The sale of the Terminator franchise smelled worse than a barrel of fish to be honest. You can read all about it in the write up of the sale of the rights, a sale that beat the offer of the teamed up Sony and Lionsgate, and resulted in Halcyon having it's debts cancelled by the company it owed money, the very same company that was squeezing it for the return of its money, and a nice payment for every future film. Too good to be true?

Well it happened, and Sony and Lionsgate are, according to reports, thoroughly miffed. That's not all though, for it now seems that the company who now have the rights have offered an option to Sony and Lionsgate to make the next Terminator film. This has more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller.

Reports are that lawyers for Sony have revealed that their bid was the best one out of the bunch, and you can well imagine that to be true considering the size of the company, however they say that Halcyon and Pacificor, the company at the centre of it all, actually made a deal before the auction and rigged it in favour of the company who were forcing Halcyon into bankruptcy.

Now a source through the L.A. Times and /Film are saying that the two companies have been given an exclusive chance to negotiate to produce and distribute the next Terminator film.

Okay, it is a source, but still it's a paper who you would have thought wouldn't be taking a chance publishing anything like this without some hard facts behind them.

Does that barrel of fish smell even fishier? It does to me. Pacificor are now going to get even more money out of the deal, and perhaps down the road there may be more drama behind the scenes, even if Sony and Lionsgate take the offer.

Finished with the complications? No. It also seems that McG had a deal with Halcyon to have first refusal on any sequels, although to me that sounds like an awfully lot of first refusals to agree to. To add to the story his representative stated in court that any companies involved need to honour that deal, something the judge disagreed with, and quite rightly too. The franchise has been sold, no matter how fishy and contrived it sounds. Still, he did say that McG would have the right to file a claim against Halcyon in bankruptcy court, although I don't see it holding any water.

What does it all mean for us though? I think it means a big delay in the next film, and an even bigger dark legacy for the Terminator franchise to carry. The more this happens the less anyone will want to make a Terminator film, some might joke that it is cursed.

However it could mean that McG might be back, regardless of the court case, the director of the next film will be based on merit, and perhaps McG has earned his right to have another crack at the franchise.