Stallone kept announcing the end of Rocky series which is still going On and On……
Sylvester Stallone is known for his iconic Rocky Series. Stallone never wanted the Rocky series. He had announced this many times. Still he ended up with 8 Rocky movies that include the Creed and Creed 2 series. ‘Rocky’ was released in 1976.
Stallone announced “there will be no Rocky movies after Rocky III”, and then he announced “there will be no Rocky movies after Rocky VI, i do not know where the battle will go after Russia”.
And then there was Rocky V in 1990. After Rocky V, Stallone said “there will not be a Rocky VI”. ‘Rocky Balboa’ part 6 of Rocky series was released after 16 years in 2006.
Creed series as part of Rocky series was released with Creed in 2015 and Creed 2 in 2018. There is a 9th film of the Rocky Series named after Creed III under production.
It seems Rocky series is unstoppable like the Actor himself and it seems Stallone will remain humble saying there will not a next Rocky Film.
All Rocky films put together were made in a total of $204 million and have clocked a decent $1.7 billion. ‘Rocky’ was the highest grossing film of 1976 which became the stepping stone for Stallone’s stardom.
From Porn to Mainstream:
Sylvester Stallone’s journey to film business is a story worth making a film in itself. Stallone got his debut in a Porn Film in 1970 named The Party at Kitty amd Stud’s which was re-released as ‘The Italian Stallion’ after the success of ‘Rocky’ in 1976 for obvious reasons.
After this he managed a small role in Woody Allen’s ‘Bananas’ and ‘Klute’ in the year 1971. He got his first decent role in ‘Faltbush’ in 1974 but still he was not a mainstream known actor.
He got inspired to write the script of ‘Rocky’ after watching a boxing match dominated by Muhammad Ali in 1975.
A Real life Risk Taker:
Sylvester Stallone has always been compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger as both rules the Hollywood Action Movies during the 80s and 90.
Unlike Arnold who was a man of multiple career options as he was a successful Sportsperson ruling the Body Building championships from the age of 20 till 33, Stallone has just one dream-the Dream of making it big in Acting and Hollywood.
After a porn movie as debut followed by 3 movies, Stallone decided to take the matter of his dream of becoming a lead actor in his own hands.
He wrote the Script of ‘Rocky’ and presented it to the producers and production houses. The Script was good and he was offered a handsome sum of $360000 for the Script rights. Imagine someone being offered $360000 in 1976 when he has hardly any money to survive. Anyone would have jumped for the opportunity and taken the money but Stallone.
He had the dream of making it big in Hollywood as an actor and not as a script writer.
The producers had to finally agree casting Sylvester Stallone as the Lead Actor of the film and was given $10,00,000 to make the movie. The movie was directed by John Avildsen.
The movie was made at budget of a million dollar and had the Box Office collection of $226 million making it the highest grossing film of 1976. Stallone took the risk of not accepting the money offered for the script and decided to accept it only with the condition that he would play the lead role & rest is all history.
Man of honour/s:
Stallone is the many of many honours. The footsteps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art which become popular with the iconic scene of Rocky running up the steps is called the ‘Rocky Steps’.
And the iconic statue of Rocky is placed permanently near the Museum.
He was also listed in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for promoting Boxing. Sylvester Stallone was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011 for his contribution in promoting Boxing as a Sport. He was inducted as an ‘Observer’ and not a ‘Fighter’.
He is only man after Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles to have received the Oscar nomination for the same film. He was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for ‘Rocky’ by the Academy Awards.
Recently, Stallone was honoured with his ‘John Rambo’ statue in the city of Hope-Canada. The movie’ First Blood’ was shot in the city of Hope.
Man of Multiple Movie Talents: Writer, Producer, Director and Actor
Stallone is not just an actor who is popular for his iconic roles of Rambo and Rocky. He is a serious writer as well. He has written most of his films.
He started his movie career in 1970 and in 1978 just 8 years down the line he directed his first Hollywood film called Paradise Alley-a film on professional wrestling. Following year he continued the Rocky saga with ‘Rocky II’ not just as actor and writer but also as Director.
Such was the success of ‘Rocky II’ that he ended up writing and directing ‘Rocky III’, ‘Rocky IV’ and ‘Rocky Balboa’-which is technically Rocky 6 released in 2006-16 years after the last rocky film. This led to 7th and 8th Rocky movies namely Creed and Creed II respectively.
Stallone also directed Staying Alive starring John Travolta which turned out to be a successful venture. The film was the biggest musical film made at a budget of $22 million and grossed $127 million worldwide in 1983.
Stallone also directed the 4th movie of Rambo series called ‘Rambo’ released in 2008. Infact, Rambo of 2008 is only Rambo movie of the Rambo Series that Sylvester Stallone has directed, rest of the Rambo Movies were written by him.
Many Great talents are weird as Kids-so was Stallone:
Stallone once said in an interview that his teachers thought he would end up in an electric chair for his deeds during his schooling.
He was expelled from 14 schools for he would end up fighting.
Finally, he was admitted in a US college in Switzerland where he developed his love for art and acting and came back to United States of America to make history and characters that we give an adrenaline rush to people even today when his movies are watched.