Want to know the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies? How about the worst Arnold Schwarzenegger movies? Curious about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s box office grosses or which Arnold Schwarzenegger movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Arnold Schwarzenegger movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which ones got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
I have already done pages on 1980s action stars Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone, so I figured a page on the last original founder of Planet Hollywood was overdue. Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947-) is a body builder, turned actor, turned politician who has returned to acting. Arnold first appearance in a movie was in 1970’s Hercules In New York. He was billed as Arnold Strong and had his voice dubbed over. The rest of the 70s saw Arnold appear in a couple of weight-lifting movies and some supporting roles in movies like Stay Hungry and The Villain. In 1982, Arnold starred in Conan the Barbarian. Conan was a box office success and showed that Arnold could carry a film.
In 1984, he made the first of three appearances as the title character in director James Cameron’s The Terminator. The success of The Terminator, turned Arnold into a Hollywood superstar. From 1984-1997 he appeared in numerous successful films. Films like The Running Man, Predator, Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop and True Lies. In 1997 he appeared as Mr. Freeze in the worst Batman movie ever….Batman and Robin. After the critical failure of Batman & Robin, his film career and box office pull went into decline. His last movie before he became Governor of California was Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. After leaving office, Arnold, returned to making movies. So far the results have been pretty disappointing. Maybe the big man has one more big movie in him.
His IMDb page shows 74 acting credits since 1970. This page will rank 35 Arnold Schwarzenegger movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Arnold Schwarzenegger movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Arnold Schwarzenegger movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Arnold Schwarzenegger movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Arnold Schwarzenegger movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Arnold Schwarzenegger movie received.
- Sort Arnold Schwarzenegger movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort buttons to make this a very interactive page….for example…if you want to see the three James Cameron/Arnold movies only….then type “James Cameron” in the search box and up pop the three movies.
The Best of Arnold Schwarzenegger
#5 Predator (1987) Predator is Arnold’s third highest rated movie by critics and audiences with a 85% score, while finishing 9th on his top box office hits list. Whenever you read a article on the greatest action movies this movie is always in the conversation. Like the Terminator this movie also spawned many sequels. The movie was directed by John McTiernan, who after finishing this movie moved on to another action film called Die Hard. No wonder he became known as a great action director after those back to back movies. Did you know….that Kevin Peter Hall who played the Predator also played Bigfoot in Harry and the Hendersons? Did you know? The Predator’s mandibles came from a suggestion by James Cameron. Mandibles (jawbones) are the bones that form the skull with the cranium. I was not really sure what mandibles were so I had to look it up.
#4 The Terminator (1984) I have very fond memories of watching this movie at the theater. The audience reaction was one of the best I have ever experienced. I have forced my teenagers to watch this movie and even they like it….imagine that. The Terminator is Arnold’s highest rated movie according to critics and audiences with a 91% score but it barely cracks his Top Ten box office hit list…coming in at #10. This movie put James Cameron on the Hollywood map, turned Arnold into a superstar and started one of the most successful movie franchises ever. I can not believe it has been over 30 years since the release of this classic movie.
#3 True Lies (1994) Arnold plays Harry Tasker, a man leading a double life. For the sake of his wife and daughter he pretends to be a boring computer salesperson. For the sake of the country, he is a super agent and one of the last defenses who works for the secret government agency The Omega Sector. Since this is a James Cameron movie, True Lies was one of the most expensive films ever made, costing about $110 million in 1994. But the money was well spent as True Lies was the number three movie of the year with over $750 million dollars in adjusted worldwide box office grosses. Many highlights in this movie. For me the performance of Tom Arnold is one that I think about when I think about True Lies. I thought at the time Tom Arnold was headed for big things…..sadly nearly twenty years later and this is his career pinnacle.
#2 Total Recall (1990) Arnold’s 3rd biggest blockbuster hit with over 229 million in adjusted domestic box office dollars dollars. This great science fiction film was based on Phillip K. Dick’s story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”. Of all the Phillip K. Dicks’s stories to be turned into movies, Total Recall joins Blade Runner and Minority Report as the best of the bunch. This was one of the last big budget movies to use miniature sets versus computer effects. Before Arnold got the role, Richard Dreyfuss, Christoper Reeve and Patrick Swayze were offered the role
#1 Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) Schwarzenegger’s biggest box office hit with a box office gross of over 1 BILLION when looking at worldwide adjusted box office dollars. Terminator 2: Judgement Day(or T2) is ranked the forty-second best movie on IMDB. Arnold, Linda Hamilton and James Cameron all returned for this sequel. Even Kyle Reese shows up in a dream sequence if you ever watch the director’s cut.
The film’s visual effects included many breakthroughs in computer graphics that would change the way movies would be made. T2 won four Oscars® for makeup, sound mixing, sound editing, and visual effects. Arnold gets to play the good terminator this time out, while Robert Patrick as the bad T-1000, steals the show in my opinion.
There were two more sequels in this franchise but they have not been in the class as the first two. I am thinking that might have something to do with James Cameron or more like the lack of James Cameron.
Check out Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve Lensman’s Arnold Schwarzenegger You Tube Video
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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
I don’t care what people say about Arnie, I love his movies and always will
Hey taj….I like him too…thanks for the visit.
Arnie was on Good Morning America today discussing his new book with details about his affair and child. The things celebs will do to sell a book is shameless. Just thought I’d stop by and share my two cents. Or nickel. Dime? 🙂
Hey Sunshine….it seems Arnold is everywhere this days and sharing lots of his personal stories….it does make you think he is stooping pretty low to try and sell a book. I wonder if Maria got all the money and now he is struggling? I appreciate you stopping by and leaving your nickel.
Hercules in New York isn’t great, but at least is unintentionally funny. Cactus Jack is a considerably worse film as it is played for laughs, like a live action version of road runner, but isn’t funny at all.
Hey Rain Defence….thanks for stopping by. Hercules in New York is a bad film in a good way….there are two versions out there….one Arnold’s voice is dubbed the other it is Arnold. Cactus Jack (The Villian) is a movie I actually saw at the theater and you are 100% correct….a not funny comedy….those words never make for a pleasant movie going experience.
“Get to the choppaaah” What Arnie film is that from? 🙂
Nice to see your Schwarzenegger page looking shiny and new Bruce. I’ve counted 4 films on your list I haven’t seen, they are – Hercules in New York, Junior, Jingle all the Way and Expendables 2.
I’ve seen and own all the top 10 on DVD and a good chunk of the top 20 too.
Good work amigo and thanks for the link.
Voted Up, Useful, Awesome and Interesting.
Hey Steve….not sure where the quote comes from….but Predator is my first guess. Of the ones you have not seen…other than possible Expendables 2…you are not missing anything. As Hercules is dreadful, Junior is not funny at all, Jingle All the Way is good if you are 5 (my little girl loved it last Xmas).
I appreciate the votes and the revisit….I think your poster hub is a nice fit with this page….I hope people check it out.
Hey Bruce, there’s a big feature on Arnie in the new Empire magazine. He lists his favourite films, some interesting choices, here they are – Terminator 2, Twins, Titanic, The Sound of Music, Doctor Zhivago, Ben-Hur, Fantasia, High Noon and The Godfather.
He kept sets of these films in special bronze cases with the inscription “Films are more than merely images on the screen, they are places in our heart. Please enjoy these great movies. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger” and would hand them out to visiting dignitaries while he was the governator. 🙂
Oh and his favourite role is Julius from Twins, because he played a “shy and softspoken guy”.
Hey Steve….thanks for the information. He has a interesting favorite movies….hard to imagine Arnold liking Sound of Music and Fantasia…as those movies seem…anti-Arnold…..but I can easily see T2 and Ben-Hur and Arnold.
I like his idea of the movie gift pack. So is Arnold saying he is a shy and softspoken guy like Julius….very interesting. I give Arnold some credit for his manning up to his mistakes . Thanks for the visit.
Richard Dryfuss as dennis quad/john howser? what were they thinking! Anyway I would like to see arnold back on the screen but not as Conan or Terminator. He needs to reinvent himself and arnold is a man who can do it. He has proven this many times in the past, Come back arnold, Hollywood needs you.
Hey ruffridyer….Dreyfuss was not the only one who at one time was going to play Quaid/Howser…..Jeff Bridges and Patrick Swayze also signed on to play the part….but those movies always fell apart before being made..now we can look forward to Colin Farrell playing him in the remake..as for Arnold’s comeback….I think when his personal life calms down…he is going to return to Terminator….that is his comfort area and the one that will get him the most money…..as he approaches 70 I can not believe there are many roles for him….but you never know…..maybe James Cameron can bring him back to glory…..I think Arnold would make a great bad guy in Avatar 3….thanks for commenting and reading my page