Planet Hollywood

much for your meal

at a flamboyant novelty eatery

like Rainforest Cafe, Bubba

Gump Shrimp, or the Hard Rock

Cafe was a rite of passage.

But only one themed

restaurant had the backing

of some of the biggest movie

stars of the modern era, Planet

Hollywood, where diners

could admire authentic movie

memorabilia while digging

into a plate of nachos.Sadly, the restaurant

never managed

to achieve the same success

as its high profile investors.

Today on Weird

History Food we're

talking about the rise and

fall of Planet Hollywood.

But before we get started, be

sure to subscribe to the Weird

History Food channel.

And while you're at it,

let us know in the comments

below what other themed

restaurants past you

Would like to hear about.OK.

Hope you brought your

official Planet Hollywood bib

because we're about to tuck

into some Weird History.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Let's

travel back all the way

to the set of Arnold

Schwarzenegger's 1987

hit The Running Man, where an

actor playing a medtech first

approached movie producer Keith

Barish with a business idea.

The mans name was

Bryan Kestner and he

had a dream, a dream inspired

by the success of Hard Rock Cafebut with movie stuff

instead of guitars.

Kestner's vision was

of a magical place

where you could see replicas

of your favorite movie props

and sometimes catch a glimpse

of your favorite celebrity too.

Though the likelihood

of meeting Julia Roberts

at a Planet Hollywood

was about as likely

as Christopher Lloyd popping

his head out of the DeLorean

hanging upside down in the

restaurant chain's HonoluluGreat scott!

Kestner's idea had legs.

Unfortunately, the name he threw

out, Cafe Hollyrock, did not.

But Barish was willing to

give the restaurant a go,

planning the venture with former

Hard Rock Cafe CEO Robert Earl.

Kestner was givena stake in

the realization of his brand,

but later complained of

receiving minimal stock

and even less credit, which

considering how things shook

out, was probably for the best.Keith Barish used his

Hollywood connections

to rope in some A-list investors

to go all in on the franchise.

Bruce Willis, Arnold

Schwarzenegger, Demi Moore,

and Sylvester Stallone were

the restaurant's largest

stakeholders and

were often confused

as being the owners

of Planet Hollywood.

And that's why

it's called acting.

Genius performance.

Opening its first

location in 1991,the business attracted a

Swell of additional talent,

until celebrities comprised

17% of the company's ownership.

Notable marquee names

included Whoopi Goldberg,

Melanie Griffith, Jean-Claude

Van Damme, Danny Glover,

Don Johnson, Tom Arnold,

Wesley, Snipes John Hughes,

Cindy Crawford, and America's

sweetheart, Roseanne Barr.

Stars would shoW up at

Planet Hollywood locations

and wave to fans in

exchange for employee stock,thus creating an incentive

for genuine stars

to make appearances, as well

as an incentive for customers

to make the trek out to the

nearest Planet Hollywood

location.

Nothing convinces a family to

make the drive from Missoula

like the possibility of catching

a glimpse of Miami Vice's

own Don Johnson.

There were other less evident

up-shots to this arrangement.

Barish allegedly

enticed Bruce Willisby promising to book

his band and to make

him the official music video

director of Planet Hollywood.

Hey, if you're going to

make a vanity project,

you go all the way.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Much like everything else about

Planet Hollywood, the menu

was hot trash.

It was almost as if the

marketing department had asked

themselves what do

people eat when they'retrapped at an airport and

then designed an entire menu

around that concept.

For example, one

infamous menu item

featured chicken tenders breaded

with Captain Crunch cereal.

And boy, did it get

Soggy from there.

From handheld lasagna to a

literal knuckle sandwich,

Planet Hollywood ran the gamut

f bizarre dining choices.

The infamous Planet

Meltdown dessertwas a globe of chocolate

that melted under hot caramel

and slowly revealeda

Planet Hollywood logo.

If that sounds sticky and

difficult to eat, wel,

in fact, it was.

While children seem to

love it, mnost adults

and some rotund food critics

couldn't choke it down

without comment.After all, the basic

idea of a chain

of eateries decorated with

authentic movie memorabilia

is a pretty good one.

Unfortunately, there are only

SO many interesting pieces

of movie history in existence.

Consequently, much of

the memorabilia featured

in Planet Hollywood restaurants

were less than essential,

closer to a straight to DVD

American Pie sequel then Gone

With the Wind.of the meat slab

rocky used to train or a toilet

seat from the action comedy

Bulletproof autographed

by Adam Sandler.

Eventually, it became unclear

which props were genuine

and which were

replicas, or even which

movies they were supposed

to be representing.

It's hard to get excited about

eating Captain Crunch chickenfingers next to Matthew

Modine's polo shirt

from Pacific Heights.

Today, anyone

trying to recapture

the magic of being disappointed

at a Planet Hollywood

can go to collectibles by

Planet Hollywood on Amazon

where the brand is selling

off their old memorabilia.

That's where you can become

the proud owner of a $450 alien

eye from Independence

Day, a $300 log used

by Harrison Ford in Clear and

Present Danger, and a $200items all branded with the

chain's signature globe

on a stick logo, from

keychains to t-shirts,

to watches to leather jackets.

Name an essential

piece of '90s fashion

and Planet Hollywood sold it.

They even had adorable

animal mascots.

A gorilla named

George and a dinosaur

ved to Pictures/

Scre named Bubba, now

extinct outside of eBay.

The gift shops were so

popular that Planet Hollywood