Sylvester Stallone has doubled down on his attack on Irwin Winkler and his family, accusing the original Rocky producer of “picking clean the BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me.”
A fortnight ago, Stallone took to Instagram to call for Winkler to give him “what’s left of [his] rights back.” He wrote then:
“After IRWIN controlling ROCKY for over 47 years, and now CREED, I really would like 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.”
Now Stallone has posted afresh, commenting on the announcement of a new Drago spin-off movie, slamming both Winkler and his family, but notably reserving his affection for actor Dolph Lundgren.
The creation of Rocky, its success at the box office and its success at the 1976 Oscars has entered film folklore but the rights to the franchise have long been a point of contention for Stallone, who was paid approximately $75k (for the screenplay and his acting fees) plus 10 net points which earned him at least $2.5 million for the first film, according to his calculation shared with Variety.
He told the outlet he didn’t push the issue of ownership rights at the time because “there was a certain code of business conduct, maybe not as much now, but back then, that you don’t ruffle the feathers of the golden goose.”
He has broached the topic in the past but was told he was paid fairly.
The Rocky franchise expanded with 2015’s Creed and its sequel two years later. A third installment is set to be released on November 23, the first Rocky project that Stallone will not appear in. He will serve as a producer, however. Irwin also owns the rights to Creed as it’s an extension of the Rocky universe.