He'll be back. But does anyone care? In the wake of the U.S. box-office failure of
The Last Stand,
Arnold Schwarzenegger's
first
starring vehicle in nearly a decade, doubts are being cast about
several of his upcoming movies. And some are questioning whether the
former California governor has any future as an action star.
Last Stand was supposed to herald an action-hero comeback for Schwarzenegger, 65, who sought to join peers
Sylvester Stallone,
Liam Neeson and
Bruce Willis as
Hollywood's apparently ageless wonders. Instead, it has turned into a
referendum on whether The Governator can recover from personal scandal
and a longtime absence from the silver screen. The film's mixed reviews
and dismal $7.2 million gross over the long Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday weekend -- a 10th-place finish -- put big pressure on his
upcoming projects.
"All eyes were on this movie, and appropriately so," says box-office analyst
Paul Dergarabedian.
"If you want to mount a comeback, this is not the way you want to
start. But in Hollywood, you get several chances. If I were him, I'd get
Terminator 5 on the fast track."
It's difficult to gauge whether audiences -- especially women, who made up just 40 percent of the R-rated
Last Stand's audience -- stayed away because of Schwarzenegger's separation from
Maria Shriver following the disclosure that he had a child with their housekeeper. Arnold's recent book,
Total Recall,
sold a poor 21,000 copies in its first week in release in October. But
Lionsgate and sister company Summit won't have much time to ponder
Schwarzenegger's weaknesses and strengths as they gear up to market his
next film,
The Tomb. Opening Sept. 27, the action thriller stars Schwarzenegger opposite Stallone as prisoners who mount a bold escape. Then comes
Ten,
due in theaters in January 2014, which features Arnold as the commander
of an elite Drug Enforcement Agency squad that steals from a cartel.
Open Road Films is distributing the film, directed by
David Ayer and also featuring
Sam Worthington,
Terrence Howard and
Mireille Enos.
"If they work, he's fine," says one agent. "But if they follow the trajectory of
Last Stand, he's done."
In the meantime, Schwarzenegger has several big projects looming -- including
Terminator 5. The revival of the franchise is being mounted by siblings
Megan Ellison and
David Ellison via their respective Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions. Earlier in January, they set
Laeta Kalogridis and
Patrick Lussier to write the script, signaling that the project is a go. Schwarzenegger also is attached to Universal's
Triplets -- a follow-up to the 1988 comedy
Twins -- and
The Legend of Conan.
"Let's face it, you put Arnold in a
Terminator movie, and it will open at No. 1," says Dergarabedian. "I'm not going to count him out yet. In the case of
The Last Stand, it came down to the movie. It opened in a very competitive marketplace, and the concept wasn't that appealing."
Lionsgate had hoped that
Last Stand would mirror the
The Expendables
franchise, which features a parade of older actors, including Stallone
and Willis. Schwarzenegger made a cameo in the first film and played an
expanded role in the sequel, which grossed $300.4 million worldwide in
2012. He even was featured prominently in the marketing.
But
Last Stand -- a $45 million-budgeted tale about a washed-up sheriff who becomes embroiled in a drug war -- didn't have
The Expendables' kitsch. Moviegoers between 35 and 49, the demo that feasted on Schwarzenegger's action films of the 1980s and '90s, gave
Last Stand a C+ Cinemascore, the lowest grade of any age group. Lionsgate tried to lure younger moviegoers by casting
Johnny Knoxville in the movie, but it still was seen as a Schwarzenegger film, with only 28 percent of the audience under age 25.
"There's an entire generation of young people that was wondering why
the governor of California was starring in a movie," says one studio
observer.
Many believe Schwarzenegger -- who earned between $8 million and $10 million plus backend for
Last Stand,
a big fee but down from his $20 million-plus salary in his prime --
might have greater success overseas, where star power can have more
weight and audiences love action. The Jan. 20 premiere of the film in
Cologne, Germany, easily overshadowed the premiere of
Denzel Washington's
Flight in Berlin on the same night in local media. "He's Back" was a common headline.
"There is an appetite for these kinds of films -- look at the success of
The Expendables," says
Andreas Klein, head of Splendid Films, which is distributing
Last Stand in Germany (Lionsgate did about $25 million worth of foreign sales). Splendid also released
Expendables and its sequel, which grossed $215.4 million overseas, compared with $85 million domestic.
Others disagree, pointing out that
Tom Cruise's recent
Jack Reacher underperformed overseas. (Like Schwarzenegger, Cruise's image also has been impacted by personal drama.)
"Just because Arnold Schwarzenegger is in it doesn't mean it's going
to be a big hit," says one international buyer. "He's risky."
