The three actors came together in 1991, long before Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were on the same screen in The Expendables 3. The three action stars were at the top of their game in the early 1990s. They competed furiously as well. Off-screen, Arnie and Sly had been at odds since their 1977 Golden Globe Awards encounter. But the three celebrities embraced a special business opportunity when producer Keith Barish and Hard Rock Cafe founder Robert Earl approached them.

Action movie legends were making millions of dollars at the box office in 1991. Willis was enjoying the success of Die Hard 2, while Stallone was starring in Rocky V (1990). In the meantime, the bodybuilding hero starred in Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991, which is undoubtedly the most famous movie of his career. Despite this, the three thought the “business adventure” had potential.

Schwarzenegger detailed how the three Hollywood celebrities got millions of dollars by investing in Planet Hollywood in his autobiography published in 2012. Arnie was approached by Keith Barish and Robert Earl in 1991 with the concept for Planet Hollywood. A Planet Hollywood restaurant would be like a Hard Rock Cafe or Earl’s. Nevertheless, the theme would be movies rather than music.

The actor from The Terminator presented the restaurant as a “magnet for people who loved American movie stars.” “The décor would consist of movie memorabilia and props, such as a motorcycle from The Terminator, Jayne Mansfield’s swimsuit from The Girl Can’t Help It, and Tom Cruise’s flight suit from Top Gun,” Arnie wrote. A-list actors would even stop by the restaurants, which would also sell goods and host premieres.