Sylvester Stallone comes to collect “what’s left of his rights” to Rocky from film’s producer
Although Stallone wrote and starred the five-film Rocky franchise, he does not own any of the rights to the works
Aux News Unknown
Sylvester Stallone wants more credit for Rocky than a statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The actor has called on Irwin Winkler, the classic action film’s producer, to grant Stallone “what’s left” of his rights to the film. Although Stallone wrote and starred the five-film Rocky franchise, he does not own any of the rights to the works.
Stallone shared his request via Instagram, accompanied by a graphic of Winkler with a sword protruding from his mouth and a snake coiled around his neck. In the caption to the photo Stallone himself called “very flattering,” he clearly (and with the liberal use of all-caps) calls on Winkler to hand over what Stallone feels he is owed.
“After IRWIN controlling ROCKY for over 47 years , and now CREED, , I really would like have at least a little WHAT’s LEFT of my RIGHTS back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN – I believe That would be a FAIR gesture from this 93 year old gentleman?” Stallone writes. “This is a painful subject That eats at my soul , because I wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children.”
In the years since Stallone was its star, the Rocky franchise has expanded, with 2015's Creed, 2018's Creed 2, and now a new Rocky film set for a November 23 release that marks the first Stallone doesn’t appear in. Stallone has previously expressed anger over his exclusion from the Rocky rights, and told Variety in 2019 he was “furious” about the matter. He described bringing up the issue of creative ownership to his agency, CAA, but being told because he was paid for the films he didn’t have grounds to stand on.
“I love the system — don’t get me wrong. My kids and their kids, they’re taken care of because of the system. But there are dark little segues and people that have put it to ya,” Stallone lamented in the interview. “They say the definition of Hollywood is someone who stabs you in the chest. They don’t even hide it.”
64 Comments
It is definitely a shame and a sin that Chuck Wepner doesn’t own any of the Rocky franchise rights.
It is definitely a shame and a sin that Chuck Wepner doesn’t own any of the Rocky franchise rights.THIS! Chuck Wepner asked Stallone for decades the money he was promised and had to finally sue Stallone for an out of court settlement in 2003. ZERO sympathy for Sly.
He got that peoples’ court show in the 80’s. I’m sure he’s alright.
He got that peoples’ court show in the 80’s. I’m sure he’s alright.That’s such a deep cut that I don’t think many people will get this one, but I think you’re doing it for the love of the game so I appreciate you
My memory is a little Rusty, but eventually I got the joke…
I feel old because to me it seems like everyone would know Judge Wapner
“Although Stallone wrote and starred the five-film Rocky franchise, he does not own any of the rights to the works.”gee, he should’ve considered financing them all as well
Yeah I was gonna say, since when has the industry ever tied rights to the people who come up with concept? It’s about who ponies up the cash. Stallone signed a contract, and it was certainly not an “unconscionable” contract because he was well compensated, he has derived great rewards from it all, and now he’s butthurt because he doesn’t have the rights as well, and feels like he’s been deprived? To quote Don Draper, “That’s what the money’s for!”
it’s also like, he didn’t even come up with the idea isn’t it largely inspired (more or less) by real events?
it’s also like, he didn’t even come up with the idea isn’t it largely inspired (more or less) by real events?No. The original boxing match was inspired by Wepner vs. Ali but, if you actually watch the original Rocky movie, the match isn’t the focus of the film. It’s a character study of an original character and far more of a love story than a sports movie (really, go see the original film! It’s really good!)
True, Stallone essentially got the idea for Rocky from the Ali-Wepner fight, and if memory serves, even had to pay out some settlement money to Wepner years after the fact.
That’s a pretty bullshit excuse, though. There’s a long distance between ‘more or less inspired’ and a screenplay.
Or negotiating part of the rights or long-term back-end for any of the movies after the success of the original Rocky? Screenwriters and actors don’t just get rights regardless of how important they are to the film. I seriously doubt publicly pressuring Winkler is going to do much good.
GEE, Sly. Melodrama MUCH?
Maybe I am a hypocrite but I am a lot less concerned about Stallone getting any rights to Rocky than I am for say a comic artist or writer getting paid for an MCU movie. Stallone has a net worth of 400 million dollars. He has plenty to hand down to his children. They don’t need “something of Rocky” because they didn’t create that shit either. I would respect Stallone’s stance more if he just said “I wrote and starred in these films, give me the rights” then this crap about handing it down to his kids.
The flip side is that the rights for “the little guy” are often not protected until some medium guy bitches enough that they become codified. I’m not saying “oh if Rocky gets a piece then it’ll filter down to comics creators” but sometimes it does work like that to some extent.
Also, I get the legacy thing. Fifty years from now, people are going to remember Rocky more than anything else he’s done. It makes sense he wants to leave that part of his history to his kids in some way.
Please, in 50 years we will remember him for this masterpiece https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105477/
I was sure it was going to be Over The Top, but good one.
I figured that link was going to be Rhinestone.
I thought for sure that link was going to be this:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088001/
“Fifty years from now, people are going to remember Rocky more than anything else he’s done.”
And it will still be written and starring him. What do rights have to do with anything?
i would be a little more sympathetic if it was something he had ever publicly expressed, too. it feels like it just occurred to him.
Like he was hanging out with his agent one day and was like “What do you mean I don’t own Rocky, I am Rocky!!!”
“…oh yeah, and I AM THE LAW!”
Well, there’s that article Variety from 2019 that’s linked above:https://variety.com/2019/film/features/sylvester-stallone-rocky-ownership-stake-1203275639/#comments
Where he mentions bringing it up with his agent and attorney before Rocky III, and with the studio before Rocky IV, and feeling like he didn’t have the leverage any more when Rocky Balboa came up. Just because he hasn’t taken to a public soapbox doesn’t mean it hasn’t occurred to him before.
Maybe I am a hypocrite but I am a lot less concerned about Stallone getting any rights to Rocky than I am for say a comic artist or writer getting paid for an MCU movie.Agreed. Listen, I hate that every time these conversations come up, a good chunk of the AV Club commentariat feel like siding with the corporations and billionaires when it comes to poor people signing bad contracts, early in their career, and getting screwed out of the money that they deserve or need, but this is not that.Stallone made millions from the Rocky movies and, by his own admission, his kids will be rich. This is about whether Stallone’s kids or Winkler’s kids will be able to control the property when they die. Personally, I don’t want to see any Rocky movies without Stallone but when it comes to which spoiled rich children should inherit the rights/profits for something they don’t deserve, I honestly can’t care.
Listen, I hate that every time these conversations come up, a good chunk of the AV Club commentariat feel like siding with the corporations and billionaires when it comes to poor people signing bad contracts, early in their career, and getting screwed out of the money that they deserve or need, but this is not that.This is pretty much exactly that except that he was lucky enough that Rocky made a ton of money. He ended up taking 10% of what he was originally offered for the script to get the budget down to $1M and gambled on 10 net points instead. On that he still only made about $2.5 million on $225 million box office (part of the gross was used to offset the losses on New York, New York).It’s really only because it (and Rambo) turned into a franchise and that those franchises made him a megastar that any of that paid off close to what it would have made him if he had ownership rights. So no, he doesn’t ‘need’ the money now, but saying that’s ok, is saying that MGM effectively paid him in exposure.You can side with the studio here or the guy who was completely broke and got lucky that his bad contract wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
The truth is, screenwriters of original material have always gotten hosed by the system, and should always own their IP. The studios work around it by using a sketchy contract called work for hire, which states the writer was retroactively hired by the studio or production company to write an original work which gives them all the rights to the intellectual property. Kind of shouldn’t be legal as it’s based on a lie. Screenwriters, unless they are hired to develop a property the studio owns, should have their original scripts handled like novelists, or comic creators, meaning they buy the rights to turn it into a movie but the writer still owns the IP.
The law is the law. When it’s not applied fairly to you, will someone say “eh, he has too much already”?
That’s especially true because Stallone got compensated for Rocky in another way — he got to star (and get paid handsomely for) his appearance in all the films. Stallone fought for that right, when studios wanted to cast Rocky with a more well-known, less ethnic star, because he (reasonably) wanted to be a movie star. He got it. By comparison, it’s not like some comic book writer gets to be Black Panther.
Yah… I’m still wondering if Jason Aaron got anything for Thor: Love And Thunder after they just totally used a story he wrote.
He’s trying to publicly shame the guy who owns the rights with MY FAMILY MY FAMILY (side note, I’m an English prof, don’t use BOLD for emphasis) like they’re arguing over a rent payment when Stallone is one of the biggest stars in the world. As if Sly intends to do anything with them but immediately sells them himself or do a remake of Rocky where he plays Mickey Goldmill.
Rich guy looking for sympathy for not being more rich
Reminder that Stallone has multiple accusations of sexual assault and misconduct, including from his own half-sister
Whoa! Dish the gossip please!
What up AV Club. The “Rocky” franchise is six movies. That’s not counting the two Creed ones. Pretty big error, don’t you think?
But the highest Roman numeral you see in the list when you Google “Rocky movies” is V, and that means five. How could anyone possibly do more research than that?
Stallone wrote and starred the five-film Rocky franchiseRocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky Balboa.
Rocky Takes Manhattan, Rocky Goes Bananas, Rocky In Space, Three Men, A Baby & Rocky
Rocky Takes Manhattan, Rocky Goes Bananas, Rocky In Space, Three Men, A Baby & Rocky
Don’t forget Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was waiting for a long time for the boxing to start in that one, but I saw it in my home town movie theater in NJ, so it turned out all of the fighting was in the theater itself. I didn’t go home disappointed…just a little confused
RVP: Rocky Vs. Predator
I might watch that.Wasn’t there a riff on The Critic about unnecessary sequels? Something like Rocky V vs. Texas Chainsaw Massacre IV?
Also Creed and Creed 2.
benefit of the doubt that Hattie was off by one, not three.
I’m not sure the headlines and subheads are written by people who write (or read) the articles. She does in fact acknowledge Creed as part of the franchise, even confusingly referring to the upcoming Creed III as “a new Rocky film.”
That’s fair. Hattie, I unfairly maligned you. It’s your bosses that can’t count. Check your paycheck.
Ok, but can we still quibble with the description “the classic action film”?Rocky is not an action film.
Yah for a second I thought she meant there’s some new reboot with a new young actor as Rocky and I was like “no”.
Need For Creed, Let It Creed
Rocky VII: Adrian’s Revenge
“I sold something 50 years ago (that led to me being a household name and stupidly rich), now I demand it back! Because I have nothing else to give my grandkids, somehow.”No. Fuck off.
It’s time for a Yo!
Why did Stallone not renegotiate his rights at some point in exchange for staring in one of the multiple spinoffs? Makes a lot more sense when you have some leverage versus now.
This was my initial thought, too. What was the value of the IP before he agreed to make ROCKY BALBOA, or the first CREED, both of which raised its profile after a loooong pause? Probably not much. Would have been a great opportunity for Stallone to sweep in and use some of his massive wealth to buy the rights at a big discount.
He says in that Variety interview that felt he had no leverage when Rocky Balboa came out because he’d sort of washed out of Hollywood by then. He also says he brought it up with his management before III and with the studio before IV and got stonewalled.
Maybe he was busy staring at something else at the time.
There’s a way around this. He can just start calling the character Ricky. Ricky Jorm-Jomp.
Do we at least have the fight rights?
Does Stallone own the rights to Rambo? Or will he tweet next week demanding millions from those movies too?
I see what everyone is saying, but look at it from another perspective. Stallone wrote and created the character. Yes, he is a millionaire many times over, but he faces the same lack of control over his creation as so many other writers and creators. His efforts shine a light on every creator that gets crapped on, but no one cares about the average writer.
As a non-creative person who would love to be even remotely creative, it would suck not being in control of my artistic creation. I get it, Sly wrote it and sold the rights – that is how the system works. If the movie was a massive failure, he wouldn’t give a cut of his fee back since the backers lost money. Thankfully, I will never create anything and never have to worry about this.
He could trying buying the rights. Since he’s very rich. Or he could try leaving his family the money he has. Since he’s very rich.
Eh, I mean stallone should be minted at this point, but also I get it, he did write the original Rocky script, and it’s probably going to be his most recognizable role in the long term. But ultimately copyright laws are dumb and Rocky should have turned public domain after 25 years.
It’s funny when a vocal conservative gets screwed by capitalism. Although capitalism has done all right by Stallone. Why on earth would he expect to be an exception to the system that made him a very wealthy man?