Sylvester Stallone has cemented a great legacy in Hollywood for many iconic roles. After an intense struggle, he gained recognition with his Rocky series, which was followed by the Rambo franchise. further solidifying his action-star status. These not only elevated his name in the entertainment world but also carved his legacy among the highest-earning actors.
While his hit projects surely gave him a great fortune, many would be surprised to know that some of his box-office disaster projects have also resulted in big paychecks. Here’s the list of four box-office disaster movies that paid him handsomely for his work!
Sylvester Stallone’s Eye See You
While writing and acting skills brought Sylvester Stallone to build the Rocky franchise, some movies were unable to keep up with his box-office hits. One such project is his 2002 thriller/mystery Eye See You.
The movie, initially titled, D-Tox had a limited theatrical release, generating a little over $6 million at the worldwide box office as per Box Office Mojo. This was extremely disappointing given that the production budget was a gigantic sum of $55 million. Despite that, Stallone received a massive paycheck of $20 million for his role via Celebrity Net Worth.
Driven is another flop project that Stallone produced and wrote along with contributing as an actor. While the film was made with a $94 million budget, it was only able to surge past $54 million at the box office, increasing the list of flopped projects in Stallone’s career. Whereas, the Creed actor took home $20 million from the project.
Lock Up, is another disaster movie which the actor himself acknowledged.
It follows Sylvester Stallone‘s Frank Leone, a model prisoner in a minimum-security facility approaching the end of his sentence. But, he abruptly finds himself in a maximum-security prison where warden, Drumgoole holds a personal grudge against Leone.
The movie didn’t get overwhelming critical acclaim, grossing $22 million with a production of $24 million at the worldwide box office. In an interview with the Entertainment Weekly, the actor mentioned,
”Not a film that was produced and performed with enough maturity to really make a significant impact on the audience or my career. And that’s the truth.”
Interestingly, he was paid $16 million for his work.
Sylvester Stallone’s 1987 Movie, Over the Top
The 1987 project turns out to be something even the actor regrets. The movie involves Stallone’s Lincoln Hawk/Hawks, a long-haul truck driver who makes efforts to rekindle his relationship with his estranged son, Michael during his professional journey of becoming a champion arm wrestler.
With a production budget of $25 million, the movie was only able to earn $16 million with the actor earning a nomination for Worst Actor. Nonetheless, he earned $12 million for his efforts. In the same EW interview, he talked about the movie stating,
”It was not a very good experience. It was something I shouldn’t have done. It caught me at a weak moment. There was a lot of money involved. And at the time I thought I could make anything work. It was just foolish.”
Despite being box-office failures, these movies ended up giving him an overall paycheck of $71 million. It is to be noted that these can vary from the exact earnings that he may have accumulated for these movies. However, he has been reigning in Hollywood with many projects. He is one of the only two actors in history to star in #1 box office movies across six consecutive decades.