Sylvester Stallone had an incredible 1985 with his Rocky and Rambo sequels grossing an almost impossible $600 million at the box office. Stallone was once touted as the next Marlon Brando after the success of Rocky. Unfortunately, Stallone had trouble finding success outside of the Rocky film franchise, and his first role as Rambo in 1982’s First Blood took his career in a different direction. As Stallone explained in the Netflix documentary Arnold, First Blood ushered in a new generation of action films that focused on the lead actor’s body rather than dialogue or exposition.
For Stallone, the muscular physique he built for films like Rocky, Rambo and Cobra was an advantage, while his rival Schwarzenegger had The Terminator and Commando. Their particular brand of testosterone and blockbusters filled with one-liners spawned a generation of action stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme, while Bruce Willis operated as a more conventional variant of the same premise. As a movie star, Stallone reached his apogee in 1985 with the release of Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood. Part 2″.
Stallone Rocky IV and Rambo 2 Both Grossed Exactly $300 Million
Both Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and Rocky IV saw their titular characters going up against the Soviet Union and emerging victorious. Both sequels are firmly entrenched in the ’80s, both stylistically and politically, but they also remain some of Stallones’ most popular films. They also achieved a bizarrely simpatico box-office result, with Rocky IV and Rambo 2 both scoring exactly $300 million worldwide. Rambo: First Blood Part 2 earned $300.4 million (via The Numbers) following its May 1985 release, while Rocky IV scored slightly less with $300,373,716 (The Numbers) later that year.RELATED:
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That’s a $600 million tally for Stallone – which is approximately $1.7 billion when adjusted for inflation in 2023 – which is doubly impressive for two movies that were essentially sold on his name alone. Of course, Rocky already had an in-built audience, though the success of Rambo 2 would essentially turn that character into the poster boy for action cinema for years to come.
Why 1985 Was Stallone’s Best Box-Office Year Ever
Stallone’s $600 million feat with his Rocky and Rambo film franchises was essentially a case of being in the right place at the right time. The 80s was a decade of gloss and excess, with action films getting bigger and bolder in every way. 1985 was the year Stallone hit the zeitgeist right: his and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s films essentially became the superhero films of their era. Sylvester Stallone himself was uniquely attuned to pop culture during this period, and he would never fully recapture it in later years.
His $600 million year with Rocky & Rambo was by far his biggest box office haul, but subsequent efforts in both franchises grossed significantly less. Rambo 3, for example, cost much more to produce than its predecessor, but three years later it has earned just $189 million worldwide. Of course, every movie star’s destiny is to reach a certain peak and slowly decline from there, and for Sly 1985 was a year of success that few stars of his caliber had ever achieved.