Merrick here...

Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna (hehe, “Vajna”) have sold their TERMINATOR rights.

Halcyon, a new entity recently birthed by Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek (the later of whom looks like an American Idol) will now lord over our favorite alloy-coasted death bringers.

Their reign will begin with TERMINATOR 4 (tentatively set for Summer 2009), built around the previously announced screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. The script is said to center on a 30-something John Connor leading rag tag fugitive humans against the machines in our “future”. I’ve always wondered if the human-less, device-dominated world we saw in Pixar’s CARS was the result of humanity being defeated in John Connor’s war.

The new backers see "T4" as an attempt to reinvent the franchise with new cast and plotlines, ploys that worked for Batman and James Bond, and is being attempted with "The Incredible Hulk," which has Edward Norton as its new star.

…says a Variety article HERE!

So, in theory, TERMINATOR 4 (with a "new cast and plotline") could be deployed as an alternate TERMINATOR 1, because even though it takes place after the events of the existing trilogy, it actually sets the existing trilogy/overall mythos into motion...and could therefore be used as a different kind of launching pad/origin story (i.e. “future war” escapades lead to time travel into their past (our present) to undo the situation in the future, and so forth. Theoretically, of course...

Halcyon's arrangement includes future merchandise and licensing, but has limited impact on Fox/Warner’s SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES TV series.