Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals Which Of His Movies' Failure Took The Heaviest Toll On Him
It seems that it was simply ahead of its time, as it managed to achieve cult status years later.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has an impressive number of memorable roles from many of his screen appearances, some of which were hits and some of which were flops.
But several other projects that failed at the start managed to gain a cult following years later, like Last Action Hero.
In a new Netflix documentary, Arnold (2023), the action movie icon recalls his long career, including its ups and downs, and also mentions the 1993 action comedy.
It was destroyed by critics and became a box office disappointment, which apparently took a heavy toll on Arnold.
The actor, who was in his prime after appearing in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, did not expect such a cold reception, as he "can't tell you how upset [...] he was" and that it was just "embarrassing."
James Cameron, who called Arnold the weekend after the film's release, says he "sounded like he was in bed crying" and obviously "took it as a deep blow to his brand."
Schwarzenegger didn't want to see anyone for a week to recover from such a failure, as it could have ruined the newfound success after Terminator 2, with his mother-in-law helping him get over it.
Aside from the negative reviews, the fact that Last Action Hero was a financial disaster was heavily influenced by Jurassic Park, which was still in theaters during the film's release and absolutely dominated the box office, leaving it no chance.
The action-comedy managed to gross $137,298,489 worldwide against a budget of $85 million, but failed to live up to the studio's expectations, making it a flop.
Fans say it was a good movie that was just way ahead of its time, as it has now built its own fanbase and still holds up quite well.
It had a lot of meta humor, which is pretty common these days, great cameos like Ian McKellen, Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick, and some truly hilarious scenes like Hamlet as an action star.
An action comedy series FUBAR starring Arnold premiered on May 25, 2023 and is currently available on Netflix, as well as all three episodes of Arnold documentary.