Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2: Judgment Day[a] is a 1991 American science fiction action film produced and directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the script with William Wisher. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong, Terminator 2 is the sequel to the 1984 film The Terminator and the second installment in the Terminator franchise. In its plot, the malevolent artificial intelligence Skynet sends a Terminator—a highly advanced killing machine—back in time to 1995 to kill the future leader of the human resistance, John Connor, when he is a child. The resistance sends back a less-advanced reprogrammed Terminator to protect Connor and ensure the future of humanity.

The Terminator was considered a significant success, enhancing Schwarzenegger's and Cameron's careers, but a sequel failed to progress because of animosity between the pair and the Hemdale Film Corporation, who partially owned the film's rights. In 1990, Schwarzenegger and Cameron convinced Carolco Pictures to purchase the rights from the financially struggling Hemdale and The Terminator producer Gale Ann Hurd for $15 million. A release date was set for the following year, leaving Cameron and Wisher seven weeks to write the script. The pair frequently conferred with special effects studio Industrial Light & Magic to determine if their ideas for the extensive special effects were possible. Principal photography began in October 1990 and lasted until March 1991, in and around Los Angeles, on an estimated $102 million budget, making it the most expensive film ever made at the time. The cutting-edge visual effects, including the first use of a computer-generated main character in a blockbuster film, resulted in schedule overrun and the theatrical prints were only delivered to theaters the night before its July 3, 1991 release.

On its release, Terminator 2 earned $519–520.9 million, making it the highest-grossing film of 1991 in the United States and Canada, as well as worldwide, and the third highest-grossing film of all time. It received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the visual effects, action scenes, and the cast, singling out Patrick's performance as the T-1000 in particular as a great cinematic villain, but was criticized for its violent content. It won several accolades including Saturn, BAFTA, and Academy Awards. Alongside tie-in promotions with brands such as Pepsi, Terminator 2 spawned a series of merchandise including video games, comic books, novels, and T2-3D: Battle Across Time, a live-action attraction including filmed footage featuring Schwarzenegger, Hamilton, Patrick, and Furlong.

Since its release, Terminator 2 has been critically reassessed and is now considered among the best films ever made, and one of the best science fiction, action, and sequel films of all time, an arguable equal to or improvement on The Terminator. It is also seen as one of the most influential visual effects films of all time, ushering in the transition from practical effects to reliance on CGI. Although Cameron considered Terminator 2 to be the end of the franchise, it was followed by a series of films to diminishing financial and critical returns, including Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), as well as a 2008 television series.