The legendary film 'Rocky' is a 1976 masterpiece and is undoubtedly adored by fans. The film was directed by John G. Avildsen and was written by Sylvester Stallone playing the main star character. But nothing seems going right between the team, what and why, let's find out.
Sylvester Stallone is famous for the character of Rocky Balboa, the scrappy underdog boxer who created waves of recognition for him. But Stallone has expressed on multiple occasions that he is unhappy with the film's ownership rights.
The 'Rocky' series is written by Sylvester Stallone. He was inspired to write this after he witnessed Muhammad Ali vs Chuck Wepner match which happened in 1975 at the Richfield Coliseum. Stallone named the writing piece as ‘Rocky’ which he borrowed from the legendary boxer’s name Rocky Marciano.
Stallone once expressed his frustration regarding his lack of stake in the franchise in 2019, as per Variety. He said he has “zero ownership of ‘Rocky," expressed his anger toward Winkler through several Instagram posts, and called him as “remarkably untalented and parasitical.”
As per the available information, Stallone was never written into the “Rocky” ownership. He tried pushing for the rights later, but it was nothing but an unsuccessful attempt. According to Variety, Stallone made an effort to gain ownership after “Rocky II” and “Rocky III” but his attempts were shot down by his attorney, Jake Bloom, who expressed that the studio would deny him any rights, Stallone then refrained from pushing.
As per Variety, Stallone even confronted MGM, who owns the rights to the films. He said, “I said, ‘Does it bother you guys that I’ve written every word, I’ve choreographed it, I’ve been loyal to you, I’ve promoted it, directed it and I don’t have 1% that I could leave for my children?'” Stallone told Variety.
During an interview on SiriusXM's “Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw", Sylvester Stallone opened up about not owning the rights to the "Rocky" movie franchise and how there is no possibility of him making peace with it.
The 76-year-old actor is still fighting and demanding Wrinkler for his rights.