James Cameron’s The Terminator was released 40 years ago, yet it still gets used as a template by many science fiction filmmakers. The film — which follows an android assassin sent from 2029 to 1984 to kill the mother of a future revolt leader — shaped the genre by blending the concepts of cybernetic machines, artificial intelligence, time travel, and post-apocalyptic societies that are tech-driven. Its follow-up, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, performed even better at the box office, and is still praised by both fans and critics. Unfortunately, other sequels flopped critically and commercially.