Last Thursday, news broke that MGM had a “Rocky” spin-off in the works: “Drago,” centered around the backstory of Rocky Balboa’s “Rocky IV” nemesis, Russian boxer Ivan Drago. For “Rocky” fans, that sounds promising. But franchise creator Sylvester Stallone didn’t take the announcement well and took to Instagram this weekend to let everyone know why.
In a statement on Instagram on Saturday (now taken down), a furious Stallone condemned the upcoming movie and the producers behind it. While he didn’t mention any names in his post, his reference to a “94-year-old producer” makes it clear who he directed his comments towards: series producer Irwin Winkler. In the post, Stallone also seemingly referenced Winkler’s children, producers Charles and David Winkler. The Winklers and Stallone have had bad blood for years now, and the new “Drago” movie is the latest point of conflict.
Stallone gets right to the point in his Instagram post. “Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out… ONCE AGAIN , this PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC USELESS VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David, are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me,” Stallone wrote in the statement. Stallone finished with an apology to franchise fans over how he never wanted these characters to become “exploited.” “I APOLOGIZE to the FANS, I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites.”
Stallone’s disapproval of the new film follows up on another Instagram post directed toward Winkler earlier in July. In that post, Stallone beseeched Winkler to give him what was left of the rights to the “Rocky” franchise. “After IRWIN controlling ROCKY for over 47 years, and now CREED, I really would like [to] have at least a little [of] WHAT’s LEFT of my RIGHTS back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN,” Stallone wrote. “I believe That would be a FAIR gesture from this 93 year old gentleman ?” Stallone cited later in that statement that he wants the rights because he “wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children.” Stallone is 76.
While Stallone is irate with the Winklers over “Drago,” he isn’t angry with Dolph Lundgren, who portrays Drago in “Rocky IV” and “Creed II” and is connected to the upcoming film. Instead, he wished that Lundgren had told him about the spin-off before it was announced. “By the way, I have nothing but respect for Dolph but I wish HE had told me what was going on behind my back,” he said in Saturday’s post. “Keep your REAL friends close.”
For his part, Lundgren took to Instagram on Sunday with his own statement: “Just to set the record straight regarding a possible Drago spinoff. There’s no approved script, no deals in place, no director and I was personally under the impression that my friend Sly Stallone was involved as a producer or even as an actor. There was a press leak last week which was unfortunate. In touch with Mr Balboa – just so all the fans can relax…There ya go.”
Stallone’s frustration over his lack of ownership of the “Rocky” franchise goes back decades. In 2019, Stallone voiced his frustration over the situation to Variety, saying, “I have zero ownership of “Rocky.” Every word, every syllable, every grammatical error was all my fault. It was shocking that it never came to be, but I was told, ‘Hey, you got paid, so what are you complaining about?’ I was furious.” Now, with another spin-off to the franchise in the works, it’s more unclear how, or if, Stallone and the Winklers will ever resolve the situation.
Since the announcement of “Drago” last week, MGM has pushed back “Creed III” to a March 2023 theatrical release.
