Terminator 2: Judgment Day : What was it like when this came out?

What was it like when this came out?

T2 is arguably the best science fiction action movie ever made. I've watched it on dvd a dozen times. But I wasn't born yet when it got released. Can someone tell me what it was like? The toys for a R rated movie in stores? Guns N Roses "You could be Mine" playing all over the place? The pinball machine that came out? This is the type of movie that I miss seeing. Movies now a days just don't compare to movies like this anymore.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

A lot of people remember that badass teaser trailer where you see a Terminator model being given Arnold's flesh.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Just like "The Dark Knight" back in 2008.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Yeah I rememeber seeing the dark knight one. Wow was it good! and that T2 teaser which I've seen must have been pretty cool.

Re: What was it like when this came out?


Just like "The Dark Knight" back in 2008.


Only much bigger and soooooo much better.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Only if you were a little kid in the suburbs... When T2 came out I was 12 going on 13 in inner city DC.

Most of my peers dismissed it since it wasn't hard like the original.

I never liked 2 or 3 for that matter.

One was just gritty.. I guess it depends on your life experience but I just relate more to 1 then the others.. Atmosphere/background were spot on in 1.

Same as original ghostbusters compared to the second when it became too popular.

Re: What was it like when this came out?


The toys for a R rated movie in stores? Guns N Roses "You could be Mine" playing all over the place?


Yep, that was it for me. GNR's You Could Be Mine was on constant rotation on MTV and there was a whole wing at toys r us dedicated to kenner's T2 line (I got the T-800 figure on the motorcycle). There was also a videogame for the genesis. I was a kid in elementary school at the time and everyone was psyched about T2, didn't matter that it was R and we couldn't see it, I couldn't wait til it came out on video and I could rent it.

Motown, get your Detroit jukebox jheri curl ass in this chicken sh!t chop-chop, ASAFP!

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I never had it, but I distinctly remember this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVrZEh6YNs

Toys were so cool in the 90's...


I'm genuinely convinced that every movie would be better with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I had a choice between getting that or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfLvDEdeeqI. I had to choose the bike!

I also had the T-1000 figure.

Motown, get your Detroit jukebox jheri curl ass in this chicken sh!t chop-chop, ASAFP!

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Word on the street is the mold thing never filled out right and he always looked like he'd been blasted with a shotgun as soon as you pulled him out. You probably made the right choice.

I'm genuinely convinced that every movie would be better with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Good to know I made the right choice 👍

Motown, get your Detroit jukebox jheri curl ass in this chicken sh!t chop-chop, ASAFP!

Re: What was it like when this came out?

There were 3 movies specifically from when I was a kid that I remember being absolute juggernauts not only in terms of box office, but also pop culture. Toys, TV Specials, music videos, clothes, lunch boxes, video games, board games, everything. You couldnt turn a corner without seeing some sort of advertisment for the movie. T2 was ABSOLUTELY one of those movies. It was gigantic. The other 2 were Batman in 89 and Jurassic Park in 93.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I'd agree with the Batman/Jurassic Park analogy. All three movies seem to be icons of their year, that transcend being 'just a film'.

Someone else lower down the thread compares the hype to Matrix Reloaded and I remember that being true as well...although the Matrix sequel received far more mixed reviews.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

http://youtu.be/pyxDk2TZ1IU

Haha I still have this cup collecting dust somewhere in my parents cupboard.....I should stop by there at some point and find it.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

This is the type of movie that I miss seeing. Movies now a days just don't compare to movies like this anymore.


Men's memories are uncertain...and the past that was differs little from the past that was not.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmK8-13LTqI
I Excel and Prevail

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I was 26 when this came out and you did not want to go to a party if you hadn't seen it yet.



"'Extremely High Voltage.' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer Sim--" - Frank Grimes

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I live in the East Block of Europe, and I don't remember toys or pinball machine. Maybe there were, but I didn't notice them. But the movie was big, everybody wanted to see it, and everybody loved it. It was released in August. It was the greatest movie I've ever seen in theater up to that point. But many others at my age thought the same.

And although the national TV barely mentioned the movie, we had MTV (most of the households didn't have MTV, but we did), and we've seen the Guns'n Roses clip many times and loved it too.

It was special. Just like in the case of the original Star Wars movies, you just didn't hear anything negative about it. I believe most of the whiners on the internet were silent back then too.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Oh man, it was non-stop Terminator stuff in my house back in the early 90s. My brother used to tape anything T2-related even before the movie came out and we'd watch it over and over. So much so that I can still hear Arnold in an interview saying, "BIGGEST MOVIE OF DAH SUMMAH!" "IT HAS A LOT OF UH, ACTION, EXCITEMENT, UH, SUSPENSE."

Also remember the SNL skits with the Terminator cat driving a car, revealing a metal endoskeleton underneath, lol? "I'm scaaaaared! He's not huuuman!"

My brother also bought the Genesis port of the T2 arcade game. That game was totally unfair and we had to resort to calling a Sega hotline to get past the HK stage but eventually we got the hang of it. :)

Never did get any of the action figures though. I always wnated the T-800 endoskeleton.

Early 90s were good times, man!

Re: What was it like when this came out?

It was just like "Matrix Reloaded" back in 2003. These 2 movies are very similar; they are both "R-rated Sci-Fi action movie sequels". Even though many people don't like Matrix Reloaded, it still managed to make about the same amount of money at the box office as T2 (the adjusted box office gross according to boxofficemojo.com), it is so unfair.

Re: What was it like when this came out?


It was just like "Matrix Reloaded" back in 2003. These 2 movies are very similar; they are both "R-rated Sci-Fi action movie sequels". Even though many people don't like Matrix Reloaded, it still managed to make about the same amount of money at the box office as T2 (the adjusted box office gross according to boxofficemojo.com), it is so unfair.
True they adjust to about the same (T2 slightly more domestically, Reloaded slightly more worldwide) and they are the top two grossing R-rated movies of the past 40 years.

But... the international market had expanded quite a bit in the years between em.
* When T2 came out it was actually the third highest grossing movie of all time (behind ET and some even have it ahead of Star Wars back then, both around 515M)
* When Matrix Reloaded came out it ended up the 15th highest grosser of all time

Re: What was it like when this came out?

How do you know Matrix Reloaded earned more slightly worldwide than Terminator 2 when adjusting their worldwide box office figures for inflation? It is very difficult to calculate the adjusted worldwide box office for any movie; each movie market has different inflation rate through out the years; and the worldwide population has increased throughout the years as well. These are probably the reasons why Boxofficemojo.com doesn't have a chart for adjusted worldwide grosses.

Re: What was it like when this came out?


It is very difficult to calculate the adjusted worldwide box office for any movie; each movie market has different inflation rate through out the years
It's quite simple really, at least if we choose it to be - doesn't make it ironclad perfect but good enough :)

For American movies, by major American studios, they collect the (rentals of the total) grosses and convert the them into dollars at the time of release to make them into earnings. So to adjust for inflation we simply only need to use dollar inflation from when it was released.

mojo's inflation list is NOT an inflation list - it's an attempt to show how many tickets a movie sold and then converting that into a dollar amount in today's dollars. Imo they should just show the list in "Number of tickets sold" but then they wouldn't get the media replay/discussions/hits so naturally they convert it to dollars and call it adjusted for inflation. And agreed the reason they don't do worldwide is probably what you said. Personally I would love to see a list of "most watched movie theatrically worldwide". Odds are it's one of the Indian superhits since ticket prices were extremely cheap there and 100s of millions of tix were sold for the biggest ones.


Re: What was it like when this came out?

Cobain and grunge

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Unbelievably, people smoked in my theater(NYC). Heck, it was Queens, screen was big, the sound was Dolby, it was packed, the audience applauded and cheered... it was lively.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I was 7 when this came out. Had one of the Kenner figures (T-800 with half his face blown off, as seen towards the end of the movie) and watched it a ton on VHS.

Different times, indeed.

Definitely not a "kids" movie but I loved the hell out of it. Hadn't even seen the first one yet at that point; didn't matter.

Anyone here mentions Hotel California dies before the first line clears his lips.

Re: What was it like when this came out?



T2 is arguably the best science fiction action movie ever made. I've watched it on dvd a dozen times. But I wasn't born yet when it got released. Can someone tell me what it was like? The toys for a R rated movie in stores? Guns N Roses "You could be Mine" playing all over the place? The pinball machine that came out? This is the type of movie that I miss seeing. Movies now a days just don't compare to movies like this anymore.



It was glorious. I was 21 years old when it came out in theaters and I saw it 4 times back then. Each time was better than the last. The movie delivered on all accounts and is in one of the rare instances superior to it's original film. Don't get me wrong, Terminator (1984) is beyond amazing but this one just had everything right. Plus, the director's cut of this movie really sends it over the top.

I agree with you that the hype for movies these days has really fallen by the wayside.



You'll work on... "We were making too much money".

Re: What was it like when this came out?

The excitement for this was incredible. I was only 11 when the first movie came out so I was all pumped for this sequel being 18 and just graduated from high school. The teaser trailer showing the Terminator going along the assembly line then going into the machine that gives it flesh gave me chills and when Arnold says "I'll be back" just made it even harder to wait. I remember watching Linda Hamilton on a late night talk show and she was asked how she thinks the movie will do and she said "It's going to be the biggest hit of the summer" and she was right. Just hearing her say that made me not want to miss the movie and I went and saw it on opening weekend. The Doors movie came out a few months before, I went and saw that two days before seeing this movie and it ended up being in the exact same theater. So I'll never forget that The Doors left the theaters right around the time T2 came out. I tell you what that summer was incredible for me, just getting out of high school (makes you feel free) and having the movies T2, Point Break & Robin Hood made it all the cooler. That year was great, I loved Silence of the Lambs, New Jack City, Boyz n the Hood, Backdraft, Regarding Henry, Highlander II, Double Impact, Star Trek VI, Sleeping with the Enemy & The Last Boyscout. But T2 topped them all and we liked it so much we saw it 3 times in the theater. Was a lot cheaper back then too, I think it only cost 3.25 to 3.50 at most the theaters by us.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

I was born in 1990 and I was only a year old when this movie first came out. I only wish I could have been at least 10 years old at that point so I could appreciate it and get super hyped about it like everyone else did.

Thankfully though, my parents weren't that strict with what I watched and I saw this movie on TV for the first time when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I didn't know much about Arnold Schwarzenegger as being this big action hero who kicks tons of ass in all his movies but even then seeing T2 I remember thinking wow, this guy is so cool.

as a few years went by I would rent this from the video store again and again and again. I did eventually aquire a copy on dvd as a teenage (I was 16 or 17 I think) and still this movie kicked so much ass. I'm now 26 and have T2 on Bluray and I can say it STILL kicks ass even now.

Watching it on Bluray on my 70 inch tv through my home theatre was so refreshing because it doens't feel like a movie from the 90's it feels early 2000's instead, which is a strong indication that this is one movie that just holds up. It stands the test of time as being an all round classic. Whether it's as good as the first movie is the subject of constant debate and I, myself, think the first film is a tad better but there's no denying T2 is a terrific piece of cinema.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

There was a lot of hype and anticipation around this film. Back in the day, they could keep the plot (mostly) under wraps because the Net, while it existed, wasn't as prevalent as it is these days.

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Re: What was it like when this came out?

It was a big deal when I saw it. I remember people oohing and ahhing over all the CG elements because they were so new at the time. I remember people laughing at the jokes, and I recall a few people really being vocal when Arnold throws that biker guy onto the grill when and he burns himself. It cemented Arnold as a film star and it appeared he could only go up from there.

Re: What was it like when this came out?

Idk I was 5 at the time but I remember everyone talking about it.

People don't talk and get excited for movies like they used to. The 90s were amazing.

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