Few could have imagined that a young Austrian man with a distinctive accent and a hard-to-pronounce last name would achieve such remarkable success in diverse fields like bodybuilding, acting, and politics. But Arnold Schwarzenegger did just that, carving out a niche for himself in the world of cinema, particularly with his roles in Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator in 1984, which became his signature roles. During the 1980s, he dominated the box office, dethroning Eddie Murphy as the top earner. Films like Predator, Twins, Total Recall, and especially Terminator 2 helped establish him as a reliable box office draw… for a time, at least.
1994 marked a shift in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career, as the box office success of “Last Action Hero” was overshadowed by the dinosaur blockbuster “Jurassic Park.” However, “True Lies” provided a temporary resurgence, but subsequent films like “Junior” and “Jingle All The Way” softened his image, barely managing to recoup their costs. The campy flop “Batman & Robin,” met with boos from the audience during previews, momentarily ended the franchise until Christopher Nolan revived it. Unfortunately, a string of box office bombs like “End of Days,” “The 6th Day,” and “Collateral Damage” marked the first losses in Schwarzenegger’s career. To rejuvenate his acting career, he returned to the “Terminator” franchise, earning $433 million. Despite this, his political ambitions were already stirring, leading to his election as Governor of California from 2003-2011. Had his citizenship allowed it, Schwarzenegger could have been a strong contender for the Republican nomination for U.S. presidency.
During that eight-year span, he went back to acting, making appearances in various films like Around the World in 80 Days, The Kid, and more entertainingly, The Expendables and its first sequel. However, the next eight years witnessed several contenders taking over his position. Jason Statham was on the rise (and they would star alongside Arnie in The Expendables), Liam Neeson’s career experienced a resurgence as an action hero with ‘Taken’, Keanu Reeves was popular with The Matrix films and later John Wick, a new Bond was gaining recognition, Tom Cruise was doing his own daring stunts in a revitalized ‘Mission Impossible’ in 2011, and of course, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who many consider to be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successor, filled the shoes of the 80s action stars. He alternated between action films like Fast and Furious 5 with family-friendly movies like The Tooth Fairy, and by 2016, he had become the highest-earning actor in the world.
By 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger was 64 years old and maintained an impressive physique, returning to lead roles in movies after a hiatus. One such film was “The Last Stand,” co-starring Johnny Knoxville, which was an ordinary action movie that failed to meet expectations both critically and financially, earning just $48 million against a production cost of $45 million. The movie’s performance at the box office wasn’t boosted by the shocking disclosure that despite being married to Maria Shriver, Arnold had been involved in a ten-year affair with a housekeeper, fathering a son during this time.
His next movie will team him up with his long-time action co-star Sylvester Stallone, as they previously worked together in Escape Plan which grossed a solid $137 million. However, 2014’s film Sabotage only managed to make $22 million. Contrastingly, the zombie horror movie Maggie turned out to be a heartfelt study of a father caring for his infected daughter rather than the anticipated action-packed zombie movie, earning a mere $1.6 million. It’s no surprise that the fifth Terminator film, which features Arnold Schwarzenegger only in a cameo role (following the fourth one), was successful with a box office earnings of $440 million, despite its complex plot and a major twist being revealed in the trailer. Unfortunately, after 2015, things took a downturn again. The 2017 drama film Aftermath, based on a true story, barely made a million dollars. His career started to lean towards straight-to-video films with the limited release of Killing Gunther in 2017, earning just $200k. Another return to his iconic Terminator role was necessary, as Terminator: Dark Fate, while underrated and a first in the franchise, only made a profit of $261 million after accounting for production costs, marketing, and distribution expenses.
The movie failed financially, seemingly concluding the series permanently. At that time, Arnold Schwarzenegger was 72 years old, while Harrison Ford was around 80 when he starred in his last Indiana Jones film. However, the action in those films didn’t compare to what audiences were accustomed to from Arnold.
Ever since then, his career has been experiencing a significant low point. He’s been providing voices for video games and produced a Netflix TV series titled ‘Fubar’, but given its action theme, it never had the potential to bring him back to the heights he reached 40 years ago. With the emergence of acclaimed stuntman directors like Chad Stahelski and his John Wick franchise, as well as Gareth Evans whose The Raid films have set a high standard in the genre, making it challenging for anyone to surpass their achievements.
By the year 2027, Arnold will turn 80 years old, which means his action-packed days are clearly behind him and moving forward, it’s expected that he will focus on family-friendly comedies instead. In 2025, you might see him portraying Santa Claus in the film The Man with the Bag.
…….and as for more Terminator films, he wont be back!
Read More
- ENA PREDICTION. ENA cryptocurrency
- Gold Rate Forecast
- PS5’s ChinaJoy Booth Needs to Be Seen to Be Believed
- Wrestler Marcus “Buff” Bagwell Undergoes Leg Amputation
- Minecraft lets you get the Lava Chicken song in-game — but it’s absurdly rare
- AI-powered malware eludes Microsoft Defender’s security checks 8% of the time — with just 3 months of training and “reinforcement learning” for around $1,600
- Lewis Capaldi Details “Mental Episode” That Led to Him “Convulsing”
- Microsoft is on track to become the second $4 trillion company by market cap, following NVIDIA — and mass layoffs
- xAI’s $300/month Grok 4, billed as a “maximally truth-seeking AI” — seemingly solicits Elon Musk’s opinion on controversial topics
- IEM Cologne 2025 Pick’Em Challenge: Predict, Compete, and Win with xPlay.gg
2025-08-12 02:24