Arnold Schwarzenegger is hands down the biggest action star in Hollywood history. Perhaps only Sylvester Stallone can match Arnie’s box office dominance and cultural impact. In a four-decade career, Schwarzenegger gave iconic films and characters in The Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, True Lies, and many more. And yet, the film that earned him the most money is actually a comedy.
Arnold’s biggest paycheck
Recently, on a talk show, Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger surprised his fans when he revealed that Ivan Reitman’s comedy Twins was the most profitable film of his career. Appearing on Watch What Happens Live talk show, Arnold was asked by host Andy Cohen about the film that earned him his biggest paycheck. Arnold replied, “Well, number one was Twins because we got no money for the salary, but ownership with a piece of the back end. It was fantastic. We went all the way to the bank with that.”
When asked if he made more than $20 million or even $40 million, the actor replied, “It was more than that. It was more than any movie I ever made.”
Twins starred Schwarzenegger and DeVito as unlikely fraternal twin brothers. The casting had caused a huge uproar in Hollywood as Schwarzenegger was known as an iconic action star at the time, thanks to The Terminator and Predator, but his comedy chops were untested then.
All about Twins
Since nobody wanted to make comedies with him, the actor devised a plan to increase his chances of appearing in the genre. “If we don’t take any salaries, we can shoot the movie for $16.5 million. We worked out a deal where we got 40% of the backend of the movie. It happened to be the best deal we’ve ever made,” he said.
Twins, directed by Ivan Reitman, was a comedy-drama that starred Arnold and Danny DeVito in the lead roles, marking their first collaboration on the big screen. Released in 1988, the film was a runaway commercial success, grossing $216 million worldwide, and even more on home video.
There were plans for a sequel titled Triplets, which would also star Eddie Murphy. But before the film could go on floors, director Ivan Reitman passed away, and the film was canned.
Arnold’s recent and upcoming work
Arnold, now 77, is still doing both action and comedy on screen. The second Season of his action comedy Fubar premiered on Netflix on June 12. Among his upcoming projects is the holiday movie The Man with the Bag, in which he’ll play Santa Claus.
