15. First Blood (1982)
$125.2 million
First Blood is a 1982 American action film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It co-stars Richard Crenna as Rambo’s mentor Sam Trautman and Brian Dennehy as Sheriff Will Teasle. The film is based on the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, which many directors and studios had unsuccessfully attempted to adapt in the 1970s. In the film, Rambo is a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam veteran who must rely on his combat and survival skills when a series of brutal events results in him having to survive a massive manhunt by police and government troops near the fictional small town of Hope, Washington.
14. Demolition Man (1993)
$159.1 million
Demolition Man is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Marco Brambilla in his directorial debut. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, and Nigel Hawthorne. Stallone is John Spartan, a risk-taking police officer who has a reputation for causing destruction while carrying out his work. After a failed attempt to rescue hostages from evil crime lord Simon Phoenix (Snipes), they are both sentenced to be cryogenically frozen in 1996. Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing in 2032, but escapes. Society has changed and all crime has seemingly been eliminated. Unable to deal with a criminal as dangerous as Phoenix, the authorities awaken Spartan to help capture him again.
13. Daylight (1996)
$159.2 million
Daylight is a 1996 American action thriller disaster film directed by Rob Cohen and starring Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, Viggo Mortensen, Dan Hedaya, Stan Shaw, Jay O. Sanders, Karen Young and Danielle Harris. PLOT: In upstate New York, a waste management firm loads barrels of toxic waste onto trucks, intending to illegally dispose of them at a site in New Jersey. They are shown heading into a tunnel beneath the Hudson River along with several commuters, including struggling playwright Maddy Thompson, a bus of juvenile offenders, a vacationing family, an elderly couple with a dog, and sporting goods retailer Roy Nord. Meanwhile, a gang of grunges grabs gems from a gem buyer after mugging him and takes his car to escape the NYPD by racing into the tunnel.
12. Cobra (1986)
$160 million
Cobra is a 1986 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by Sylvester Stallone, who also starred in the title role. PLOT: After a failure of negotiations between a lone armed gunman and law enforcement during a hostage crisis at a Los Angeles supermarket, the LAPD summons Lieutenant Marion Cobretti (Stallone), a member of its elite division known as the “Zombie Squad”. Cobretti, addressed by his codename “Cobra”, infiltrates the store, locates, and negotiates with the gunman, who threatens him by speaking of a vague and unknown organization known as “The New World”, a supremacist group of social darwinist radicals that despise modern society and believe in killing the weak, leaving only the strongest and smartest to rule the world.
11. The Specialist (1994)
$170.4 million
The Specialist is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger. PLOT: In 1984, Captain Ray Quick and Colonel Ned Trent, explosives experts working for the CIA, are on a mission to blow up a car transporting a South American drug dealer. But when the car appears, a little girl is inside with the dealer. Ray insists they abort the mission, but Ned intends to see it through and allows the explosion to happen, resulting in the deaths of both the drug dealer and the child. Furious by the girl’s wrongful death, Ray savagely beats Ned and flees, effectively resigning from the CIA right after getting Ned fired by reporting him to his superiors.RELATED:
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10. Rambo III (1988)
$189 million
Rambo III is a 1988 American action film directed by Peter MacDonald and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also reprises his role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. The film depicts fictional events during the Soviet– Afghan War. In the film, Rambo sets out on a dangerous journey to Afghanistan in order to rescue his former commander and his longtime best friend, Col. Sam Trautman, from the hands of an extremely powerful and ruthless Soviet Army colonel who is bent on killing both Trautman and Rambo, while helping a local band of Afghan rebels fight against Soviet forces threatening to destroy their village.
9. Rocky II (1979)
$200.1 million
Rocky II is a 1979 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. Rocky struggles in family life after his bout with Apollo Creed, while the embarrassed champ insistently goads him to accept a challenge for a rematch. Rocky struggles in family life after his bout with Apollo Creed, while the embarrassed champ insistently goads him to accept a challenge for a rematch.
8. The Expendables 3 (2014)
$214.7 million
The Expendables 3 is a 2014 American action film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt and Sylvester Stallone. The story follows the mercenary group known as The Expendables as they come into conflict with ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks, the Expendables’ co-founder, who is determined to destroy the team.
7. Rocky (1976)
$225 million
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone), living in the slums of Philadelphia, is a poor, working-class, Italian-American small-time club fighter and debt collector for a Mafia loanshark and gets an unlikely shot at the world heavyweight championship held by Apollo Creed (Weathers).RELATED:
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6. Cliffhanger (1993)
$255 million
Cliffhanger is a 1993 American action thriller film directed and co-produced by Renny Harlin and co-written by and starring Sylvester Stallone alongside John Lithgow, Michael Rooker and Janine Turner. Based on a concept by climber John Long, the film follows Gabe (Stallone), a mountain climber who becomes embroiled in a heist of a U.S. Treasury plane flying through the Rocky Mountains.
5. Rocky III (1982)
$270 million
Rocky III is a 1982 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. PLOT: Rocky agrees to a charity match with wrestling champion Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan). While Rocky treats the match as a lighthearted exhibition, Thunderlips seems to be taking it seriously with a ferocious attack, body-slamming Rocky, using several of Hogan’s signature moves and eventually throwing him out of the ring.
4. The Expendables (2010)
$274.5 million
The Expendables is a 2010 American action film written by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone, and directed by Stallone, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars an ensemble cast of mostly action film actors consisting of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis. The film is about a group of elite mercenaries tasked with a mission to overthrow a Latin American dictator whom they soon discover to be a mere puppet controlled by a corrupt ex-CIA agent.
3. Rocky IV (1985)
$300.4 million
Rocky IV is a 1985 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone) fights Ivan Drago (Lundgren), a Soviet boxer responsible for causing a personal tragedy. Rocky IV was Dolph Lundgren’s American film debut, and Stallone’s last directorial effort until 2006. PLOT: In 1985, Ivan Drago (Lundgren), a muscular 6-foot-5, 261-pound Soviet boxer, arrives in the United States with his wife Ludmilla (Nielsen), and a team of trainers from the USSR and Cuba. His manager, Nicolai Koloff (Pataki), takes every opportunity to promote Drago’s athleticism as a hallmark of Soviet superiority.
2. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
$300.4 million
Rambo: First Blood Part II is a 1985 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also reprises his role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. In the movie, Rambo gets released from prison in a deal with the United States government to document the possible existence of missing POWs in Vietnam, but is given strict orders not to rescue any. When Rambo defies his orders, he is abandoned and forced once again to rely on his own brutal combat skills to save the POWs.