Arnold Schwarzenegger Working On A Sequel To His Best Sci-Fi Movie?
With the exception of Terminator and 1984's Conan the Destroyer, Arnold Schwarzenegger was never a franchise-oriented actor.
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With the exception of Terminator and 1984’s Conan the Destroyer, Arnold Schwarzenegger was never a franchise-oriented actor. Sure, his continued appearance in the Terminator franchise presents a sufficient argument to the contrary, as well as his cameo appearances in the Expendable series, but those were one-offs in Austrian Oak’s acting portfolio. Despite never revisiting some of his most famous films, Schwarzenegger reportedly wants to return for the new Total Recall movie.
The follow-up story to the original 1990’s Total Recall was in the works, following the original film’s success, with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Douglas Quaid, as reported by We Got This Covered. The movie was based on yet another Philip K. Dick short story and would’ve brought us Quaid as a reformed law enforcer in a future where a crime can be solved before it’s committed – setting the narrative back on Mars.
However, the movie was never filmed, though the script survived through the ages suffering massive changes with edited elements from the original short story. That particular story was later adapted by Steven Spielberg and introduced into his sci-fi thriller The Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger, leaving the 1990’s classic without as much as a spiritual successor. Now, according to WGTC’s article, the movie is back on the table, and Arnold wants to be involved, though further details remain obscure at the time of writing.
Admittedly, the original Total Recall is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biggest and best performances and the most expensive production in history, at least at the time. The movie had a $60 million budget going into production in March 1989, earning over $ 261 million worldwide, which is well over $560 million when adjusted for inflation. The script for Paul Verhoeven‘s Total Recall was loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, which followed a similar idea of planted memories and espionage. Unfortunately, Verhoeven’s adaptation of the story never got a sequel – only a remake.
Dimension Films acquired the sequel, prequel, and remake right to Total Recall in 1997, which lead to a remake announced in 2009 and released in 2012, starring Colin Farrell. It was intended as a closer adaptation of the original story; however, the movie failed at the box office, grossing only $198.5 million. Nowhere near Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall from 1990. Admittedly, the remake featured some impressive action scenes brought to us by modern technology but lacked the original film’s intricate plotting and dry humor.
Regrettably, we can’t offer any more details surrounding the alleged sequel to the original Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but we must say it does sound surprising. Given a handful of films in which he reprised his role, the actor is notorious for turning down role reprisals. He turned down every opportunity to appear in Predator movies after John McTiernan’s original from 1987, and Kindergarten Cop sequel released some fifteen years after the original with Dolph Lundgren in the lead.
