Sylvester Stallone took to his Instagram page on Sunday to politely but sternly ask for what he considers is his. The actor was the writer and star of 1976’s Rocky and its five sequels, but he doesn’t own the rights to his creation. Producer Irwin Winkler has those rights, and Stallone wants Winkler to give him “what’s left of [his] rights back.”
In his Instagram post Stallone writes, “After IRWIN controlling ROCKY for over 47 years, and now CREED, I really would like to 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.” If that didn’t drive his point home enough, Stallone captioned a picture via Instagram on Sunday of Winkler with a blade protruding from his mouth and a body resembling a snake. You can check out the Instagram post below!
Stallone was paid approximately $75,000 for the screenplay and his acting fees plus ten net points for Rocky. According to Stallone’s calculation that he shared with Variety, this earned him at least $2.5 million for the first movie. The actor told the outlet that he didn’t push the issue of ownership rights at the time because “there was a certain code of business conduct, maybe not much now, but back then, that you don’t ruffle feathers of the golden goose.” With this Instagram post, it would appear that the feathers are officially ruffled.
The Rocky franchise has expanded significantly since the first film and its five sequels. Creed was released in 2015 to solid box office and critical acclaim, while its 2017 sequel was also well received. A third installment is set to be released on November 23, 2022, and it’s the first Rocky project that Stallone will not appear in. He is on board as a producer while Irwin down the rights to Creed and the Rocky universe as a whole.
What are YOUR thoughts on Sylvester Stallone’s pleas to Irwin Winkler over the Rocky rights?