[2] It was launched in New York City on October 22, 1991, with the backing of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[3] Further celebrity endorsement included actors Whoopi Goldberg, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Don Johnson, Cindy Crawford, Melanie Griffith, Tom Arnold, Wesley Snipes, and Danny Glover; director John Hughes; and comedian Roseanne Barr.

[6] While expanding Hard Rock Cafe from seven to 20 locations over the next two years, Earl met Bryan Kestner, with whom he had a shared vision of music, movies, and sports transcending language and other barriers.

[5] Planet Hollywood was opened in late 1991 in New York City,[5][7] at the base of two adjacent office buildings at 130 and 140 West 57th Street.

[8] Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg were some of the actors who became investors/promoters.

[5] With its success, the company continued its aggressive expansion plan in 1994 while turning its attention to developing more theme-restaurant concepts, one of which was the Official All Star Café, a sports version of Planet Hollywood.

Construction on the All Star Café's first location in New York City began in August 1995 near the Planet Hollywood[5] and opened on December 18, 1995.

[12] In addition to going public, the company had MBNA issue Planet Hollywood VISA credit cards that gave cardholders priority restaurant seating.

Additional competitors also started up, including Country Star chain, Harley-Davidson Café, Robert De Niro's Tribeca Grill and Thunder Roadhouse.

Too much focus on diversification showed that the original chain was neglected with mediocre food, high menu prices and below average service.

It moved to focus to its original theme concept, stopping operation of Planet Movies by AMC and sold its Sound Republic units.

[5] Earl, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and Ong Beng Seng had led restructuring plan which left the company with 35 locations, 25 of which were franchised.

[23] In September 2000, the Official All Star Cafe in Times Square was closed with the Planet Hollywood taking over its 600-seat location.

[23] In July 2010, Earl hired a CEO and president, David Crabtree, for Planet Hollywood and its parent company from Westgate Resorts.

[26] In April 2022, Planet Hollywood announced plans to offer more than 60,000 of its memorabilia, including photographs and movie posters, as NFTs under MetaHollywood.

In August 1998, the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa, was the target of a terrorist bombing killing two people.

Host Marriott Services was a partner in developing an additional 10 locations in a joint venture with Planet Hollywood.

In August 1998, the first Cool Planet Cafe opened in the Third Street Promenade retail district of Santa Monica, California.