Twins wasn’t exactly showered with critical praise, but it earned Arnold Schwarzenegger his biggest paycheck by far. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action movies like The Terminator or Red Heat had come to dominate the box office during the late 1980s, but he knew that to evolve his career, he couldn’t just do action films forever.
Anybody who saw Arnie in Pumping Iron or during interviews knew he was a natural comedian, but studios were terrified of the idea of casting him in a comedy. That’s why Arnold went to Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman with the notion of doing a comedy together, with the duo later coming across a script called The Experiment, later renamed Twins.
The story involved fraternal twins (played by Arnold and Danny DeVito) who couldn’t be more different meeting each other later in life, and hijinks ensuing. Twins received largely bad reviews (it sits at 42% on Rotten Tomatoes) but was a huge commercial success, nabbing $216 million on a reasonably modest budget of $18 million (via The Numbers).
Arnold Schwarzenegger Made His Most Money From Twins Arnie, Danny DeVito and Reitman took home 40% of Twins’ profit
Universal wasn’t about to pass up a package that involved Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and Ivan Reitman, with the trio being red hot during this time. Still, the studio had major reservations about Twins being a hit, or making an Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy in general. That’s why Arnie, Reitman and DeVito agreed to take no upfront salary in exchange for 40% of Twins’ gross.
As Schwarzenegger proudly recounted during an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Twins earned him his biggest payday by far. While he wouldn’t be drawn on an exact number, he did tell the host that it was far in excess of $40 million.
It was a risky move by Schwarzenegger and DeVito to essentially work for free on the Ivan Reitman movie, but Arnie’s history of betting on himself paid off again. He also had a sense that a poster with him and DeVito standing side by side with the title Twins would lure viewers in – and he was totally right.
… Schwarzenegger, DeVito and Reitman planned to reunite once more for Triplets, a direct sequel that would have introduced Eddie Murphy as another long-lost brother.
The success of the movie also launched Schwarzenegger’s comedy career in earnest. He worked with Reitman again on Kindergarten Cop, another hit in 1990, while the duo reunited with DeVito for 1994’s Junior. Despite the trio believing the premise of Arnold getting pregnant would be make for another slam dunk, the movie was a box-office disappointment and received horrid reviews.
For years, Schwarzenegger, DeVito and Reitman planned to reunite once more for Triplets, a direct sequel that would have introduced Eddie Murphy as another long-lost brother. Reitman’s passing in 2022 saw the project fall apart, so it appears the sequel won’t be happening anytime soon.
Twins Is An Arnold Classic That Not Enough People Talk About Twins is a dated delight Close
It’s not unusual for a movie to become a number one hit, but not leave any real cultural footprint. It happened with the Airport franchise, which was huge in the 1970s and is now all but forgotten, or something like Mel Gibson’s Ransom from 1996. Twins is not quite memory holed in the same way, but it’s not discussed much.
A young Heather Graham has an uncredited role in Twins as Mary Ann Benedict, the mother of Julius and Vincent.
Arnie’s action output from the 1980s gets more attention, while Kindergarten Cop is considered the more successful fusion of his action and comedy personas. Twins is fondly remembered by those who grew up with it, but it wouldn’t be considered one of Schwarzenegger’s best.
This is a shame because while parts of Twins have aged like milk, it’s still a sweet and funny little comedy. Julius is the most wholesome character Schwarzenegger has ever played, and he has fantastic chemistry with DeVito. The plot is quite flimsy, but it’s a tough movie not to have a great time with.
Sadly, it feels like stories of the legendary paychecks Arnie and DeVito took home have become Twins’ legacy. While an eyepopping example of “betting on yourself,” there’s more to the Ivan Reitman comedy than a breakdown of what its leading men’s paychecks were.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Numbers, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Leave a Review Like Follow Followed Twins PG Comedy Crime 10.0/10 Release Date December 9, 1988 Runtime 107 minutes Director Ivan Reitman Writers William Davies, Herschel Weingrod, William Osborne, Timothy Harris Cast See All Danny DeVito Chloe Webb
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