Arnold Schwarzenegger has criticized the decision to remake one of his most-beloved movies during an appearance at a screening of the new version of The Running Man.
Schwarzenegger introduced the film at a special screening he helped organize for local veterans in Los Angeles at the Skydance screening room. Director Edgar Wright was in attendance and captured Schwarzenegger’s opening remarks in a video later posted to Instagram and X.
Schwarzenegger was full of praise for Wright’s film, starring Glen Powell, which, like the Schwarzenegger version before it in 1987, is an adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King novel of the same name. “In 1987, we made the movie The Running Man,” Schwarzenegger told those in attendance. “This was the decade where most of the greatest action movies were made; the eighties and into the nineties.”
Those remarks drew shouts of “yeah” from the veterans in attendance before Schwarzenegger continued speaking. “Now, of course, a lot of companies come and remake them,” he said. “In most cases, I am not happy about that because they are perfect movies.”
It was at this point that Schwarzenegger appeared to take aim at one reboot in particular. “Why would you redo, you know, Total Recall? I was unhappy about it. I’d say, ‘OK, that’s—that is stupid to do.'” Those comments drew laughter from the audience.
Released in 2012, the reboot of Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell and Bryan Cranston, grossed $211.8 million worldwide off a reported budget of $125 million. It was poorly received by critics, though, and currently has a 30 percent rating on the popular review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. By contrast, Schwarzenegger’s version, released in 1990, has an 81 percent rating.
Though he was scathing of the new Total Recall, Schwarzenegger was keen to make a distinction between that reboot and Wright’s version of The Running Man during his appearance at the screening. “I always said in my interviews there was one movie that I did that came out really well, but I felt like we didn’t have the budget to do the kind of, to paint the future that this story takes place…that movie was [The] Running Man,” Schwarzenegger told the audience. “I always felt that could be redone in a better way.”
Schwarzenegger went on to say he was invited to a screening of Wright’s movie a week ago and was “blown away” by what he saw. “I thought they did such a fantastic job,” he said. During the introduction, Schwarzenegger also revealed that both Powell and Wright had reached out to get his “blessing” on the project, which he had been happy to provide.
Writing alongside the video shared to Instagram, Wright was appreciative of Schwarzenegger’s support. “I’m beside myself listening to him speak about the film we all worked so hard on,” the writer-director wrote. “He has been so kind and generous throughout our production.”
This isn’t the first time Schwarzenegger has been critical of the Total Recall reboot. He previously referenced it during a 2019 interview with GQ magazine, looking back at his signature roles, saying: “Someone tried to do a remake of [Total Recall]. How stupid is that? Jesus!”
Despite solid reviews, this new version of The Running Man has so far stumbled at the box office, with a global opening weekend gross of $28.2 million some way below expectations.