Tulsa King Avoided Sylvester Stallone’s Grim Rotten Tomatoes Record (& It Explains Why He Needs Season 2)

Summary

• Tulsa King is Sylvester Stallone’s first fresh scripted project as a leading man since 2018, breaking a grim Rotten Tomatoes streak.
• Stallone’s recent box office success with The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 doesn’t fully count as he had voice or cameo roles.
• Tulsa King has become Stallone’s biggest franchise by default, with the upcoming second season expected in 2025.

Sylvester Stallone has had a bleak run on Rotten Tomatoes in recent years, which only Tulsa King has broken.Rocky was Stallone’s big break as a leading man, and in the following two decades, he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world. However, following the praise he received for 1997’s Copland, he went on to a run of bombs, including his Get Carter remake and Driven. It was only thanks to some dependable Sylvester Stallone movie franchises that he climbed out of this spiral; he also created a new series for himself with 2010’s The Expendables.

In 2021, the success of The Suicide Squad made Stallone one of only two actors to have had a number one at the box office six decades in a row. While it may have been unthinkable during his movie heyday, Stallone has now moved into television with Tulsa King. This Taylor Sheridan-created series cast Sly as a recently released mafia captain exiled to Oklahoma to set up a new criminal outfit. The show has been a hit for streamer Paramount+ and holds a robust 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the upcoming Tulsa King season 2 is expected in 2025.

Tulsa King Is The Only Fresh Scripted Movie/Show Stallone Has Starred In Since 2018

Stallone has had a bad streak of green splats on Rotten Tomatoes as a leading man

Stallone has always had a mixed reception from critics, outside the likes of Rocky or Copland. His tendency to focus on action movies or sequels has never sat well with most film reviewers, who once hailed him as the heir apparent to Marlon Brando following Rocky. Stallone’s Rotten Tomatoes score across his entire career is a bumpy ride, but the last few years in particular have been grim. Outside of 2018’s Creed 2 nabbing 83%, the majority of Sly Stallone projects since 2018 have been rated “Rotten,” outside of Tulsa King.

Expend4bles

was both a critical and commercial bomb, with the Rotten Tomatoes score being a mere 14%.

His obscure thriller Backtrace earned a flimsy 8% in 2018, while his Prime Video superhero project Samaritian only reached 38%. Even Stallone’s franchises have let him down; 2019’s gory and risible Rambo: Last Blood earned 26%, while Escape Plan: The Extractors didn’t even receive an RT critics’ score. Expend4bles was both a critical and commercial bomb, with the Rotten Tomatoes score being a mere 14%.

Stallone’s RT run isn’t all bad news, though the James Gunn double bill of The Suicide Squad (90%) or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (82%) don’t quite count, since the former is a near-mute voice role for Stallone while the latter is a cameo. Tulsa King being an unqualified critical hit shows the star can still do good work with the right material, so hopefully, the second season can keep the quality up.

The first three
Expendables
are currently available to stream on Max, while
Expend4bles
can be found on Starz.

Tulsa King Season 2 Confirms It Is Sylvester Stallone’s Biggest Franchise Now

Move over Rambo and Rocky, it’s Dwight “The General” Manfredi’s time to shine

A dispute with the producers behind the Creed

movies has seen Stallone refusing to reprise his Rocky character again, while Rambo: Last Blood was designed as a finale for the titular soldier.

Stallone was one of the first big stars to cultivate franchises for himself, returning to Rocky and Rambo periodically throughout the 70s and 80s. He did the same thing once again with The Expendables, but since 2018, he has been wrapping up his involvement with his biggest properties. A dispute with the producers behind the Creed movies has seen Stallone refusing to reprise his Rocky character again, while Rambo: Last Blood was designed as a finale for the titular soldier.

Expendables 4 wasn’t intended to be the end of that particular saga, but after its disastrous box-office performance, it’s hard to see a way forward for the series. Stallone will be returning for a belated Cliffhanger sequel and a potential Samaritan follow-up, but his biggest film series appears done. That makes Tulsa King his biggest franchise by default, though after so many decades of big action roles, it’s nice to see him settle into a role that lets him flex his acting muscles a lot more.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Numbers