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'ROCKY
VI' IN THE PIPELINE WITH STALLONE
KillerMovies.com
December 12, 2002
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MGM has signed Stallone to write a Rocky
VI screenplay with an update to the story of the scrappy
Philadelphia boxer who rises from a club fighter to champion
of the world, gets knocked down, then rises again, reports
Variety.
Details were sketchy because Stallone, who wrote and
directed 1976's original Rocky, has just been hired,
but the idea is to avoid the big-budget style of Hollywood
sequels and return to the small, independent film feel of
the original.
Early plans have Stallone, 56, portraying the fighter Rocky
Balboa, again. But this time, he is running a youth center
when he is lured out of retirement for one last fight.
The first Rocky was a labor of love for Stallone who,
at that time, had only been in bit parts in movies such as
1974's Lords of Flatbush. Not only did he write
Rocky, he directed it and played Balboa.
Rocky was made for just over $1 million and raked in
$220 million in worldwide ticket sales. It earned critical
acclaim and won the Oscar for best movie.
Rocky II followed in 1979, and in the subsequent
years MGM, Stallone and producers Irwin Winkler and Robert
Chartoff teamed p for more movies culminating in 1990's Rocky
V. All the sequels grossed over $100 million in ticket
sales, except for the final one, which took in a
disappointing $40 million.
The idea of making Rocky VI a low-budget production
would keep to MGM's two-pronged approach of producing
sequels of popular titles already in its 4,000-film library
and staying away from expensive productions that, if they
flop, can hurt the company's earnings.
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