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Stallone Working On Rocky IV Directors Cut

Zarius

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Rocky Balboa may have hung up his boxing gloves, but Sylvester Stallone hasn’t left the Rocky franchise behind just yet. Stallone revealed that he is working on a director’s cut of the 1985 classic Rocky IV, which he says will be “amazing.” The news comes in the wake of the success of Creed 2, which continues the Rocky franchise through the story of Michael B. Jordan‘s Adonis Creed, and following the release of an extended cut of Stallone’s Rambo: Last Blood.





Stallone posted an image on his Instagram page to promote the extended cut of Rambo: Last Blood, prompting one fan to ask whether a directors cut of 2006’s Rocky Balboa would ever be released. While Stallone admitted that he is “not doing that,” he did tease another project that he’s working on that could warrant a few fist pumps in the air: a Rocky IV director’s cut. Stallone enthusiastically teased in the comment:




“I am doing a directors cut on Rocky IV which will be amazing!!!!!”



No further details have been revealed about this director’s cut of Rocky IV, like when it would come out, whether it would be released exclusively to a streaming service as Rambo: Last Blood has been, or why this all came about. Perhaps Stallone just wanted to revisit the 1985 movie, which is considered one of the most iconic entries of the boxing franchise.



Rocky IV follows Rocky Balboa as he is ripped out of his planned retirement when his beloved friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is brutally killed in the ring by the hulking Russian newcomer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Rocky vows vengeance, taking on the next fight with Drago on a Christmas Day match in Russia. It’s a ridiculous, triumphant film that tapped into American nationalism amid Cold War tensions (basically, Rocky beats Russia for America). Rocky IV was met with mixed response from critics at the time, but it was a smash success at the box office, earning more than $300 million worldwide, and remains the most successful and iconic entry in the Rocky franchise. The events of Rocky IV would also eventually spawn the Creed spin-off series, which follows Apollo’s son Adonis as he attempts to make a name for himself in the shadow of his father’s death.



Shortly after the release of Creed II, Stallone announced that he was retiring the character of Rocky Balboa for good, after eight movies in the ring as the boxing legend. Creed 3 is reportedly in the works, with Zach Baylin handling the script.

https://geektyrant.com/news/sylvester-stallone-is-working-on-a-rocky-iv-directors-cut
 

LastSurvivor

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Yeah, I saw this.   Sounds good and I would definitely watch this, but I'd also like different cuts of Rocky V and Rambo Last Blood... I know that there's an extended version of Last Blood which I have seen, but I'm convinced there was lots more footage cut which may benefit the film - just my take on it.

He's also been discussing the possibility of a Rambo VI where he settles down in an Indian Reservation... that would be cool.
 

Iritscen

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It's been out for a little while, but I saw the director's cut yesterday (titled "Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago") and it's definitely better than the original Rocky IV in almost every way. No talking robot, and there's more focus on Rocky's relationship with Creed, which is the most heartfelt part of the movie. The key point about this cut is that it isn't just a re-edit of the original footage. About half an hour of the movie is newly seen footage, and it's quite startling that they shot some of this stuff and left it on the cutting room floor in favor of a talking robot and some really awkward acting. The movie was only 90 minutes or so to begin with, so it wasn't like they had to keep it from getting too long by dropping these scenes.

Anyway, the director's cut exchanges 30 minutes of old footage for 30 minutes of new footage, making the movie feel fresh even if you've recently seen the original, and I think the film was remastered too because it looked a lot cleaner. Every awkward bit of dialogue/acting that I didn't like from the original movie was cut by Stallone in this version. Sometimes the result is a bit jumpy, and I'm pretty sure I heard one sloppily-clipped line of dialogue where they cut the second half of a sentence. But on a higher level, every change that Stallone made is an improvement. I still find some of the movie's messaging unclear, but this cut does a better job explaining both Creed's and Rocky's motives for the decisions they make in the story.
 

mnkykungfu

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I actually prefered the original Rocky IV.... Stallone tried to turn it into a serious, dramatic movie, and lost a lot of the fun and energy from the original cut imho. It just isn't that kind of film, like 1 or Balboa.
I'd be really interested to see what he does with V though!
 

Iritscen

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Now that I've seen Rocky V, I too would love to see a new cut that fixes the movie's issues. In my opinion it's only the final fight where things really go off the rails from a directorial standpoint, but I suppose the rest of the movie could use a little tweaking. The core story is strong and a better edit could do a lot with the source material. But you know, John Avildsen directed that movie, so Stallone wouldn't be the one to make a director's cut….
 

mnkykungfu

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I should mention that @LastSurvivor did a really great fanedit of Rocky V with the material that was readily available. I'm sure Stallone could use his connections to come up with more though, as I know that he and Avildsen and the studio were fighting about the film during production and none of them truly got the film they wanted out of it. Until more stuff gets picked up off the cutting room floor though, The '80s Remix is the version to see!
 

Iritscen

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Oh, I'll have to check that out! I've also just learned that there's a real, bona fide director's cut by John Avildsen made before his death, but it seems that it's only available in a form which looks terrible. I'm not sure if it contains anything new from the cutting room floor or if he just made judicious cuts to the original release.
 
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