Terminator 2 was released on July 3, 1991.
It was released at that magical time for us when we were 8-12 and couldn’t buy tickets to rated-R movies or rent them.

What makes this movie special to xennials? 

-John Connor is supposed to be 10 years old. The 10 year old viewer feels like they could be John. Some of his experiences mirrored what we did in that era (arcades, malls, motorbikes). 

-It was rated R, so you either went to the theater with dad, uncle, grandpa, or older cousin. Or, you snuck in to a theater. If any Xennial’s mom took them to this in the theater, I’d love to hear about it. 

-The special effects were mind-blowing. Everyone was talking about them. Until Jurassic park two years later, T2 was the holy grail of special effects. It was like nothing else seen on the screen before 

-The Arnold effect. We been seeing Arnold in lighter fare such as Twins (1988) and Kindergarten Cop (1990). T2 was a return to form. Arnold was an icon in the nineties. 

-High likelihood the VHS was at sleepovers throughout the nineties. 

-The father/son relationship between John and the T-800. 

-if your family owned the VHS, high likelihood you watched it 40 times due to limited tv viewing options in the nineties. 

-“Hasta la vista, baby," "I'll be back”

-The ideas in the movie were quite disturbing and frightening to a 10 year old. But what’s disturbing and frightening is often the most memorable and cool. 

-T2 is one of the best movies ever made

-When Titanic came out (another Xennial milestone) we all wondered “from the same guy who directed Terminator 2?!” 

-Movies were everything back in the early nineties and T2 was the perfect movie for Xennials. 

-It was available to rent on November 28, 1991. It was available for purchase on August 5, 1992. Can you believe how long we used to wait to buy movies? 


Terminator 2: A Special Movie to Xennials