It’s been a tumultuous twelve months in the public eye for Schwarzenegger, largely thanks to his decision to preside over NBC’s corporate-boardroom reality series The Celebrity Apprentice—a post previously held by Donald J. Trump. With their roles reversed—former Republican governor Schwarzenegger hosting Trump’s TV show, while Trump runs the free world—a feud felt inevitable, and it wasn’t long before the two were sparring openly with each other in the media. Schwarzenegger may have come out of this squabble looking more presidential than his rival, but it did little to alter the fate of his Celebrity Apprentice stint, which likely thanks to audience fatigue with all things Trump-related, crashed and burned, prompting its replacement host to swiftly exit the franchise.
A brief, unsuccessful venture into reality TV could hardly derail Schwarzenegger’s larger fortunes. However, it comes on the heels of a string of big-screen misfires that have, to a greater extent, marred the man’s once-impenetrable winning streak.
In terms of box office power, the actor hasn’t participated in a $100 million-grossing film since 2010’s The Expendables (in which he delivered a glorified cameo). And the last time he actually headlined such a hit was 2003’s Terminator: Rise of the Machines. To be sure, Schwarzenegger’s fruitful foray into politics limited the number of movie projects he took on during the early part of the new century—between 2003 and 2013, he only had bit parts in Around the World in 80 Days, Terminator Salvation, and the first two Expendables installments. Yet having returned to acting full-time over the past few years, he’s found it increasingly difficult to regain his prior king-of-the-world form.
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