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Hollywood producers rise again with `Terminator 3`
LA, July 02: Everyone knew that HE -- `Terminator` Arnold Schwarzenegger -- would be back. But Wednesday`s debut of `Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines` also marks the return of two producers who were once among the hottest teams in Hollywood before splitting in the 1990s.
LA, July 02: Everyone knew that HE -- "Terminator" Arnold Schwarzenegger -- would be back. But Wednesday's debut of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" also marks the return of two producers who were once among the hottest teams in Hollywood before splitting in the 1990s.
Movies made by Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar have raked in $3 billion at box offices. Their former company, Carolco Pictures, backed the "Rambo" movies starring Sylvester Stallone and big-budget action adventures like "Total Recall" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" with Schwarzenegger.
The pair went their separate ways in the mid-1990s over differences over Carolco's future, but neither enjoyed the kind of hits they made at the former company.
Vajna started a new company that mounted films like 1996's "Evita," and Kassar took the reins of Carolco before one flop too many sent it into bankruptcy in 1995.
"We had a very good run at being able to pick the right projects during our heyday at Carolco, and we felt the team was better than either one of us alone," Vajna said. "To simplify, two heads are better than one."
Under their new film label, C2, the pair returned to the formula that made them a hit -- a non-stop action flick with an emotionless leading man who doesn't really say much but wreaks havoc and destruction everywhere he goes.
In short, they went to "Terminator," whose star Schwarzenegger uttered the now classic line, "I'll be back."
"Everytime you say, 'I'll be back,' you think of 'Terminator,"' said Kassar.
He added that Carolco's collapse was a huge disappointment personally, but it has led him to look at the movie business in a more mature way and put priorities in order.
The pair went their separate ways in the mid-1990s over differences over Carolco's future, but neither enjoyed the kind of hits they made at the former company.
Vajna started a new company that mounted films like 1996's "Evita," and Kassar took the reins of Carolco before one flop too many sent it into bankruptcy in 1995.
"We had a very good run at being able to pick the right projects during our heyday at Carolco, and we felt the team was better than either one of us alone," Vajna said. "To simplify, two heads are better than one."
Under their new film label, C2, the pair returned to the formula that made them a hit -- a non-stop action flick with an emotionless leading man who doesn't really say much but wreaks havoc and destruction everywhere he goes.
In short, they went to "Terminator," whose star Schwarzenegger uttered the now classic line, "I'll be back."
"Everytime you say, 'I'll be back,' you think of 'Terminator,"' said Kassar.
He added that Carolco's collapse was a huge disappointment personally, but it has led him to look at the movie business in a more mature way and put priorities in order.
Bureau Report