
    6•2 months ago

    This was one of the first films I bought when I got my PS3 and started grabbing Blu-rays left right and centre. I bought this edition, which was released in 2006 and is old enough that it uses MPEG2 encoding.

    Just a few weeks ago, I purchased cheaply this 2015 edition with a much better transfer using an AVC encoding on a BD50, twice the size of the original disc.

    I don’t see the need to upgrade to a 4K edition. I’m just contemplating whether to complete my James Cameron collection by purchasing the Spanish bootleg of True Lies.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPMAEnglish
      2•2 months ago

      I think I’ll wait for the reviews. A few people freaking out on Reddit isn’t much to be worried about.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPMAEnglish
      2•2 months ago

      Not that bad but the current releases of his recent 4k restorations have got mixed reactions with people suggesting he has pushed the clean-up too far.