Sylvester Stallone once turned down a $34 million salary

Adjusted for inflation, the $35 million Johnny Depp released for 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' is neck and neck with the $40 million Will Smith achieved for "King Richard" for the highest movie star salary (excluding participatory points) in the history of cinema. Given the diminished importance of movie stars in the age of streaming, those numbers are unlikely to be matched any time soon. So Stallone must grimace when he turns down $34 million for "Rambo IV" in 1988.

As Stallone told The Hollywood Reporter:

"[W]e were doing Rambo III. We thought it would be the biggest hit — that was before it came out. And I got paid a fortune for that. Then they say, 'We want Rambo IV. Here it is: pay or play, 34.' I'm going, 'Let's not jump the gun here...'"

Had they taken the plunge, Carolco could have disbanded long before the disastrous flops of Paul Verhoeven's "Showgirls" and Renny Harlin's "Cutthroat Island" ended the company for good in 1995. potential victims? The Harlin-Stallone collaboration "Cliffhanger" will probably never happen, nor will Oliver Stone's "The Doors." The biggest loss, however, might have been "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." After "The Abyss" failed, no one in Hollywood who cared about job security was going to let James Cameron make what was then the most expensive movie of all time.

Would you rather have a "Rambo IV" where probably 75% of the budget went into Stallone's pocket, or a "T2" with all the decadent trimmings that transform cinema? I thought so.