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It seems every new contract between the movie studios and unions comes with tons of biting and scratching over royalties. Threats of a strike are so loud that filmmaking is starting to resemble scenes from Terminator 2 where John Connor barely escaped the T-1000 cyborg. Reporting on the latest battle, The New York Times writes it’s Judgment Day for the Screen Actors Guild to accept the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ final contract proposal. SAG will respond this week. Meanwhile, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is one of the few productions that remain undaunted by the thought of actors like Christian Bale sleeping in from work.

Compare Hollywood’s union troubles to a nuclear war between superpowers. The conflict is about which side will strike first. This week, the entertainment industry will learn whether SAG will turn its launch key and initiate a strike of its members. AMPTP seems equally ready to cause the mutually assured destruction of many people’s livelihoods. The studios warned it would shut down film productions once the doomsday clock reached midnight on June 30, 2008. At that moment the old contract with SAG expired. Indeed, the studios turned their key by announcing it would not give actors the chance to walk off the set.

You won’t see fear in the Terminator Salvation crew’s eyes. Somewhere in New Mexico, Director McG is blowing up mock convenience stores, helicopters, and whatever else he can pack with combustible material. What makes him so confident? Arnold Schwarzenegger may not be in the new Terminator sequel, but another governor in the form of Bill Richardson is reaching his hand out to save it. New Mexico is giving ridiculous rebates and tax incentives to attract moviemakers with bloated budgets like McG’s. The state pays 25% of the expenses. It’ll cover part of the Terminator: Salvation’s high insurance costs due to a possible strike. The company providing filming space for the movie will reserve its services for the production if a strike happens.

The Times article throws in intriguing set photos showing the famous gas station from the previous movies now bombed to oblivion. The words “weird military hardware” sounds interesting. Though really, I’m not anticipating much from this movie from what we know about it. The first two Terminators were action films with heavy science fiction ideas. To its credit, Terminator 3’s had one of the saddest endings in cinema. Nuclear apocalypse. Wow, that’s a bummer, man. Terminator Salvation might be a mildly entertaining summer flick with McG guiding the action. But I wonder that by rushing to shoot scenes it’s going to be even that.