James Cameron hints at more 'Terminator' sequels after 'Dark Fate'

James Cameron has teased the possibility of more films in the "Terminator" franchise, but the filmmaker said they will only happen if the upcoming installment "Dark Fate" performs well at the box office.

The new film, directed by Tim Miller of "Deadpool" fame, has been produced by the veteran director. He also worked on the story alongside Charles Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S Goyer and Justin Rhodes.

In an interview with Deadline, Cameron said the team spent several weeks trying to finalise the story of "Dark Fate", which, he believes, can be taken forward through a trilogy.

"We rolled up our sleeves and started to break out the story and when we got a handle on something we looked at it as a three-film arc, so there is a greater story there to be told," the filmmaker said.

"If we get fortunate enough to make some money with 'Dark Fate' we know exactly where we can go with the subsequent films," he added.

The much-awaited film is a direct sequel to Cameron's 1991 "Terminator: Judgement Day" and will retcon the events of the last three films -- "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" (2003), "Terminator Salvation" (2009) and "Terminator Genisys" (2015).

Though he was not involved with the three film, Cameron said they taught him a few lessons.

"One of the things that seemed obvious from looking at the films that came along later was that we would need to get everything back to the basics and that we would need to avoid the mistakes of making things overly complex and that we needed to avoid stories that jumps around in time and one that goes backward and forward in time," he said.

"Let's keep it simple in the relative unity of time. With the story, let's have the whole thing play out in 36 hours or 48 hours. In the first two movies everything plays out in less than two days in each one so there's energy and momentum," he added.

"Dark Fate" reunites Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who originally starred in the first two films.

The two veterans are joined by newcomers Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna and Diego Boneta in "Dark Fate".