Sylvester Stallone Set for Two Action Films

Sylvester Stallone has just inked a lucrative deal to direct and star in two action films with his "Rambo" producers. Several scripts are being considered and with Nu Image/Millennium's new WGA interim deal speeding up the process, the first script is expected to be locked by the fall, with production set to begin shortly thereafter.

It's a deal few would have expected just a few years ago, when Stallone followed up his role in "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" with a failed network boxing reality TV series, "The Contender." But in 2006, Stallone wrote, directed and starred in "Rocky Balboa," the sixth "Rocky" film after a 16-year gap between sequels. The MGM release grossed $70 million on an estimated $24 million budget.

The second part of Stallone's one-two punch came with "Rambo," which he also starred in, wrote and directed. The film, distributed by Lionsgate, made $18.2 million in its opening weekend and earned an estimated $25 million in its first 10 days of release.