Principal photography lasted from October 1990 to March 1991, taking place in and around Los Angeles on an estimated $94–102 million budget, making it the most expensive film made at the time.

The advanced visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), which include the first use of a computer-generated main character in a blockbuster film, resulted in a schedule overrun.

Skynet sends the T-1000—an advanced, shape-shifting prototype Terminator made of virtually indestructible liquid metal—back in time to kill resistance leader John Connor when he is a child.

In 1995 Los Angeles, John's mother Sarah is incarcerated in Pescadero State Hospital for her violent efforts to prevent "Judgment Day"—the prophesied events of August 29, 1997, when Skynet will gain sentience and, in response to its creators' attempts to deactivate it, incite a nuclear holocaust.

[5][13][18] Co-writer William Wisher cameos as a man photographing the T-800 in the mall,[19] and Michael Biehn reprises his role as resistance soldier Kyle Reese in scenes that were removed from the theatrical release.

[4][19][33] They spent two weeks developing a film treatment based on Cameron's vision to form a relationship between John Connor and the T-800, a concept Wisher believed was a joke.

[4][34] The pair briefly considered a larger "Super-Terminator", but found it uninteresting and adopted an early idea Cameron had for The Terminator—a liquid-metal Terminator resembling an average-sized human in contrast to Schwarzenegger's large frame.

They justified the expense as the value of their leads' wide appeal in markets outside the U.S.[26][49][50] To lessen the immediate financial burden, Carolco paid most of Schwarzenegger's salary with a financed $12.75 million Gulfstream III jet.

[14][66] Over a week, he spent several hours each day choreographing vehicle scenes with toy cars and trucks, filming the results, and printing the footage for storyboard artists.

[19] To stay on schedule, Cameron worked through Christmas and persuaded Schwarzenegger to cancel a visit to American troops in Saudi Arabia with U.S. President George H. W. Bush to film his scenes.

[71] In a 2012 interview, Hamilton said she suffered permanent partial hearing loss after not wearing earplugs during the hospital elevator scene, where the T-800 fires a gun, as well as shell shock from months of exposure to violence, loud noise, and gunfire.

To bring a heightened sense of authenticity, real members of the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT division were featured in the scene, although Cameron embellished their tactics to be visually interesting.

[39][71] Scenes set during the future war of 2029 were filmed in the rubble of an abandoned steel mill in Oxnard, California, in a one-half square mile (1.3 km2) space that was enhanced with burned bicycles and cars from a 1989 fire at the Universal Studios Lot.

[4][79][80] The scripted ending depicted an alternative 2029 that was filmed at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, in which an aged Sarah narrates how Skynet was never created while John, now a US Senator, plays with his daughter in a Washington, D.C., playground.

[33] The computer systems needed to animate and render the T-1000 CGI cost thousands of dollars alone, but creating the character also relied on a variety of practical appliances, visual illusions, and filming techniques.

[4][97][98] Fiedel quickly realized he would not receive the finished footage until late in the production after most effects were completed, which made it difficult to commit to decisions such as use of an orchestra because, unlike ambient music, the score had to accompany the on-screen action.

[104][105] Films scheduled for release included City Slickers, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Only the Lonely, Hudson Hawk, The Rocketeer, What About Bob?, and Point Break.

Celebrities in attendance included Maria Shriver, Nicolas Cage, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, and Furlong's date Soleil Moon Frye.

Gleiberman said despite it being an effective and witty thriller, Terminator 2: Judgment Day comes across as an expensive B movie when compared with "visionary spectacles" such as the Mad Max series and RoboCop (1987).

[144][150] In contrast, Empire suggested that the change was a concession to Schwarzenegger's young fans, and Peter Travers chose the T-800's death as a "cornball" scene that is out of place for the actor and film.

[158] The 64th Academy Awards earned Terminator 2 four awards: Best Makeup (Winston and Jeff Dawn), Best Sound (Orloff, Johnson, Rydstrom, and Summers), Best Sound Effects Editing (Rydstrom and Gloria S. Borders), and Best Visual Effects (Muren, Winston, Warren Jr., and Skotak), as well as nominations for Best Cinematography (Adam Greenberg) and Best Film Editing (Conrad Buff IV, Mark Goldblatt and Richard A.

[111] It also marked the start of a lasting friendship between Schwarzenegger and Cameron, who formed a "midlife crisis motorcycle club" and reunited for the action film True Lies (1994).

This release includes a limited collector's set containing the Blu-ray, the "Ultimate" and "Extreme" editions on DVDs, a digital download version, all extant special features, and a 14-inch (360 mm) T-800 skull bust.

[190][191][192] Terminator 2: Judgment Day was marketed with numerous tie-in products, including toys, puppets, trading cards, jigsaw puzzles, clothing, a perfume named "Hero", and a novelization by Randall Frakes that expands on the film's ending.

[19] Following her escape from the state hospital, Sarah appears to embrace John but is actually checking him for injuries, forgoing any emotional attachment for the practicality of ensuring his survival and bringing about his destiny as a future leader.

Brown believes this reflected the increase in women assuming non-traditional roles and the division between professional critics—who perceive a masculinization of the female hero—and audiences who embrace characters regardless of gender.

[215] The hyper-masculine heroes played by Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Jean-Claude Van Damme were replaced with independent women who are capable of defending themselves and defeating villains in films such as Terminator 2 and The Silence of the Lambs.

[220] Author Mark Duckenfield said Terminator 2: Judgment Day can be seen as an unintended allegory for the decline of United States industries against successful Japanese technology firms, with the cutting-edge T-1000 representing Japan against the older, less-advanced T-800.

[54] Several filmmakers and creative leads have named it as an influence on their work, including Steven Caple Jr.,[233] Ryan Coogler,[234] Kevin Feige,[235] and Hideo Kojima,[236] and it was the favorite film of Russian political prisoner Alexei Navalny.

The website's critical consensus says: "T2 features thrilling action sequences and eye-popping visual effects, but what takes this sci-fi/action landmark to the next level is the depth of the human (and cyborg) characters".