Sylvester Stallone
Stallone also unsuccessfully attempted roles in different genres. He wrote and starred in the comedy movie Rhinestone (1984) where he played a wannabe country music singer and the drama movie Over the Top (1987) where he played a truck driver who enters an arm wrestling competition to impress his estranged son.  For the Rhinestone soundtrack, he performed a song.  These movies did not do well at the box office and were not well received by critics. It was around 1985 that Stallone was signed to a remake of the 1939 James Cagney classic Angels With Dirty Faces. The movie would form part of his multi-picture deal with Cannon Pictures and he was to co-star with Christopher Reeve. It was going to be directed by Menahem Golan. The re-making of such a very much liked classic was given disapproval by Variety Magazine and horror by top critic Roger Ebert.  So, Cannon decided to make Cobra instead. Cobra (1986) and Tango and Cash (1989) did solid business domestically but overseas they did blockbuster business making over $100 million in foreign markets and over $160 million worldwide. The Rocky and Rambo franchises at the end of the decade were billion dollar franchises internationally.