Question: What did Orion pictures fear about 'The Terminator?'
About the article "The Terminator", section "Release".

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In 1978, Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures.
During his tenure there, Orion released films such notable and successful films as "Platoon", "Amadeus", "Robocop", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "The Terminator", "Dances with Wolves", and "The Silence of the Lambs". 
In Rome, during the release of "" director James Cameron grew ill and had a dream about a metallic torso dragging itself from an explosion while holding kitchen knives.
When Cameron returned to Pomona, California, he stayed at Randall Frakes' home where he wrote a draft for "The Terminator".
Cameron later stated that his influences while writing the script were 1950s science fiction films and episodes of "The Outer Limits" as well as contemporary films including "The Driver" and "The Road Warrior".
To translate the draft into a script, Cameron enlisted his friend Bill Wisher, who had a similar approach to storytelling.
Cameron gave Wisher the early scenes involving Sarah Connor and the police department scenes to write.
As Wisher lived far away from Cameron, the two communicated script ideas by recording tapes of what they wrote by telephone.
Cameron's agent hated the idea for "The Terminator" and told him to work on something else.
After this, Cameron fired his agent.
The initial outline of the script involved two Terminators sent to the past.
The first was similar to the Terminator in the film, while the second was a liquid metal cyborg that could not be destroyed with conventional weaponry.
Cameron could not think of a good way to depict this robot, stating that he "was seeing things in his head that couldn't be done with existing technology."
The story of the cyborgs in the film was cut down to a single robot idea.
The liquid metal Terminator would be revisited with the T-1000 character in the 1991 sequel "".
Gale Anne Hurd, who had worked at New World Pictures as Roger Corman's assistant, showed interest in the film project.
Cameron sold the rights for "The Terminator" to Hurd for one dollar with the promise that she would produce it only if Cameron was to direct it.
As a producer, Hurd had suggested edits to the script and took a screen writing credit in the film.
Cameron has stated that Hurd "did no actual writing at all".
Cameron and Hurd had friends who worked with Roger Corman previously and who were now working at Orion Pictures.
Orion agreed to distribute the film if Cameron could get financial backing elsewhere.
The script was picked up by John Daly at Hemdale Pictures.
Cameron wanted his pitch for Daly to finalize the deal and had his friend Lance Henriksen show up to the meeting early dressed and acting like the Terminator.
Henriksen showed up at the office kicking open the door wearing a leather jacket and had gold foil smothered on his teeth and fake cuts on his face and then sat in a chair.
Cameron arrived shortly after which relieved the staff from Henriksen's act.
Daly was impressed by the screenplay and Cameron's sketches and passion for the film.
In late 1982 Daly agreed to back the film with help from HBO and Orion.
"The Terminator" was originally budgeted at $4 million and later raised to $6.5 million. 
Ellison brought suit against "The Terminator" production company Hemdale and distributor Orion Pictures for plagiarism of this episode.
According to "The Los Angeles Times", the parties settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, and an acknowledgement of Ellison's works in the credits of "Terminator". 
Orion Pictures did not have faith in "The Terminator" performing well at the box office and feared a negative critical reception.
At an early screening of the film, the actors' agents insisted to the producers that the film should be screened for critics.
Orion only held one press screening for the film.
The film was premiered on October 26, 1984.
On its opening week, "The Terminator" played at 1,005 theaters and grossed $4,020,663 making it number one in the box office.
The film remained at number one in its second week.
It lost its number one spot in the third week to "Oh, God!
You Devil".
Cameron noted that "The Terminator" was a hit "relative to its market, which is between the summer and the Christmas blockbusters.
But it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than the other way around.
"Writer Harlan Ellison stated that he "loved the movie, was just blown away by it", but believed that the screenplay was based on an episode of "The Outer Limits" he had written, titled "Soldier".
Orion gave Ellison an undisclosed amount of money and an acknowledgment credit in later prints of the film.
Some accounts of the settlement state that "Demon with a Glass Hand", another "Outer Limits" episode written by Ellison, was also claimed to have been plagiarized by the film, but Ellison has explicitly stated that "The Terminator" "was a ripoff" of "Soldier" rather than "Demon with a Glass Hand".
Cameron was against Orion's decision and was told that if he did not agree with the settlement, they would have Cameron pay for any damages if Orion lost Ellison's suit.
Cameron replied that he "had no choice but to agree with the settlement.
Of course there was a gag order as well, so I couldn't tell this story, but now I frankly don't care.
It's the truth.
Harlan Ellison is a parasite who can kiss my ass."
Films.
"The Terminator".
"The Terminator" is a 1984 science fiction film released by Orion Pictures, co-written and directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.
It is the first work in the "Terminator" franchise.
In the film, machines take over the world in the near future, directed by the artificial intelligence Skynet.
With its sole mission to completely annihilate humanity, it develops cyborg assassins called Terminators that outwardly appear human.
A man named John Connor starts the Tech-Com resistance to defeat them and free humanity.
With a human victory imminent, the machines' only choice is to send a Terminator back in time to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor, before he is born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded.
With the fate of humanity at stake, John sends soldier Kyle Reese back to protect his mother and ensure his own existence.