CNN/Money  
graphic
News > Companies
graphic
Running Man can't lose in gov's race
Schwarzenegger's campaign will boost interest in Terminator 3, future films.
August 8, 2003: 2:33 PM EDT
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money Senior Writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Even if The Terminator is vanquished, he'll still win.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, already about half-way to billionaire status, could see bigger paydays thanks to his campaign for governor of California -- unless, of course, he wins.

Sales of the DVD of Arnold Schwarzenegger's  
Sales of the DVD of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator 3" are expected to get a boost from his campaign for governor of California.

The Republican's campaign will almost certainly lift DVD sales and rentals of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," which is scheduled for release around the time of the Oct. 7 recall election. And the 56-year-old action star, whose box office numbers have sagged a bit in recent years, could become a hotter Hollywood commodity, assuming he resumes his movie career.

"Everyone in California is thinking about him, and that's where the studios are," said David Mumpower, president of film sales tracker Box Office Prophet.

Before deciding to enter the governor's race, Schwarzenegger was mulling "Terminator 4," a remake of "Westworld," and a reprise of his role as Conan the Barbarian, according to a film industry source.

Arnold commands $20 million a movie, plus a piece of the ticket receipts. A published report in the Sunday Times of London estimates his net worth at $483 million, and his non-movie income from real estate and other business interests may be as much as double his movie income, according to published reports. He even owns and leases out a 747 jet.

Will he be back?

If he is elected, it's not clear he'll ever resume acting. Neither the "Love Boat's" Fred Grandy, who served in Congress, nor former movie star and president Ronald Reagan, moved back to entertainment after leaving office.

Even if Schwarzenegger doesn't win, he has said he will pay for his own campaign, which is expected to spend at least $10 million on television advertising alone over the next two months. So the campaign could end up costing him more than he sees in additional income, at least in the short run.

It's difficult to estimate exactly what additional DVD sales, and Schwarzenegger income, could come due to his governor's race. The latest Terminator movie was expected to be one of the top five holiday-season DVD releases, even if Schwarzenegger had never registered to vote.

A spokeswoman for Warner Home Video wouldn't speculate on the impact the campaign might have on the DVD's release, and couldn't even yet give a release date. "It's a little premature. Everyone still has to figure out what it means," said Emily Zalenski. Warner Bros. is a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner (AOL: up $0.14 to $15.17, Research, Estimates), which also is the parent company of CNN/Money.

Spokespeople for Schwarzenegger were not available for comment.

A new DVD edition of his "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" sold 600,000 copies earlier this year, and "T3" could easily triple those sales. His movie "Collateral Damage," was a relative disappointment at multiplexes with less than a third of T3's U.S. box office of $140 million. But it saw 1.4 million DVDs sold, according to Video Store Magazine.

Experts say they expected his race for governor to give "T3" DVD sales a significant if hard to quantify lift.

"Typically when someone comes into light in the media, there's definitely an interest in the actor. Bob Hope videos became popular on his death," said Judith McCourt, market research director for Video Store Magazine. "It'll have a lot of competition, but it would have done very well without this. This will only help."

Related stories
graphic
TV stations win with Arnold in race
Arnold boosts Jay's ratings
Planet Hollywood broke II

Some have suggested that Schwarzenegger is getting a bit long in the tooth to continue to play action heros. Despite discussions with studios, it's not clear how many more action blockbusters he had left even if he hadn't entered this race.

He has seen modest domestic box office numbers in recent years -- "T3" was his first movie in which he was the star that did more than $100 million since "Eraser" in 1996. In fact the U.S. box office for "T3" is likely to equal the domestic ticket sales for his previous three films combined.

But he can still command top dollar due to his international appeal said Mumpower.

Click here for a look at media and entertainment stocks

"People are still going to pay him because he means something opening weekend, and overseas, he's a top-three guy," he said.  Top of page




  More on NEWS
JPMorgan dramatically slashes Tesla's stock price forecast
Greece is finally done with its epic bailout binge
Europe is preparing another crackdown on Big Tech
  TODAY'S TOP STORIES
7 things to know before the bell
SoftBank and Toyota want driverless cars to change the world
Aston Martin falls 5% in its London IPO




graphic graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.