Even Spending Millions and Running the “First-Ever Paid Ad in Outer Space” With NASA Couldn’t Save Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1993 Movie From Flopping

After blockbusters like Predator and Die Hard, director John McTiernan turned towards a “warmer, more cuddly” action movie in 1993. This was his second collaboration with bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the team went all out on promotions and merchandising. From action toys to amusement park rides to even outer space, the production unit left no stone unturned in bringing the movie to the masses. However, the idea of a satire of the action genre didn’t bode well with the audience.

Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as the fictional LA Police Detective Jack Slater in McTiernan’s sixth directorial Last Action Hero. The movie, which also parodied several other action movies in a ‘story within a story’ format, was largely disliked by the audience. Even millions of dollars spent overall couldn’t save the film from being a flop.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and the production unit’s attempts at selling the film didn’t work

In his autobiography Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about the movie Last Action Hero in Chapter 20. Schwarzenegger wrote that after Conan the Destroyer failed to create a spark in the audience, it was time to “pack in enough amazing stunts” in Last Action Hero. They wanted to connect with the then trend in the US. However, it failed to do so.

Schwarzenegger was a successful movie star by then, and McTiernan had established himself as a bonafide action film director. With big names running the film, the production unit spared no expense in promoting the film. Schwarzenegger wrote, “We licensed seven kinds of video games, a $20 million promotion with Burger King, a $36 million “ride film” to go into amusement parks... NASA picked us to be the first-ever paid advertisement in outer space“.

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There were also Jack Slater toys which “instead of wielding a flamethrower, threw a punch and said ‘Big mistake.'” But none of this could cover up for the part where the audience was bored by the end of the film.

The last action hero didn’t make an impact at the Box Office

“The production was running late… the movie was still so unfinished that it ran for two hours and twenty minutes, and by the end, you couldn’t make out most of the dialogue”, wrote Schwarzenegger in the book. At the time of its release, it was billed as the ‘next great summer action movie’. Many industry insiders predicted it to be a huge blockbuster backing on Schwarzenegger’s then-recent blockbuster hit Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It ended up earning around $50 million in the US and Canada, but not enough to be dubbed a summer blockbuster. Schwarzenegger was paid $15 million for the film. On the contrary, his highest-paid film was Twins where he made up to $35-40 million!

While this kind of fantasy action comedy film seemed right for the time period with America moving in an anti-violence direction in the 90s, and the audiences being more into “peace and love” could be attributed as one of the reasons why the film didn’t click with the audiences. But Schwarzenegger was soon back among hit films with True Lies in 1994.

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