The amazing amount of money Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid per word spoken in ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’
In his iconic role in the Terminator film franchise, Arnold Schwarzenegger utters some of the most memorable lines in Hollywood history. Indeed, his two most legendary phrases – “I’ll be back” and “hasta la vista, baby” – are both listed among the American Film Institute’s 100 greatest movie quotes of all time.
That neither line extends beyond four words is wholly representative of Schwarzenegger’s character: the Austrian-American plays the T-800, a largely taciturn cyborg assassin sent back from the future.
And the T-800’s dialogue was not only low volume, high impact. For Schwarzenegger, it turned out to be low volume, high reward.
How much was Arnie paid per word for Terminator 2?
Having reportedly been paid a modest $75,000 for his turn in 1984’s The Terminator, Schwarzenegger is estimated to have netted $15 million for reprising his role in the 1991 sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
As explained by ScreenRant film expert Ari Kagan, the T-800 has only around 700 words of dialogue throughout Terminator 2’s 137-minute run time – which would mean he was paid approximately $21,500 per spoken word.
What’s more, with only 17 lines of dialogue in the opening film, Schwarzenegger’s vastly smaller pay check for The Terminator still worked out at about $4,500 per word, Kagan notes.
What did he get for the other Terminator movies?
Schwarzenegger later returned for three more films in the Terminator franchise.
While we don’t have a dollar-per-word breakdown of his appearance in 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, we do know he was paid a reported $29.5 million for the movie, plus significant royalties.
Details of his remuneration for films five and six in the series – 2015’s Terminator Genisys and 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate – have not emerged. The actor, now 78, did not feature in the fourth instalment in the franchise, 2009’s Terminator Salvation.
What is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s net worth?
Schwarzenegger, a performer-turned-politician who served as California governor between 2003 and 2011, is estimated to have accumulated a 10-figure fortune throughout his half-century career.
As of November 2025, his net worth is placed by Forbes financial magazine at $1.2 billion.
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