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Sylvester Stallone Is Right To Be Annoyed About Rocky’s Drago Spinoff

With no ownership rights to the franchise, Sylvester Stallone is right to be annoyed about Rocky’s Drago spin-off and his lack of involvement in the project. It was recently announced in an online exclusive that MGM is developing a Drago spin-off movie starring Dolph Lundgren, reprising his role as Russian boxer Ivan Drago from 1985’s Rocky IV (via The Wrap). Drago’s son, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), is also expected to appear following his Creed II debut, where Drago returned as his trainer.
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The titular Rocky franchise was created by and stars Sylvester Stallone as boxer Rocky Balboa. Stallone, who wrote the original Rocky screenplay, received Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominations at the 1977 Academy Awards, in addition to taking home Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing. Rocky’s success resulted in five sequels, three Creed spin-offs, and worldwide sales of $1.7 billion. Yet despite his franchise’s huge success, Stallone shared he has “zero ownership of ‘Rocky’” and accused Rocky producer Irwin Winkler of withholding ownership rights to the franchise (via Variety). This conflict resulted in Stallone pulling out of the third Creed movie on his own terms, though he has said he would return to the franchise.

Related: Sylvester Stallone Is Right: Rocky Balboa Really Was A Miracle

Now, the Winkler family has decided to expand the franchise with a Drago spin-off, excluding Stallone. Adding insult to injury, Stallone learned that the Drago project was happening from The Wrap’s exclusive. He took to Instagram in a now-deleted post, venting that Winkler is “once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me” (via Instagram). “I APOLOGIZE to the FANS I never wanted ROCKY to be exploited FOR THIS GREED,” he continued, ending on a positive note with “I have nothing but respect for my true friend, Dolph Lundgren.” After the ongoing controversy regarding Rocky’s ownership rights and Stallone being essentially cut from the franchise’s expansion, the actor has every right to be annoyed about Rocky’s Drago spin-off.

Why Rocky’s Drago Spinoff Needs Sylvester Stallone’s Involvement

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Amazon recently acquired MGM, which has released all of the Rocky movies and likely wants to continue growing the franchise. Expanding seems like a stretch without Stallone, however, as he is the heart and soul of Rocky. He has been heavily involved in every Rocky project to date, creating, writing, acting, and directing much of the franchise. Not only would the Drago movie benefit from Stallone’s expertise and love of the franchise, but it would also benefit from an appearance by Rocky. This would make the movie more appealing to long-time supporters and would add depth to the film, given Balboa and Drago’s history. Additionally, if he is excluded, this would be another Rocky project for which Stallone would not be appropriately compensated, as he does not receive royalties from the franchise. While Stallone willingly chose to move on from Creed, it seems strange to exclude him from a Rocky project considering their continued success is likely due to his meticulous contributions.

Even Lundgren, whose character infamously threatened to “break” Balboa, seems hesitant to proceed without Stallone’s involvement, as he originally believed “Sly Stallone was involved as a producer or even as an actor” (via Instagram). The Drago movie hasn’t begun production, but the Rocky franchise will soon continue with Creed III’s theatrical release on March 3rd, 2023. This comes after a delay, likely because Amazon and MGM hope to benefit from cast member Jonathan Major’s upcoming role in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Next: Creed 3’s Release Delay Breaks An Old Rocky Tradition

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‘I am officially off the market’: When Margot Robbie revealed she made the ‘conscious’ decision of not dating actors


Margot Robbie revealed her decision to not date actors because of the media scrutiny that came with a public relationship of two high-profile actors
Back in 2015, A-lister Margot Robbie made a declaration that she would not be dating any actors. The actress may have alluded to her fiance Tom Ackerley, who she married the following year in 2016. In an exclusive interview with Marie Claire, she revealed that being in a relationship as an actor herself came with its own set of challenges. She believed that dating someone who was popular would add on to the media scrutiny.

Margot Robbie opened up on why she made a conscious decision to not date actorsTalking to Marie Claire, she claimed, “I am officially off the market.” She then shared the reasoning behind her decision and added, “I made a conscious decision not to date actors.” She continued to explain, “But not because I hate actors. That’s a nasty generalization to make, and that’s not the case. People take such an interest in your love life when you have a profile, it puts a lot of stress on a relationship.”
The Barbie actress continued, “So two people with profiles, I figure it’s just double the amount of scrutiny, and I’d like to avoid that at all costs.” This came after reports of her locking lips with Tarzan co-star Alexander Skarsgard started making rounds. It was reported that she was caught kissing the actor during the Sundance Film Festival.

Margot Robbie revealed she opted for a minimal lifestyle even after becoming an actorIn the interview, Robbie also opened up about how she was adapting to fame. She shared, “I have a normal 24-year-old life. If I were a waitress, I’d probably have the exact same lifestyle. I’d go to the same clubs I go to already, live in the same house with the same housemates, hang out with the same people.”
However, Margot Robbie tied the knot with Tom Ackerley who is an English producer and actor. The duo met on the sets of 2013 movie Suite Francaise where Tom was working as an assistant director. Post marriage, both of them launched their production company LuckyChap Entertainment.

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Monica Bellucci and Tin Burton at lunch in the restaurant in Selci Lama


For All Saints’ Day, the Hollywood star from Tiferno returned to his native Umbria to enjoy a moment of relaxation and then visit his parentsOn the occasion of the All Saints’ Day celebrations, the Hollywood star of Tiferno origin, Monica Bellucci, returned to her native Umbria to enjoy a moment of relaxation and to visit her father Pasquale and her mother Brunella.Flanked by her current partner Tim Burton, she went to lunch, together with about twenty old friends, at the Osteria del Musicista, which has always been her favorite restaurant, in Selci Lama.Menu dedicated to typical dishes of the area, which includes an appetizer with breadsticks lined with coppa, duck in porchetta and grilled pork livers, polenta with wild boar sauce accompanied by the very typical cappelletti in broth.To conclude, a dessert based on fried “ciaccia” with Nutella and roasted chestnuts.
Having paid the bill and greeted the restaurant owner and lifelong friend, Roberto Polchi, Monica brought home cappelletti and broth for a family dinner.

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‘Rocky’ Was Quite Different In His Original Screenplay, Sylvester Stallone Claims


Sylvester Stallone took his friend’s advice on a rewrite of the original screenplay to Rocky. A few tweaks later, he was on his way to major success.
In the new Netflix documentary Sly, Stallone discussed how he initially conceived of the project, which had a much harder edge. In the early version, Rocky was depicted as a “thuggish” character, inspired by Martin Scorsese’s crime drama, Mean Streets.

But Stallone’s perspective changed when a friend read the script and thought the boxer was too cruel for audiences to actually care about him.
Stallone recalled her crying.

“She goes, ‘I hate Rocky. I hate him. He’s cruel. He hits people. He beats them up.’”
Stallone took it to heart, and asked what he could do to soften the character.

“I said, ‘what if you stop short of it?’ Like, maybe he almost did. He could have, that’s his job, but he doesn’t?’ ‘That’d be nice,’” he added. “I said, ‘What if he had a girlfriend or something?’ ‘Yeah, that’s nice.’ So I go back, start writing that: ‘Girlfriend. Nice.’”
$117 million in box office later, a franchise was born.

Stallone also revealed that actor Dolph Lundgren sent him to the hospital during one fight scene in Rocky IV.
“Dolph Lundgren… he pulverized me,” Stallone says in the documentary. “Later that night, my heart started to swell—which happens when the heart hits the chest—and then my blood pressure went up to 260, and they thought I was going to be talking to angels. Next thing I know, I’m in intensive care, where I’m surrounded by nuns, and I thought, ‘OK, that’s curtains.’”
Stallone was in the hospital for nine days following the incident, praying for “one more round.”
“For the first minute of the fight, it is going to be a free-for-all,” Stallone told Lundgren. The Swedish actor joked in a separate interview that all he did was “obey orders,” explaining, “[Stallone] was the boss. I did what he told me.”
Doctors allegedly told Stallone that he received a blow to the ribs that made his heart rattle around in his ribcage, a condition typically seen in head-on collisions. “I did hit a bus, of sorts,” Stallone joked.

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