Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Forgotten Sci-Fi Flop Is On Streaming For Free
Arnold Schwarzenegger's The 6th Day is free to stream right now on Tubi.
What’s better than one Arnold Schwarzenegger? Two Arnold Schwarzeneggers! Or at least that was the thought behind sci-fi bomb The 6th Day. Fans curious to see why double the Schwarzenegger didn’t translate into double the box office can watch the movie for free right now on Tubi.
The 6th Day is a 2000 sci-fi action romp starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Adam Gibson and…Adam Gibson? That’s right, Hollywood kicked off the new millennium still high on the previous decade’s obsession with clones. The 1990s brought us Multiplicity, starring four Michael Keatons, Spider-Man‘s infamous “Clone Saga” storyline, and even real-life miracle sheep Dolly, the first mammal ever cloned from adult cells.
Adam Gibson is a charter pilot who comes home one day to find a clone of himself hanging out with clone versions of his wife and daughter. Adam discovers he’s fallen into a big cloning conspiracy and teams up with fake-Adam to rescue his real wife and daughter and foil an evil billionaire—is there any other kind?—named Drucker.
The title of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film comes from the Judeo-Christian belief that God created humans on the sixth day. In the movie, there is a “6th Day” law prohibiting the cloning of humans, although animal cloning is widely accepted and is even a plot point.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is joined in The 6th Day by more than just Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie is a who’s who of “Hey, it’s that guy!” character actors like Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn, and Michael Rooker. Actors you know by their faces, but you might have to look up their names.
On the other end of the spectrum is veteran actor Robert Duvall who’s been a household name since at least The Godfather, and newcomer Terry Crews who would become better known as the host of America’s Got Talent and the guy shouting “P-p-p-p-power!” in various Old Spice commercials. Arnold Schwarzennegger’s The 6th Day would actually be Crews’ first movie role. Despite debuting in a sci-fi mystery, Crews would go on to work primarily in comedies like Idiocracy and White Chicks.
The 6th Day was directed by Roger Spottiswoode, the man behind Pierce Brosnan-era James Bond outing Tomorrow Never Dies and ’80s slobbery dog classic Turner and Hooch. National Treasure scribes Cormac and Marianne Wibberley wrote the film. Joe Dante of Gremlins fame was attached to direct the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle at one point but ended up passing on The 6th Day for undisclosed reasons.
Although not explicitly stated in the film, Arnold Schwarzenegger mentions that The 6th Day is set in 2015 during one of the featurettes included in the movie’s DVD release. A few of the movie’s predictions for the future that ended up coming true were flat-screen televisions, self-driving vehicles, and smart appliances.
Despite boasting an A+ cast lead by Arnold Schwarzenegger—at the time still the biggest action star in the world—The 6th Day tanked at the box office. The movie earned only $96 million worldwide on a budget of $82 million. Taking into account advertising costs, the movie lost a good chunk of money for Columbia Pictures during its dismal theatrical run.
Critics and fans hated the movie equally. The 6th Day has a disappointing 40 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a downright awful 33 percent audience score. To add insult to injury, Arnold Schwarzenegger was nominated for three Razzies the following year.
One for Worst Actor (as the “real” Adam), one for Worst Supporting Actor (for clone Adam), and one for Worst Screen Couple (for both roles). Amazingly the actor lost all three categories to an even worse 2000 sci-fi film Battlefield Earth.
Arnold Schwarzenegger had a run of unsuccessful movies at the turn of the century. In addition to The 6th Day, there was also ’99s supernatural thriller End of Days, and 2002’s Collateral Damage—all of which had disappointing box office hauls. Though not specifically stated, the string of bombs may have been partially responsible for the star’s pivot to politics in the 2000s.
Today, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biggest sci-fi misstep is most remembered for its poster/DVD cover/thumbnail, where the actor’s eyes are covered by mechanical discs resulting in a look that resembles Maz Kanata from the Star Wars sequel trilogy. The 6th Day may not be high art, but it’s worth checking out free on Tubi , especially if you want to see Arnold Schwarzenegger yelling at Arnold Schwarzenegger.
