Written by on Mar 4, 2014. Posted in On Location

Terminator 5 to film limited scenes in California with Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new Terminator movie will film on location mainly in New Orleans, Louisiana, but will also shoot limited scenes in California. The movie will be the fifth in the iconic sci-fi franchise that James Cameron began back in 1984.

“We start filming in April and it will be a four-and-a-half month long shoot,” Schwarzenegger told fan site TheArnoldFans: “Most of it will be done in New Orleans, with some filming in San Francisco and maybe a little in LA. The last Terminator (subtitled Salvation) was when I was Governor and so I couldn't be in that movie, but now I'm back again and they are very excited about having me in the film.

“[Producer] David Ellison has plenty of money to do it well, in partnership with Paramount Pictures who are going to release the movie through their distribution. It's going to come out on the July 4th weekend in 2015. The preparation is going well and the script is fantastic, so I'm really looking forward to it!”

Louisiana has become one of the top production hubs in the US, partly because of its 30% uncapped filming incentive and the state will also be hosting Jurassic World in the coming months.

California filming on Terminator 5 will be limited. The state’s filming incentive does not support big-budget production – although this is something the industry is hoping to change this year – and only a handful of event movies have shot extensively in Los Angeles in recent years.

Most of it will be done in New Orleans, with some filming in San Francisco and maybe a little in LA.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Studio space in San Francisco is very limited, so it’s likely the Terminator 5 screenplay is partly set in the city and that the production team will shoot exterior scenes to get a sense of place. In recent years the short-lived TV drama Alcatraz and the sci-fi film Rise of the Planet of the Apes both took this approach before relocating to Vancouver.

(Images: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios)