As expected, The Last Stand has performed better with the overseas box office than in the United States. But who would have imagined we would see the day that an Arnold Schwarzenegger film would open to under 6.5 million dollars on the opening weekend and be in and out of the big U.S. complexes within three weeks. Sadly for Sly, his Bullet to the Head brought in even fewer fans who contributed to only 4.5 million on its opening weekend.
So what went wrong? The blame goes to multiple factors; Stallone’s movie opened on Super Bowl weekend, a time when most action hero fans become couch potatoes. From what we hear, the film was also a mediocre film.
With Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand, Arnold faced his own difficult obstacles including big box office competition of Oscar nominated films, age, a ten year absence in films, a large number of Californians still protesting the Governator and the fact that The Last Stand had little televised promotion. In fact, the list goes on and on. Johnny Knoxville, who is not a problem in the film during his 5 minutes of screen time, should not have shared the poster with Schwarzenegger. The poster prominently showcasing the Jackass star makes the average curious moviegoers think this film is going to be a zany comedy rather than a ballsy action film. The movie studio should have stuck with one of their first two very successful teaser posters.
Arnold’s modern day western film is now currently around the 28 million mark with the worldwide tally. The numbers continue to climb as it has not yet been released in every part of the world. The Last Stand opens soon in Australia but other countries have to wait longer and Japan (some of Schwarzie’s biggest supporters) have to wait until April 27th for the sheriff to fire away on the big screen. So it is very possible that the movie will make its money back even before the DVD and Blu-ray sales.
So is this the end for Arnold and Sly? Certainly not although we will naturally be feeling kicked and beaten until The Oak and The Stallion make their triumphant return this September in The Tomb. Yes, we do confidently say “triumphant” because not only do we have friends who saw an early test screening with rave reviews, but The Tomb appears to be more of an event film with a touch of a sci-fi with futuristic looking guards and prison cells.
“Abking” from our message boards also share their thoughts on how these two icons can make a strong and consistent comeback. Click HERE to read their recipe for Sly and Arnold success.
With the two recent theatrical bombs, audiences may be letting movie studios know that the standard action films with big firepower and stunts may not be as appreciated as they were in the 80s. Unless you’re guaranteed a built-in audience like that of the Die Hard franchise, movie-goers may just not care about action stars who protect a small town or how good they are with throwing a punch or punch-line. It’s just not high-concept enough for today’s youth. Today audiences flock to event films. So we even fear a movie like Twins 2 may not attract large crowds because everyone already knows the punch-line of the Eddie Murphy sibling.
With the exception of TEN, which looks like it has the potential to be one of Arnold’s best action films, sci-fi, fantasy and even horror may be the best way to go for Schwarzenegger’s future. Who wouldn’t want to see Arnold take on zombies, terminators, or aliens (predators)! The Oak should also be in super hero films, lead an army with a barbaric sword, and maybe even go after a role in one of these new Star Wars films! Now those are event films!
We look forward to Arnold’s exciting future, which will hopefully be filled with monsters, barbarians, aliens, terminators, predators, superheroes, dragons, Jedi masters and zombies. Arnold will be a god among Comic Con. See you in San Diego.
