Sylvester Stallone is known as one of those guys from the entertainment industry that you simply do not want to mess with. Thanks to films like Rocky, The Expendables, Creed, and so on, the actor has built a certain ‘tough-guy’ reputation for himself, one that is enough to scare off anyone who dares to pick a fight with him.
His portrayal of Rambo in the Rambo franchise which started off with First Blood is arguably one of the most terrifying and violent roles of his career. While Sylvester Stallone is often praised for his ability to bring such characters to life with perfection, he was once bashed by the audience for creating Rambo merchandise for kids, something which another superstar, Tom Cruise, is totally against.
When People Compared Sylvester Stallone to Hitler
After the success of the Rambo franchise, the studio decided it would be a good and profitable move to license the R-rated character. In doing so, they went ahead to create Rambo-inspired toys for little children as young as five-years-old, including a machine gun. Needless to say, eyebrows were raised and Sylvester Stallone was targeted as he is, of course, the face of the character.
However, in an interview with Chicago Tribune, Stallone cleared the air stating that he had nothing to do with the making of such questionable merchandise. He had his assistant bring in a book that had a catalog of the merchandise, including action figures, battle gears, and explosive devices.
“I couldn’t control it. I tried to stop it, but I don’t own the licensing rights. I think I receive 5 percent of the net revenues, which out here, as you know, means you get nothing, even though, I’m told, they will gross more in licensing than the movie grossed, which is about $300 million worldwide.”
In fact, when the studios sent him the toys to give away to kids, he very nicely asked them to burn all of them to the ground.
“Look, at Christmas time, they brought a truckload of this stuff to my house and wanted me to give it away to some kids in a hospital or to some ‘Toys for Tots’ program. I told ‘em, ‘Get this . . . the hell out of my driveway and burn it. Don`t give it away.’ It’s not for kids. The movie was not supposed to be for little kids, and I wouldn’t let my own children play with those toys.”
Stallone then recalled how people compared him to the infamous dictator, Adolf Hitler even though he had no part to play in the deed. This drove the actor to make a vow that from then on, he would be the one in charge of his films’ merchandising.
“What more can I say? I’m very embarrassed about it. It has people thinking and saying terrible things about me. They think I’m some kind of Hitler. From now on I am going to control the merchandising of my films.”
Stallone went on to state that his plea to not use Rambo for toys was disregarded as the studios argued that they were not using him, but the traits of a character he does not own.
Tom Cruise Does Not Allow Merchandising
If there is another action star who can make heavy profits from merchandising his face and movies other than Stallone, it is Tom Cruise. Being one of the biggest superstars in the world, Cruise has starred in numerous action/adventure films which would be perfect for video games. His iconic characters such as Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible and Pete Mitchell from Top Gun: Maverick, have great potential to become best-selling action figures.
Cruise is certainly aware of this yet he has made it crystal clear that no merchandise sporting his face or his likeness will be made. In fact, this is something Cruise has mentioned as a clause in his contracts.
According to Unilad,
“This is because of a particular clause which doesn’t allow Cruise’s likeness to be used to make any merchandise. Which means anything that would feature Cruise’s face, like toys and video games, would be off the table.”
Yes, you might have seen some games or toys here and there based on Cruise’s films and characters. However, none of those are official and have been created by fans.
Source: Chicago Tribune
