Chris Pratt swears 'The Tomorrow War' is not his 'Terminator,' says he 'pales in comparison as a hero' to father-in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger

Kevin Polowy

Pound for pound, Chris Pratt’s new sci-fi thriller The Tomorrow War probably most resembles other alien-attack movies like Independence Day and War of the Worlds.

But given that Pratt plays a gun-toting soldier traveling through time to stop an apocalypse at the hands of nonhuman combatants, the project — which Pratt also produced — one can’t help to compare it to certain franchise that legendarily starred his father-in-law, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Even the posters are similar, and TheTomorrow War happens to open almost exactly 30 years to the date after a little film called Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Inquiring minds needed to now: Is this Pratt’s Terminator?

“Well, they’re both Skydance,” Pratt told us during a recent virtual press day for the film (watch above), pointing out yet another commonality we hadn’t even considered. (The production company founded by David Ellison in 2006 owns the rights to the Terminator series and produced The Tomorrow War.) “There are similarities, I guess.”

But Pratt is not ready for any parallels to be drawn between himself and the famous father of his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger.

“I pale in comparison as a hero to any of the iconic roles Arnold has played,” he says. “But we were definitely heavily influenced by that type of a film. There is that.”

Pratt’s The Tomorrow War character Dan Forester — a family man, high school teacher and military vet recruited to the future when the next generation is in dire danger of being wiped out by hostile extraterrestrials — even says “I will be back” to his young daughter before leaving. That, however, was not an homage to Arnold's most oft-quoted line, "I'll be back," Pratt insists.

“I do [say it],” Pratt admits. “Though it is literally just a guy talking about how he’s coming back. He’s not saying, ‘I’ll be back … and when I do come back I’m gonna kill you.’ It’s more like, ‘You know how I’m here right now and I’m leaving? Later, I will be back.'”

Watch our full interview with Pratt and co-stars Edwin Hodge, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Sam Richardson, Jasmine Mathews and Keith Powers, above.

The Tomorrow War premieres July 2 on Amazon Prime Video. (Terminator 2: Judgment Day premiered July 3, 1991, in theaters everywhere.)

— Video produced by Anne Liburn and edited by John Santo

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