This terrible decision by the production company Carolco Pictures prevented us from enjoying a new Arnold Schwarzenegger film under the direction of the person responsible for the original Total Recall.
We all enjoyed the original Total challenge released in 1990 under the direction of Paul Verhoeven and the prominent starring roles of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone.
And at that time, Arnold Schwarzenegger He was one of the most in-demand actors to play action or science fiction films, and the truth is that Paul Verhoeven’s work was exceptional, not only in the aforementioned Total Challenge, but also in Basic Instinct or Starship Troopers, among others.
And at that time, both Paul Verhoeven and Schwarzenegger were on the verge of working together again on a great film, a film that ultimately was not made.
At that time, the production company Carolco Pictures was hesitating between a film called Crusade that would have Paul Verhoeven directed and Schwarzenegger as the protagonist, or financing the film The Island of Severed Heads and which, unfortunately for everyone, was finally They decided on the latter.
And we say unfortunately, because The Island of Severed Heads was a real fiasco both in terms of critics and box office. However, its production amounted to 100 million dollars, and it only made about 10 million dollars at the box office.
This caused the bankruptcy of Carolco Pictures itself and also caused us to be left without seeing a new Arnold Schwarzenegger film.
If made, Crusade was going to be a huge historical epic set at the end of the 11th century, which was going to have Schwarzenegger in the title role.
As Paul Verhoeven himself explained to Variety, he considered that the production company made the worst decision of its entire existence.
“They were working on two films at the same time. One was Crusade and the other was Cutthroat Island, and then they found out they only had $100 million or something and both movies cost that much. “So they chose the pirate movie, which, in retrospect, was a terrible choice because Cutthroat Island completely collapsed and bankrupted Carolco.”
So, due to that very bad decision by the production company, we are left without being able to enjoy a new historical film of Schwarzenegger in his best times.