30 fascinating facts about Terminator 2: Judgement Day
With James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day turning 30 this July, here we look back at some fascinating trivia about the celebrated sci-fi classic.
With James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, turning 30 this month, here are 30 facts that you might not have known about the sci-fi blockbuster
At the time of its release, with a budget of $94–102 million, T2 was the most expensive film ever made. It even outperformed the full gross of the original movie within 2 days of release.
T2 became the highest-grossing film of 1991 and at the time, the third-biggest global grosser ever behind Star Wars and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.
T2 held the record for the highest opening weekend gross of an R-rated film until The Matrix Reloaded (2003). Adjusted for inflation, it's still on the top 10 highest-grossing R-rated films ever.
Despite the film's R-rating, numerous children's toys were released. The toys were a huge hit and ended up becoming a financial success.
The date mentioned in the film as Judgment Day, August 29, 1997, is the anniversary of the Soviet Union's first detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949.
On the same day in 2016 was when it was announced that the film would be digitally remastered in 3D to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The 3D version was released in August 2017.
An alternate ending was shot and included in the DVD and Blu-ray version of the film that shows the year 2027 in which the Skynet, the war, and Judgment Day never happened.
Linda Hamilton's then-twenty-month-old son Dalton plays John in a dream sequence set in a playground.
Michael Biehn who played the protagonist in The Terminator (1984) did a cameo in T2 and that, along with 17 minutes of unseen footage was included in the 1993 Special Edition cut of the film
Biehn was the first choice for the role of the T-1000, in a complete reversal of roles with Schwarzenegger, who was now the hero. The idea was later abandoned for being too confusing to the audience.
Linda Hamilton's twin sister Leslie Hamilton, who died last year, played a cameo in the film. She portrayed Sarah when Linda was playing the T-1000's imitation of Sarah in the climax.
Production took so long that Edward Furlong visibly aged during the shoot. The team had to take extra care in post-production because of his voice that began to break and his increase in height
Producer Mario Kassar gifted Schwarzenegger a slightly used Gulfstream III plane (worth about $14 million) as his salary and given how he had only 700 words of dialogue, he was paid $21,429 per word.
Linda Hamilton suffered permanent hearing loss in one ear during the elevator shootout scene because she did not replace her earplugs after removing them between takes
The M134 Minigun used in the shootout scene with the cops is the same prop used in Schwarzenegger's Predator (1987). In T2, the gun features a Chainsaw Grip unlike the M60 foregrip from Predator.
The damaged Terminator look in the climax of the film took five hours to apply and an hour to remove.
Cameron shot the movie with two colours used as lighting and filtering - orange and blue. Orange was meant to represent humanity while blue was to denote the machines.
During the making of T2 was when James Cameron and Linda Hamilton got into a relationship. They got married in 1997 and but divorced 2 years later.
The film's post-production was done in a tight schedule and hence, three editors, Mark Goldblatt, Conrad Buff IV, and Richard A Harris, were used to work on different segments.
At 137 minutes (for the theatrical cut), and 156 minutes (for the 2009 Blu-ray Skynet Edition), T2 is the longest Terminator movie in the franchise.
T2 is the only Terminator film to be nominated for the Oscars. The film won four out of the six it was nominated for, including Best Cinematography and Best Makeup.
Speaking of Oscars, until The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), this was the only sequel to win an Academy Award when the previous installment received no nominations.
T2 was also the last Terminator film to be written and directed by James Cameron. He was not involved in the following sequels until Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) which he wrote and produced.
The story of the 2008 TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles takes place two years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day and ignores Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Robert Patrick has done cameos as the T-1000 in films like Wayne's World (1992), Last Action Hero (1993) and Hollywood Adventures (2015).
The film was adapted by Marvel Comics as a three-issue miniseries. They haven't soared in value and because of that, paperback copies of the comics are easily available for sale.
In 1996, Cameron directed an attraction at Universal Studios Theme Parks, titled T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, made at a whopping cost of $60 million.
T2 also made way for various video games in multiple formats for arcades, computers and gaming consoles. Even a T2 themed pinball machine was released.
Over the years, T2 has been referenced multiple times in a variety of animated series and films, such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Lego Movie.
The Terminator is the only character to be listed in the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes and Villains as both a villain (for The Terminator) and a hero (for this film)
