I love this film but the first line of the movie has become so dated now.

Are all films set in the future a fictional alternate timeline?

WTF? that's fictional, too.

I really hop that no one watch 2012 and actually thought that this was gonna happen. That was so dumb and so over-the-top. So it can't really be dated if it totally fictional?

I more meant because it is now 2020, anyone watching this for the first time hearing that line is going to just automatically say or think, "No it didn't." But you are right. With the ending of them destroying Cyberdyne and both Dyson dying and the Terminator allowing himself to be melted away in hot liquid steel, they delayed it so the future will be different. Still, 1997 is now 23 years ago.

I stopped watching after seeing Terminator 3... no thanks, I will stick to the first two which are masterpieces.

But apparently, the whole time is so messed up that nothing from what happened in the first two really matters anymore. Because of that, I ignore the existence of all the sequels after T2.

Yeah. I think that's a flub on James Cameron's part. He probably should've made it more like 5 billion. In fact I am pretty sure I have heard somewhere that supposedly the complete population of the entire world now is around 8billion (not sure what the estimated population of the world was in 1990 when this was written) so if only 3billion died there are still 5billion people who can fight the machines. Though it is funny in a way. It makes me wonder if maybe Skynet didn't bother nuking areas of jungle on the planet thinking the animals and people living there probably wouldn't pose a thereat to it.

Come to think of it a similar movie of the time is Predator 2 which took place in the future 1998.