Terminator Genisys is a 2015 American science fiction action film[4] directed by Alan Taylor

and written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. Produced by Skydance Productions and
distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film is a reboot of the Terminator franchise, taking the
premise of the original film in another direction and ignoring the events depicted in sequels
and the TV series.[5] It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reprises his role as the Terminator
(following his absence in 2009's Terminator Salvation), alongside Jason Clarke, Emilia
Clarke (no relation), Jai Courtney, J. K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Courtney B.
Vance, Michael Gladis, Sandrine Holt and Lee Byung-hun. It follows Kyle Reese, a soldier in
a post-apocalyptic war against Skynet, who is sent from 2029 to 1984 to prevent Sarah
Connor's death. When Kyle arrives in the past, he discovers that the timeline has been altered
by Skynet and that Sarah has been raised by a reprogrammed Terminator sent to protect her.

Sequels for Terminator Salvation were cancelled after The Halcyon Company faced legal
issues and filed for bankruptcy. Megan Ellison and her production company, Annapurna
Pictures, acquired the franchise rights in May 2011. Skydance Productions, owned by
Ellison's brother David, collaborated the following year on a production of another
installment in the series. The Ellisons consulted Terminator creator James Cameron and drew
inspiration from The Terminator (1984) and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
Principal photography took place primarily in New Orleans, but also in San Francisco. Six
companies handled the film's visual effects, with its prosthetic make-up and animatronics
created by Legacy Effects.

The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on June 28, 2015 and was released in
the United States on July 1, 2015. It was not well received by critics, who criticized the plot
and acting, although Schwarzenegger's return and performance were praised. Terminator
Genisys grossed over $440 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of
the series and, of Schwarzenegger's career, behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day.[6] Despite
this, its commercial performance was lower than anticipated, resulting in two planned sequels
and a spin-off television series being cancelled in favor of Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), a
sequel to Terminator 2 produced by Cameron which similarly failed to meet expectations at
the box office.

In 2029, Human Resistance leader John Connor launches a final offensive against Skynet, an
artificial general intelligence system seeking to eliminate the human race. Before the
Resistance can triumph, Skynet activates a time machine and sends a T-800/Model 101
Terminator back to 1984, to kill John's mother Sarah. John's right-hand man, Kyle Reese,
volunteers to travel back in time to protect her. As Kyle floats in the machine's magnetic field,
he sees John being attacked by another Resistance soldier. This creates a temporal paradox
that alters the timeline and causes Kyle to experience childhood memories from a parallel
version of himself.

When it arrives in Los Angeles 1984, Skynet's T-800 is disabled by Sarah and "Pops", a
reprogrammed T-800. An unknown party had sent Pops to 1973 to protect Sarah when she
was nine years old after her parents were killed by a T-1000 sent by Skynet. When Kyle
arrives in 1984, he is intercepted by the T-1000, which Sarah and Pops destroy with acid.
Sarah and Pops have constructed a makeshift time machine like Skynet's and Sarah plans to
stop Skynet by traveling to 1997, the year it becomes self-aware. However, realizing that the
timeline has been altered, Kyle is convinced that the future has also changed. He recalls a
warning he received in his childhood vision, convincing Sarah that they instead must travel to
2017 to stop Skynet. After fighting the T-1000, Pops has sustained exterior damages that
prevent him from time-traveling. He stays in 1984 and plans to meet up with Kyle and Sarah
in the future, preparing for their arrival in the meantime.

In 2017, Kyle and Sarah materialize in the middle of a busy San Francisco highway and are
apprehended by city police. While they are treated for injuries, Sarah and Kyle learn that
Skynet is called "Genisys"—a soon-to-be-unveiled global operating system which is
embraced by the public. John suddenly appears and rescues Sarah and Kyle. Pops arrives and
unexpectedly shoots John, revealing that John is now an advanced Terminator. [a] The
resistance soldier who attacked John is revealed to have been Skynet in physical disguise as a
Terminator.[b] While Kyle was traveling back in time, Skynet attacked John and infected him
with machine phase matter. John, tasked with ensuring Skynet's creation, traveled back in
time to assist Cyberdyne Systems with the development of Genisys, hence securing Skynet
and its machines' rise. Pops fights John before trapping him long enough for them to escape.

A day before Skynet's worldwide attack, Sarah, Kyle, and Pops retreat to a safe house and
make final preparations to destroy Cyberdyne's Genisys mainframe. They head toward
Cyberdyne's headquarters with John in close pursuit. During an airborne chase, Pops dive-
bombs into John's helicopter and causes it to crash. John survives the crash and enters the
Cyberdyne complex, where it advances the countdown from 13 hours to 15 minutes. Kyle,
Sarah, and Pops plant bombs at key points in the facility while holding off John.

In a final battle, Pops traps John in the magnetic field of a prototype time machine. Both are
destroyed, but just before the explosion the remains of Pops are flung out of the apparatus into
a nearby experimental vat of mimetic polyalloy. Kyle and Sarah reach a bunker beneath the
facility and the explosion sets off the bombs, preventing Genisys from coming online. Pops
appears, upgraded with mimetic polyalloy components like that of the T-1000, and helps them
escape from the debris.

The trio travels to Kyle's childhood home, where Kyle tells his younger self about Genisys
and instructs him to repeat the warning to himself, securing the trio's arrival from 1984. Sarah,
Kyle, and Pops drive off into the countryside. A mid-credits scene reveals that the system core
of Genisys, located in a protected subterranean chamber, has survived the explosion.