Rocky (franchise)

• 1. The Rocky Steps

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  The Rocky franchise has renamed part of a real building. The entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art is now widely known as the Rocky Steps. Sylvester Stallone created the series around Rocky Balboa, a fictional boxer from that city, and it began with a film released in 1976.

  Its dialogue has travelled almost as far as its imagery. The phrases "Yo, Adrian!" and "If he dies, he dies" have become part of everyday speech, or circulate widely as memes.

  Nine feature films now carry the story. Six follow Rocky himself. Three follow a younger boxer who steps into his world.

  This documentary asks how a story about one small-time fighter kept finding new rings. It asks what happens to a franchise when its hero grows too old to box, and who inherits the gloves. And it asks who really controls a character that his own creator helped build.

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• 2. The Long Shot

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  Rocky Balboa collects money for a loan shark and fights in small venues for low pay. Stallone plays him and wrote the screenplay, while John G. Avildsen directed. Rocky's gym trainer, Mickey Goldmill, played by Burgess Meredith, is frustrated by the potential Rocky is wasting. Rocky is also courting Adrian Pennino, played by Talia Shire, a painfully shy woman. Her brother Paulie, played by Burt Young, is Rocky's best friend and struggles with alcohol.

  Then the world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, chooses Rocky at random as his opponent in a title fight. Rocky sees a chance to prove his worth. Adrian supports him, Paulie helps with sponsorship offers, and Mickey agrees to train and manage him. Rocky's aim is to go the distance with the champion and to fight for his self-respect.

  At the 49th Academy Awards, the film collected ten nominations. Stallone was nominated for Best Actor and for Best Original Screenplay. Shire was nominated for Best Actress, while Meredith and Young were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor. "Gonna Fly Now" was nominated for Best Original Song, and the film for Best Sound Editing. It won three awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Avildsen, and Best Film Editing.

  A budget of $1 million produced a worldwide gross of $225,000,000.

  Chuck Wepner fought heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali for the title in 1975, and that bout influenced the Rocky screenplay. The 2016 film Chuck dramatizes the fight and its influence.

  On the 7th of December 2010, the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum inducted Stallone. The honor recognized his tribute to boxers and his creation of the underdog character of Rocky.

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• 3. Apollo and Drago

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  Apollo Creed wins the first fight by split decision, yet fans criticize him and he knows he did not give his best. In Rocky II, released in 1979, he publicly taunts Rocky into a rematch. Rocky has married Adrian, spent his earnings, and failed at endorsements and a series of low-wage jobs. Boxing is the only way left to survive, so he trains again with Mickey. In the fifteenth round, Rocky knocks Creed down and falls to the canvas himself. Both men struggle to rise, but only Rocky manages it, and he is declared World Heavyweight Champion.

  Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T, is the number one contender in Rocky III. He challenges the champion in public just as Rocky is ready to retire after defending his title several times. Mickey suffers a heart attack before the fight, and Lang knocks Rocky out in the second round. Mickey dies afterward. Apollo steps in and trains Rocky in his own old gym in Los Angeles. In the rematch, Rocky outboxes Lang and knocks him out in the third round. Apollo then calls in a favor for the training. It is a one-on-one sparring match with no cameras or media in the gym, and the film ends as each man throws his first punch.

  By the fourth film, Rocky and Apollo are good friends. Then Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, arrives from the USSR with his wife, a trainer and a training team. Motivated by patriotism, Apollo challenges him to an exhibition match. Drago beats him so badly that Apollo dies in Rocky's arms in the ring while Drago watches coldly.

  Christmas Day in Moscow is the date set for Rocky's challenge to Drago. Rocky trains in a remote cabin in Siberia, helped by Duke, who was Creed's old trainer, by his brother-in-law Paulie, and eventually by Adrian. He chops wood, lifts rocks, runs in the snow and climbs a mountain. Drago trains in an advanced facility with treadmills and weightlifting machines, and he injects steroids to boost his strength. In the fight, Rocky takes the pounding of his life but refuses to fall. He wins over the Russian crowd with his courage and knocks Drago out with seconds left in the final round. Rocky IV earned $300,473,716 worldwide, the highest total in the series, though only 39% of its 51 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were favorable.

  The punishment Rocky took in Moscow would follow him into the next film.

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• 4. Losing Everything

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  A diagnosis of brain damage ends Rocky Balboa's boxing career in Rocky V, released in 1990. His fortune is gone too, lost through an unscrupulous accountant. The family returns to its old neighborhood. Adrian goes back to the pet store where she used to work, and Rocky reopens Mickey's old gym. Their son, Robert, played by Stallone's real son Sage, is bullied at school.

  Tommy Gunn, played by real-life fighter Tommy Morrison, is a young, hungry boxer whom Rocky begins to train. The attention Rocky gives him strains his relationship with Robert. Fight promoter George Washington Duke persuades Tommy to leave. After Tommy wins the heavyweight title, he thanks Duke instead of Rocky, and the crowd jeers. Tommy then seeks out his former mentor, punches Paulie, and the two men have a violent street brawl that Rocky wins. Rocky punches Duke for harassing him, and he and Robert reconcile. Critics were unkind. Only 32% of 38 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were favorable, the lowest score in the series. The film earned $119,946,358 worldwide against a $42 million budget.

  Twenty years after that fight with Tommy Gunn, Rocky Balboa is out of step with a changing world. Adrian has died of ovarian cancer. Rocky and Robert have grown distant, and Paulie is back working at the meat plant. Rocky runs a Philadelphia restaurant named after his wife, stocked with mementos of his prime, and tells his old fight stories to customers.

  Then ESPN shows a computer-simulated bout between a young Rocky and the current champion, Mason Dixon, played by Antonio Tarver. In the simulation, Rocky wins. He realizes he has not lost his fighting spirit and considers a return to the ring. Rocky goes the distance with Dixon but loses by split decision, just as in the first film. The last image shows him at Adrian's grave, saying "Yo, Adrian, we did it." Rocky Balboa, released in 2006, fared far better with critics than Rocky V. Of its 180 reviews, 78% were favorable.

  The next film arrived in 2015 and put a different name in its title.

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• 5. The Creed Generation

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  Adonis "Donnie" Johnson, played by Michael B. Jordan, is the extra-marital son of the late Apollo Creed. In Creed, directed by Ryan Coogler, he tracks down Rocky at Adrian's and asks him to become his trainer. Rocky is reluctant but agrees. The handlers of light heavyweight champion "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, who faces an impending prison term, offer Adonis a place as the champion's final challenger. There is one condition: he must take the name Adonis Creed. He balks, because he wants to forge his own legacy, but he agrees.

  Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the diagnosis Rocky receives while helping Adonis train. At first he refuses chemotherapy, because the illness looks like a chance to rejoin his deceased loved ones. Adonis persuades him to seek treatment. The fight takes place in Liverpool, Conlan's hometown. Adonis surprises almost everyone by going the distance. Conlan wins by split decision, but he calls Adonis the future of the light heavyweight division. Back in Philadelphia, Adonis and a recovering Rocky climb the museum steps and look out at the skyline. In January 2016, Stallone won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role. He was also nominated for the Academy Award at the 88th Academy Awards, the film's only nomination. Of 313 reviews, 95% were favorable.

  Three years after the Conlan fight, Creed II finds Adonis holding the World Heavyweight Championship. He proposes to his girlfriend, Bianca Taylor, played by Tessa Thompson. Three decades after Apollo's death, Ivan Drago is training his son Viktor, played by Florian Munteanu, to challenge Adonis and reclaim the family's honor. Rocky fears Adonis will meet his father's fate and declines to train him. Adonis accepts the challenge anyway and is badly injured, but he keeps the title because Viktor is disqualified.

  The rematch is set in Moscow, and Rocky comes to Adonis's aid. He trains Adonis in the Southern California desert, using a different tactic for taking Viktor's powerful punches. During the fight, Viktor's supporters and his mother leave as Adonis gains the upper hand. Ivan throws in the towel and assures his son that he is more important to him, and that he will not abandon him. Rocky later reunites with his son, Robert, played by Milo Ventimiglia, and meets his grandson. Adonis visits his father's grave. Steven Caple Jr. directed this chapter of the story.

  Six years after beating Viktor, Donnie has retired from boxing in Creed III. He now lives for Bianca and their six-year-old daughter, Amara, played by Mila Davis-Kent. Amara's hearing impairment has led the family to become fluent in American Sign Language. Donnie runs the Delphi Boxing Academy with Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr., played by Wood Harris, and he promotes the world champion Felix "El Guerrero" Chavez.

  Dame Anderson, a childhood friend played by Jonathan Majors, is released from prison and wants to box again. Donnie hires him as a sparring partner for Chavez. When the boxer Drago is attacked by an unknown assailant, Donnie nominates Dame as the replacement opponent. Dame wins the Unified Heavyweight Championship in his first professional bout by using dirty tactics. Donnie then realizes that Dame planned the attack, and Dame admits he manipulated him.

  Adonis's adopted mother, Mary-Anne, suffers another stroke and dies. Dame taunts Donnie in public, and Bianca encourages him, so Donnie comes out of retirement. They meet in the "Battle of Los Angeles" at Dodger Stadium. In the final round, Donnie has visions of his abusive foster home and of Dame's life in jail, and he is knocked down. He just beats the count and then knocks Dame out. The two men reconcile, and Donnie joins Bianca and Amara in the empty stadium, pretending to box with his daughter.

  Michael B. Jordan directed this film himself. It earned $273,796,108 worldwide, the best total of the three Creed films.

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• 6. Sound of the Ring

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  Bill Conti composed the music for the first two films, and he returned to score Rocky V. The score album for the original film came out on the 12th of November 1976 on United Artists Records and runs 31 minutes and 25 seconds. Conti's sequel album, Rocky II: Music by Bill Conti, followed on the 25th of August 1979.

  At the 55th Academy Awards, "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III was nominated for Best Original Song. The Rocky III score album was released on the 9th of March 1982 on Liberty Records.

  Rocky IV took a different musical route. Vince DiCola composed the film's music, and the soundtrack album, released on the 27th of November 1985 by Scotti Brothers Records, gathered tracks from various artists. The franchise's singles also include "Burning Heart," "Heart's on Fire," "Living in America" and "Shea Butter Baby."

  Rocky V arrived with a Capitol Records album titled Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture on the 12th of November 1990. On the 26th of December 2006, Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky collected 60 minutes and 6 seconds of the series' music.

  Ludwig Göransson composed the scores for Creed and Creed II. Each film also had a separate album of songs by various artists, on Atlantic Records and Interscope Records respectively. Joseph Shirley scored Creed III, and its song album, released on Dreamville Records on the 3rd of March 2023, was the first of the series to carry that label.

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• 7. Beyond the Ring

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  A paperback novelization of the first screenplay, published by Ballantine Books in 1976, appeared under the pseudonym Julia Sorel. Stallone and Rosalyn Drexler wrote it together. Ballantine followed with Stallone's own novelization of Rocky II in 1979, told in the first person by Rocky. Robert E. Hoban wrote the Rocky III book in 1982, and Stallone wrote the Rocky IV book in 1985.

  Tamiki Noda wrote and drew a manga adaptation of Rocky, published in May 1977 in Monthly Shonen Magazine. In July 2023, Boom Studios released Creed: The Next Round, written by LaToya Morgan and Jai Jamison and illustrated by Wilton Santos. It stars Amara Creed and shows her fighting career ten years after Creed III.

  A Broadway musical based on the first film premiered in Hamburg, Germany, in October 2012. Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens wrote the songs, and Thomas Meehan wrote the book. Performances began at the Winter Garden Theater on the 11th of February 2014, and the show officially opened on the 13th of March. Hal Leonard published a script by Meehan and Stallone that same year.

  Rocky Super Action Boxing, based on Rocky III, reached players in 1983. An unofficial game by Dinamic Software appeared for the ZX Spectrum in 1985 and was later retitled Rocco. Rocky Legends followed in 2004, Creed: Rise to Glory in 2018, and Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions in 2021.

  In May 2023, Michael B. Jordan announced an anime-styled short to run at the end of the credits of Creed III in Japan. His affection for manga and anime had already inspired scenes in the feature, and he commissioned TMS Animation to make the short. Yô Moriyama directed Creed: Shinjidai, from a script by Katsuhiko Manabe and Kensaku Kojima. It tells a science-fiction story about three young boxers in outer space. The short opened in Japan on the 26th of May 2023, with a limited United States theatrical release on the 22nd of September.

  Derek Wayne Johnson directed the 2017 documentary John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs. Stallone then hand-picked him to make 40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic, released in 2020, in which Stallone narrates behind-the-scenes footage from the first film.

  Stallone's director's cut of Rocky IV added about 38 minutes of previously unreleased footage, including longer fight scenes and a longer funeral scene for Apollo Creed. It was meant to mark the film's 35th anniversary, but editing ran long and the planned release on the 27th of November 2020 slipped. Stallone finished editing in January 2021, and the cut was completed in April. A one-night theatrical release followed on the 11th of November 2021, and digital release came the next day as Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago.

  One reported cut was Paulie's robot. Robert Doornick, founder of International Robotics and the robot's voice, said Stallone removed every robot scene to avoid paying him royalty fees.

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• 8. Rights and Futures

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  In November 2021, Dolph Lundgren revealed that a film centered on Ivan Drago was in development. By July 2022, MGM had officially announced it, with Robert Lawton as screenwriter. Lawton had earlier written a spec script about the making of the first Rocky. The studio did not develop that script, but it was impressed enough to hire him for the Drago film.

  Stallone answered the announcement with criticism. He said the producers had been "exploiting" his characters while keeping him out of the creative team, and that he had tried to gain part of the rights to a franchise he helped create. Lundgren said he reached out to his friend at once. He had been told Stallone would be a producer and would appear in the film, and he did not know Stallone had not yet been approached. Stallone later said they had discussed the potential movie. In January 2024, Lundgren said the studio had prioritized the Creed films. He described a plot in which Ivan and Viktor leave Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and move to the United States.

  At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2019, Stallone said he had another Rocky story to tell. He described an epilogue in which Rocky befriends a young, angry fighter stuck illegally in the United States. Stallone called it "very, very timely." In a November 2021 Instagram post, he doubted the film would be approved, because his relationship with producer Irwin Winkler had soured. A year later he said the studio wanted another Rocky film, but talks over rights to the character had stalled it. In February 2023 he posted the first page of the script on Instagram, in a post since deleted, and again voiced doubt.

  In July 2019, Stallone announced "ongoing discussions" about a prequel television series for streaming. Winkler was hesitant about how the story would translate to television. In March 2021, Stallone said he was writing a script set in the 1960s, with seasons of ten episodes each. That May, Amazon began its $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM, and Mike Hopkins of Amazon Prime Video named the Rocky franchise as a major asset. In November 2022, Stallone credited Amazon with reviving his script. In April 2023, his company Balboa Productions signed a collaborative contract with MGM and Amazon Studios. In September 2024, he confirmed that the series centers on a younger Rocky, Adrian and Paulie.

  Ralph Macchio told Empire magazine in its January 2022 issue that he had been approached in 2012 about a Rocky and The Karate Kid crossover, to be directed by Avildsen. It would have followed Daniel LaRusso's daughter and Rocky Balboa Jr., played by Milo Ventimiglia, as they opened a dojo together. Macchio called the idea "awful" and declined. The project was abandoned in favor of Creed and Cobra Kai separately.

  In February 2023, Jordan announced that a fourth Creed film was in development. In March 2025, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he would like to work with Jonathan Majors again, on Creed IV among other projects. In May 2025, Amazon Prime Video picked up Delphi, a series set in the gym of the same name and focused on a group of young boxers. Marco Ramirez is the showrunner, with Jordan and Liz Raposo as executive producers.

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