Joss Whedon Gets Cheap on Terminator

Earlier, we reported that The Halcyon Company will be auctioning off the rights to the Terminator franchise. Well, looks like they got their first bid.

Firefly creator Joss Whedon has plunked down a whopping $10,000 USD. Yep, you read that correctly. Ten thousand.

When asked if he was serious or just being funny, Whedon, best known as the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, said this: “What do you mean, funny?! You think $10,000 is funny?!”

“Here’s the thing: It’s not a slam on The Terminator. I love The Terminator. That part’s totally true. I was thinking to myself, ‘Not since they auctioned off frames from The Little Mermaid have I wished I had more money this much. So you know what, never hurts to ask.’ I loved the movies, even the later movies. I loved the mythology. I loved the TV show [The Sarah Connor Chronicles]–like, really loved. Not for pretend. And not just because of [star] Summer [Glau].

“But mostly, it’s just me being a dumb-ass, because that seems to be what I do best — I’m not even very good at that. So, no, I do not think they’re going to call me and say ‘Congratulations! We’ll have that $10,000 now.’ Although, it would be non-exclusive. Other people could make Terminator movies and TV shows too. I’m just putting that out there in case you publish this.

“But I adore the franchise. I literally did learn a huge amount from that [franchise]. [The Terminator] came out when I was in college, and I was like, This is how you construct a story. It’s very important to me. That part was true. The part where I think I’m going to get it, not so true. And certain ideas, like [bidding for] The Lord of the Rings and the Batman franchise, also possibly not true. If they will give them to me for $10,000, I absolutely would write a check. That’s true. They just didn’t say those [properties] were for sale. They said they were on back-order, is what I understand. It’s all ridiculous, but it comes from love.”

If you think his response is ridiculous, check out Whedon's open letter to the Terminator owners, describing what he'd do to the franchise if he had the rights! Here's a quick preview: "Christian Bale’s John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)"

Fantastic. Keep it comin' big spender!