Relaunching Planet Earl

By Julie Rawe

The latest installment in the Planet Hollywood saga could easily be titled Vegas with a Vengeance. The plot: shrugging off two bankruptcies and years of ridicule, a die-hard chain of movie-themed restaurants abandons plans for world domination to seek salvation on the Vegas Strip. The star: Robert Earl, the waggishly underdog CEO, who hopes that by opening the ultimate outlet in a flashy hotel-casino, he can thwart his detractors and restore his reputation.

It won't be easy. As a business, Planet Hollywood turned into the Death Star shortly after going public. But British co-founder Earl won't let go. "I have one desire in my business life," he says, "and that's to put Planet Hollywood back on top." A veteran restaurateur, Earl flits into Manhattan from his Florida home, and between brunch with Puffy, dinner with the Donald and beseeching Lehman Bros. to create a $50 million mezzanine fund, he pauses to reflect on his role as comeback kid. Last June, six months after Planet Hollywood International emerged from Chapter 11: Part 2, Earl scooped up the ailing Aladdin Resort & Casino for $635 million--half what it cost to build the three-year-old complex--using money from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which will own 15%, and Bay Harbour Management, a vulture fund that will split the rest with Earl. The acquisition is designed to transform the Planet from a been-there, done-that restaurant to a vibrant Hollywood outpost housing TV studios and weekly movie premieres. The CEO's new tag line: Constant change.

In 1991, when he was still running Hard Rock Cafe, Earl launched Planet Hollywood with the help of celebrity partners, including Bruce Willis and Sly Stallone, who got paid in stock to go to openings and attract free publicity. Star power helped propel the firm to a dotcom-style IPO in 1996 with what even Earl describes as "insane multiples." On paper, Planet was worth some $3.4 billion at its apex--and Earl more than $1 billion. But its stock, which peaked at $32, was delisted just before Planet's first bankruptcy in 1999. The chain, based in Orlando, Fla., had barreled into nontouristy towns like Columbus, Ohio, only to scale back from 47 company-owned locations to today's nine.

"The celebrities only showed up for the openings, and the cachet quickly faded," says restaurant consultant Ron Paul. That's why Earl is adding a new mother ship: a Las Vegas resort with 2,567 hotel rooms and a 7,000-seat theater. Much of his $30 million movie-memorabilia collection will be used in the Starwood-run hotel, where guests can opt to sleep on Austin Powers' shagadelic revolving mattress or Sharon Stone's bed from Basic Instinct. ("With ice pick available on request," Earl says.)

Sitting at a booth in the Planet Hollywood on Times Square, Earl, 52, alternates between resting his hand Napoleon-like between the buttons of his characteristically loud shirt and smoothing back his disco-king hair. A trio of unhip tourists walk in. "This is my market," he says, nodding at them as they gaze up at the massive movie props--cars, snowmobiles, not-so-miniature planes--dangling from the ceiling. "They'll buy a T shirt when they leave and probably go to a matinee. And they'll probably go to Vegas."

Earl is fairly optimistic for a guy who experienced what he calls "the most publicized bankruptcy in history." "My friends can't understand why I didn't just say, 'No more,'" he says. In some ways he has moved on, launching, among other projects, a Caribbean resort, a London bagelry and a fast-food chain named after his partner, the (11th and current) Earl of Sandwich. But Earl refuses to abandon his often lonely Planet. "I've got a lot of people I need to win for," Earl says, practically seething as he describes "some wanker journalist" asking political hopeful and former Planet partner Arnold Schwarzenegger about the company's financial troubles. Sure, Earl would love to win one for the Terminator, Bruce and Sly, but mostly Earl wants to get even and get rave reviews once more. "I've never had a failure in my career," he says. Welcome to Hollywood.