We’ve heard a LOT of goings-round these days about who’s going to wind up with the rights to the Terminator franchise, which is both massively profitable and a money sink.

So who’s going to walk away with all the marbles?  We’ve heard about Joss Whedon wanting in, and James Cameron breaking off some of that fat Avatar cash to step in and keep the property out of the hands of the studios once and for finally.  Or at least to have some creative control.

But it looks like the big winner, with a current high bid of fifteen million smackers and five percent of the gross from any future Terminator film is Lions Gate.

This is actually somewhat appropriate, being as Lions Gate rereleased Terminator 2 in several different versions, some of which we’ve talked about right here, but I confess that I’m not as happy about it as I could be.  Oh, sure, Lions Gate will probably do all right, but still, I would’ve loved to see a Joss Whedon Terminator.

After all, look what a bizarre hash he made out of Alien: Resurrection.