Looks like James Cameron won't be bidding a "hasta la vista, baby" to a lawsuit over Terminator 2: Judgment Day, after all.
A federal appeals court has granted permission for an Australian couple to sue the Oscar-winning filmmaker for allegedly swiping their concept for a shape-shifting creature that eventually evolved into the killer T-1000 cyborg in the 1991 blockbuster.
Filia and Constantinos Kourtis claim to have dreamed up the character in 1987 for a film project titled The Minotaur, which followed a half-man, half-bull from Greek myth that had the ability to magically morph into various forms.
The Kourtises hired scribe William Green to write a screenplay, a copy of which they say ended up in the hands of Cameron, who in turn used the idea for the sequel to his 1984 sci-fi hit The Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular cybog.
In T2, Schwarzenegger played a kinder, gentler Terminator sent back in time to protect a teenage John Connor (Edward Furlong) from the newer, deadlier robot killer. Played by Robert Patrick and assisted by Oscar-winning special effects, the so-called T-1000 was a liquid metal machine that could alter its physical makeup at will, taking on the appearance of other human beings or inanimate objects.
Green filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against Cameron, who cowrote and directed T2, as well as the movie's producers. In his complaint, Green tried to assert exclusive ownership of The Minotaur script and concept. But his complaint was eventually tossed.
The Kourtises sued Green, claiming they ultimately controlled all rights to The Minotaur and won their case in 1998.
The pair then filed their own copyright-infringement claim against Cameron. But a U.S. District Court judge dismissed the suit, saying that the prior ruling against Green prohibited them from suing on the same issue.
The Kourtises appealed and a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Monday, ruling they deserved their own day in court since they were not a party to Green's legal action.
A rep for Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The erstwhile King of the World, whose Titanic still stands as the top-grossing movie of all time with $1.8 billion in global ticket sales and a record-tying 11 Oscars, has been keeping mighty busy these days.
The filmmaker, who turned 51 Tuesday, is currently prepping two new feature films, both to be shot in 3-D using custom-made high-definition cameras.
Little is known about the first project, tentatively titled Project 880. But it's said to be a warm-up to his second project, Battle Angel, an epic adaptation of the 12-part Japanese manga series about a 14-year-old amnesiac female cyborg on a quest to discover her identity all the while battling evil forces.
Cameron continues to develop The Dive, a love story about an ill-fated free-diving couple, and, most improbably, he has turned to acting, popping up as himself--helming a big-budget Aquaman--on HBO's hit Hollywood-skewering series, Entourage.