Arnold Schwarzenegger has landed some big hits during his career, which have been especially financially lucrative. However, his most lucrative film was neither Terminator nor True Lies; it was an unassuming comedy that one wouldn’t think of in this context.
Which film is it? Twins is a comedy from 1989 by Ivan Reitman starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. In the film, both are twins who were separated at birth. Schwarzenegger plays a perfect, innocent man who wants to find his brother, but he is quite different from what one would expect.
With a budget of 15 million dollars, the film grossed over 216 million dollars worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). That alone signifies a huge success, especially for 1989. What is special about this film is that Schwarzenegger, DeVito, and Reitman did not receive a salary, but it was likely still the most lucrative film of their careers.
Schwarzenegger was also involved in the first film that cost over 100 million dollars: The first film that reportedly cost over 100 million dollars is turning 30 and is an iconic action-comedy
Even with True Lies, Schwarzenegger didn’t earn that much:
No salary, but a significantly better deal
In an interview with Graham Bensinger, the actor spoke about the film Twins and why he didn’t take a salary for the film. At that time, Schwarzenegger was mainly known for his action films that made incredible amounts of money. However, he also wanted to make a comedy, as he was convinced he could do it well.
To convince the studio of Twins, Schwarzenegger offered to take no salary for the film. The studio would just have to cover the production costs. According to Schwarzenegger, Reitman and DeVito also decided not to take a salary.
The three had a so-called back-end deal. This means they shared in the film’s profits, including box office and TV revenues. Regarding this topic, he stated according to adorocinema.com::
I believe that we all made more money with this film than with any other film we ever made, even though I received 30 million dollars for some films. […] This was the biggest because we had a share in everything: the TV rights, the cable TV rights, the merchandising. […] The money was ours and we made a fortune.
Arnold Schwarzenegger on the profit share from Twins (Source: adorocinema.com)
With a film that grossed over 216 million dollars just at the box office, that must have been an incredible amount of money.
In the interview with Bensinger, he also talks about a studio boss who came to them and simply said: Do you know what you have done to me? […] You have robbed me
. According to Schwarzenegger, the deal the three made was so historic that the studio never wanted to do anything like that again. At the Oscars, DeVito and Schwarzenegger met again and threatened a common enemy: At the 2024 Oscars, Schwarzenegger and DeVito meet their arch-enemy
