Sylvester Stallone has had a long career full of films that have stood the test of time, but his most famous and beloved franchise is the Rocky films that have now given way to I believe trilogy. The miscarriage of the whole thing, however, is that although Stallone created the character of Rocky, wrote all the films, and even directed most of them, he has no rights to the still popular films. The ownership rights of the franchise fully belong to Irwin Winkler, producer of the films.
This has been an issue that has plagued Stallone for decades and he recently talked about it via a post on his Instagram that features a drawing of Irwin Winkler as a snake. The post states:
A VERY flattering portrait of The Great Rocky / Creed producer IRWIN WINKLER by one of the greatest artists in the country … PLUS after IRWIN has controlled ROCKY for over 47 years, and now CREED, I would really like to have at least some ‘WHAT IS LEFT behind my RIGHTS, before passing them on ONLY TO YOUR CHILDREN – I think it would be a RIGHT gesture on the part of this 93-year-old gentleman? … This is a painful topic that eats my soul, because I wanted to leave something Rocky for my kids, but it’s always good to hear from loyal fans … Keep punching
There is clearly a lot of bad feelings here, and for good reason! Stallone created this character and these films, and he is the heart of the franchise. He deserves the rights in full, or at least a big fat portion. Check out the post below and let us know which one is your favorite Rocky the film is.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sly Stallone (@officialslystallone)
by Jessica Fisher
Source: Geek Tyrant
