Not 'Terminator', but this comedy earned Arnold Schwarzenegger most money

Washington DC [US], June 25 : Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger surprised his fans when he revealed that his film 'Twins' was his most profitable film of his career, despite being known for his superhit franchise 'Terminator', reported Variety.

During an interview on the 'Watch What Happens Live' talk show, as quoted by Variety, Arnold said that 'Twins' delivered him 40 million USD. It was a comedy-drama that starred Arnold and Danny DeVito in the lead roles, marking their first collaboration on the big screen. The movie was released in 1988.

"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," said Arnold as quoted by Variety.

When asked if he made more than 20 million USD from the success of 'Twins', Schwarzenegger said his final payday was more than that. Asked if it exceeded 40 million USD, the actor replied, "It was more than that. It was more than any movie I ever made," as quoted by Variety.

'Twins' starred Schwarzenegger and DeVito as fraternal twin brothers. While Schwarzenegger was an iconic action star at the time thanks to 'The Terminator' films, 'Predator' and 'Conan the Barbarian,' his comedy chops were untested before that.

"Why would they [cast me in a comedy?]" Schwarzenegger recently told his son, Patrick, during a chat for Variety's 'Actors on Actors' series.

"They said, 'Are you crazy? The more people this guy kills on-screen, the more money we make. Why would we change that?' That was the dialogue until Ivan Reitman and Danny DeVito came along," said Arnold as quoted by Variety.

Nobody wanted to make a comedy with Schwarzenegger, so the actor claims that he devised a plan to increase his chances of appearing in comedy films.

He said, "If we don't take any salaries, we can shoot the movie for 16.5 million USD. 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," as quoted by Variety.

According to Variety, 'Twins' grossed 216 million USD worldwide in theatres and profited even more on home video.

Despite the film's huge paydays, Schwarzenegger never got around to making a sequel with DeVito. They planned a follow-up titled 'Triplets.' They also decided to add Eddie Murphy to the cast.

But Reitman "passed away before we wanted to start shooting," said Arnold as quoted by Variety.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the second Season of Schwarzenegger's 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, reported People.

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