'Terminator: Dark Fate' could flop at the US box office despite reviews calling it the best movie in the franchise in nearly 30 years

Paramount

Linda Hamilton in "Terminator: Dark Fate."

• "Terminator: Dark Fate" earned $2.35 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews.
• That's on par with the last movie in the franchise, "Terminator Genisys," which ultimately made just $27 million in its opening weekend.
• It's a bad sign for "Dark Fate," despite receiving the best reviews for the franchise in years.
• "Dark Fate" cost $185 million to make, more than the $155 million production budget of "Genisys."
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"Terminator: Dark Fate" has been praised by critics as the best movie in the long-running "Terminator" franchise since 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgement Day."

But it's still off to a rocky start at the domestic box office.

The movie pulled in just $2.35 million in Thursday previews. That's on par with the last movie in the franchise, 2015's "Terminator Genisys," which made $2.3 million on Thursday and ultimately made only $27 million over its opening weekend in the US.

The studio Paramount has projected "Dark Fate" to earn between $30 million and $40 million over the weekend, but its Thursday gross is ominous. As Exhibitor Relations tweeted on Friday, "that's a dark, dark domestic fate."

"Dark Fate" cost $185 million to make, more than the $155 million production budget of "Genisys," which ultimately earned $90 million in the US but a more healthy $440 million worldwide. "Dark Fate" will likely also rely on international box office to give it a boost.

"Dark Fate" has a decent 70% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, better than other critically chastised sequels in the franchise. "Genisys" has a 27%, while 2009's "Terminator Salvation" has a 33%.

Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio wrote that it's "a worthy movie in the franchise after years of duds."

Producer James Cameron, who directed the original two movies but has not been actively involved in the "Terminator" series since, told Deadline in August that "Dark Fate" could launch a new trilogy if it performs well at the box office. The chances of that are looking slimmer now.

• Read more of Business Insider's coverage of "Terminator: Dark Fate"
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• 'Terminator: Dark Fate' finally gives us a worthy movie in the franchise after years of duds
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