The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action thriller film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a murderous cyborg sent back in time between 2029 and 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn child will one day save humanity from extinction at the hands of a hostile artificial intelligence in a post-apocalyptic future. Michael Biehn plays Kyle Reese, a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. The screenplay is credited to Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd, while co-writer William Wisher Jr. received credit for additional dialogue.

Cameron devised the film’s premise from a fever dream he experienced during the premiere of his first film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), in Rome, and developed the concept in collaboration with Wisher. He sold the rights to the project to Hurd, also a New World Pictures alum, on the condition that she produce the film only if he directed it; Hurd eventually landed a distribution deal with Orion Pictures, while executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson of Hemdale Film Corporation were instrumental in setting up the film’s financing and production. Orion was originally approached for the role of Reese, but Schwarzenegger agreed to play the title character after becoming friends with Cameron. Filming, which took place primarily at night in Los Angeles, was delayed due to Schwarzenegger’s commitments to Conan the Destroyer (1984), during which Cameron found time to work on the scripts for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). and Aliens. (1986). The film’s special effects, which included miniatures and stop-motion animation, were created by a team of artists led by Stan Winston and Gene Warren Jr.

Defying low pre-release expectations, Terminator topped the US box office for two weeks, ultimately grossing $78.3 million against a modest budget of $6.4 million. He is credited with launching Cameron’s film career and cementing Schwarzenegger’s status as a leading man. The success of the film gave rise to a franchise consisting of several sequels, a television series, comics, novels and video games. In 2008, The Terminator was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”