‘Terminator Salvation’ Leaks Prompts New Ending?

Last year, AICN posted an article detailing a scoop regarding the ending of “Terminator Salvation.” The scoop, which was later confirmed by CHUD, revealed that at the end of film — potential spoilers here —

John Connor would be killed only to have his skin grafted on Marcus Wright’s terminator skeleton (Sam Worthington’s character) thus keeping the Jesus-like saviour image of Connor alive. The internet was livid with this potential ending. Days later though, on the film’s official blog, director McG addressed the leak by noting “there are only three people who know the ending”. We assumed this meant that the leak was, in fact, incorrect. A source via Moviehole however, now tells us that the leaked ending was in fact the scripted one and, as a direct result of the leak, the third act of the film has now been changed. The source goes on to say that new ending “doesn’t resemble the previous one in any shape or form”, has “tested quite well” and “gotten a much better reaction than the ‘big reveal’ in the script did.” Leak or no leak, denial or no denial, the film’s footage thus far is developing much hype and whether it delivers or not, the grass is still looking greener than ever for opening weekend, right? Well, we can always rely on McG to stir things up. In an article on io9, the director describes the new ending as one that may “piss off a lot of people” which is sure to strike confidence in the hearts of Terminator fans. For his sake and the sake of the film, we hope McG is simply referring to the cliffhanger aspect of the ending and not anything related to plot or quality. So, what does this all have to say for the film? Probably not much as it wouldn’t be the first time McG’s words have got him in trouble. Do we even need to mention James Cameron and Arnold Schwarznegger? One thing that fans will hope McG is being truthful about is the involvement of Jonah Nolan. McG has gone on record saying that Nolan deserves to be credited as the lead writer for the film. Further, he revealed that he didn’t even think the world needed another ‘Terminator’ film until Nolan was involved – although we have to question the validity of that statement considering Nolan reportedly wasn’t involved until asked by Christian Bale who would have been approached by a signed-on McG first. Nolan would no doubt bring a lot of credibility to the scribing department of this film. While Paul Haggis (“Casino Royale”, “Quantum of Solace”), Anthony Zuiker (“CSI”) and Shawn Ryan (“The Unit”, “The Shield”) have also been involved, writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris (both from “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine”) have officially been given credit for story of ‘Salvation’. This is a bit of a worry although it is likely that the crediting process was just a formality. Nolan has previously written three other feature films all of which were directed by his brother, Christopher Nolan. “Memento,” “The Prestige” and “The Dark Knight” all went on to receive critical acclaim.“Terminator Salvation” comes out May 21st.