Sylvester Stallone has enjoyed a lengthy career in Hollywood with numerous hit films that earned hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Stallone got his start in Hollywood at the end of the 1960s, but it was a difficult journey to progress beyond uncredited roles and minor TV appearances until he landed a leading role. In fact, his big break was largely a self-made role, because it came with his own script for a dramatic sports movie titled Rocky.

Today, Rocky is one of the most famous sports movies of all time, with a decades-long franchise and spin-offs that all developed from that original movie. But none of that would have been possible if it wasn't for the enormous and overwhelming success of Rocky that launched Stallone from obscurity to one of the biggest earners in Hollywood. While the movies below are not adjusted for inflation, it does provide an insight to just how huge these movies were, both at the time of release and in the decades since.

10 Rocky II (1979)

Box Office Total: $200,182,160

Rocky immediately became a hit film that drew in huge audiences thanks to the heartwarming story of an underdog taking the hard knocks of life and managing to rise above it. With the original's success, the production company behind the original movie was keen to get a sequel made. And now, with faith in Stallone's talent for writing and acting cemented, the studio also allowed Stallone to direct the sequel.

Rocky II came out just three years after the original movie, and it continued the epic saga of Rocky Balboa as he advanced his boxing career. The movie was once again a smash success, earning over $200 million.

This made it the second highest grossing movie of that year worldwide, which proved the universal appeal the films were having, and again made studios confident in continuing the story beyond the original two titles. However, the critical acclaim was significantly less than the original.

9 The Expendables 3 (2014)

Box Office Total: $209,461,378

Leaping forward several decades, after Stallone had established his reputation as an action star, the actor continued to appear in action films, but successes became few and far between. Despite the setbacks, Stallone pressed forward and continued doing what he loved, and eventually, he was brought in to co-write a series of films that put the spotlight on some of the biggest action stars of all time with The Expendables.

The series attracted the biggest names in action, both past and present, and delivered a story that harked back to the golden age of action movies in Hollywood. However, by the time the third movie was released, the popularity of the series had dwindled, and the ratings for the film were considerably less favorable compared to the first two movies. It still racked up in excess of $200 million, but compared to most of his older titles with inflation, The Expandables 3 would not make the cut of top 10 earners.

8 Creed II (2018)

Box Office Total: $213,591,522

Establishing a pattern, many of Stallone's most significant successes came from franchises that he helped to build and grow. The Creed movies came about as a way to expand the world of Rocky and shift the focus onto another younger character in the franchise.

To do this, MGM hired Ryan Coogler to co-write a story with Aaron Covington, and Creed was born. The film also brings Rocky back to the franchise, though this time his role is to act as a mentor to young Adonis Creed, the son of his late friend, Apollo.

The sequel brought in a new director and saw Stallone step up to have a bigger role in the writing, and as a result, it became the highest earning film in the spin-off franchise, crossing the $200 million mark, until the release of Creed III. However, this was the last time Stallone was included in the series due to creative differences with the studio.

7 Rocky (1976)

Box Office Total: $225,000,000

The movie that started it all, Rocky was a phenomenon, both within the sports genre, and in the wider landscape of cinema. The movie did not have a huge studio backing it, and it took Stallone to approach numerous companies in Hollywood to get the script approved. And despite some intrigue from other studios, Stallone felt strongly about playing the title character, and that resulted in even more rejection. However, when Chartoff-Winkler Productions took a gamble on Rocky and Stallone, they couldn't have predicted the overwhelming success of the movie.

Despite releasing in December 1976, the movie rapidly pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars, becoming the highest earning movie of the year in the eleventh hour. Then, in 1977, it won three Oscars, including for Best Picture. While $225 million is already an enormous figure, adjusted for inflation today, that figure would be in excess of $1.2 billion, which places Rocky firmly in the billion dollar club.

6 Cliffhanger (1993)

Box Office Total: $255,000,000

Despite almost all of Stallone's highest earning movies being part of a larger franchise, one film in particular goes against the grain. Cliffhanger was a standalone movie released in 1993 which saw Stallone step into the role of yet another action hero, Gabe Walker. At this point, Stallone was an established action star with multiple big titles under his belt, and his two most famous characters being Rocky and Rambo. While the success of Cliffhanger resulted in the studios pushing to get a sequel out as soon as possible, the planned sequel was stuck in development hell for decades.

However, the movie clearly resonated with audiences, as this brand-new action title managed to pull in enormous numbers at the box office. With Gabe Walker being a mountain climber who gets caught up in an intense international heist, the character and tension hit all the right notes. But ultimately, while plans for a sequel, reboot, or reimagining continue to be discussed to this day, the Cliffhanger franchise never fully materialized.

5 The Expendables (2010)

Box Office Total: $268,268,174

Returning to the modern action franchise that Stallone helped to build, the original The Expendables movie did big numbers at the box office. With the novelty of an old school action hero movie, combined with the incredible ensemble cast featuring so many huge action stars, The Expendables inspired a shift in the genre. In reality, there weren't many action movies that engaged the audience and made the genre exciting. But after the release of The Expendables, Hollywood started to take notice.

The Fast & Furious franchise changed direction with their Fast Five film taking a more action-forward role. Then, a few years later, John Wick delivered a spectacular action hit. While it's difficult to say for certain, it does appear that The Expendables played a part in the audience getting an appetite for big action blockbusters again. And with Stallone as the director and co-writer, it again proves his power and influence in the genre.

4 Rocky III (1982)

Box Office Total: $270,000,000

Again, it's worth drawing attention to the impact of inflation. While most of the films in the Rocky series were serious earners at the box office, the popularity of the films was not as widespread after Rocky II. Despite this, the exact figures tell a slightly different story, with Rocky III exceeding the total earnings of both of the previous sequels. In reality, despite the film only coming out six years after the original, when adjusted for inflation, Rocky III's total box office comes in at under $900 million.

Now, that is absolutely nothing to be snuffed at. The franchise remained a huge part of cinema, but it also had serious competition. Just two weeks after Rocky landed in theaters, Steven Spielberg's masterpiece, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial landed in theaters and knocked Rocky off the top spot. Despite all of this, the franchise continued to thrive, and it remained a sure thing for the studios investing in the development, though the story became less creative and unique.

3 Rocky IV (1985)

Box Office Total: $300,373,716

Another three years on, and Rocky IV arrived in theaters with one of the most memorable and terrifying rivals in the history of the franchise, Ivan Drago. Dolph Lundgren played the powerhouse rival who brutally kills Apollo Creed with his powerful punching, and then goads Rocky to return to the ring to claim the title. The stakes had never been higher, the villain proved to be a genuine threat to Rocky both inside and out of the ring, and the movie had a new spark.

As a result, the film earned a significant sum at the box office, exceeding $300 million. This was an impressive milestone for Stallone, and the film was deserving of that incredible figure, but there was a lot of competition that outperformed Rocky IV in 1985. Including one other title starring Stallone that came out several months earlier.

2 Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Box Office Total: $300,400,000

While Stallone rose to fame due to his role in Rocky, it was his presence in a steady stream of other big action set pieces that sealed his success. While the first movie managed to return an impressive box office in excess of $100 million, the story adapted from the 1972 novel, First Blood, featured a reluctant protagonist who found himself struggling to fit back into society after serving in the military. This complex nuance was intriguing, but it didn't deliver action in the same way as Rambo: First Blood Part II.

The sequel shed most of the intrigue and complex backstory and swapped it out for an all-out action movie. While First Blood saw Rambo reluctant to inflict harm on others, Rambo II pushed the limits of how many kills he could rack up and how creatively he could do so. With a script that came from the combined genius of James Cameron, the director and creator of Avatar, and Stallone, this film became a huge hit and inspired further development in the franchise.

1 The Expendables 2 (2012)

Box Office Total: $311,979,256

Finally, on paper, The Expendables 2 stands out as Stallone's highest earning film of all time. But again, drawing attention to the impact of inflation, this 2012 release would move considerably further down the ranks. With inflation, The Expandables 2 sits at a box office total of roughly $426 million, which means the entire list would be dominated by Stallone's work from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. However, The Expendables 2 does mark an important moment in Stallone's career, the first time he and Arnold Schwarzenegger appear together in a more extensive capacity.

Despite being two of the biggest action heroes to ever appear on the silver screen, Stallone and Schwarzenegger had never worked together until The Expendables franchise. In the first movie in 2010, Schwarzenegger appeared in a brief cameo role, but it wasn't until the sequel was released in 2012 that this role was expanded and developed further. And with even more action superstars involved, The Expendables 2 pulled in a significantly larger figure than the original movie, again aiding in bringing action movies back to the forefront of cinema.

Source: The Numbers