Tag Archives: Rocky IV Director's Cut

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WATCH NOW: The Making of Rocky VS Drago, Rocky IV Director’s Cut

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Ever wondered what a free film lesson would look like from one of the biggest Hollywood actors’/writer/directors’ in the game? Filmed by Sly himself on his phone and uploaded here via his official shop, Sly Stallone Shop (which is super badass by the way) we now marvel in Sly’s approach to one of the biggest franchise sequels of all time- ROCKY IV: THE MAKING OF ROCKY VS DRAGO.

This making-of documentary that is totally free on YouTube, gives Rocky fans an hour and thirty-three minutes of phenomenal life advice, his passion for the project, and exclusive clips from the upcoming one-day Fathom Event release of the film to be followed by an Amazon release the next day.

I truly can’t say enough great things not only about this series of movies but this installment, in particular, that is especially loved by collectively everyone. Rocky IV has always been a different beast apart from its predecessors with a slew of God’s greatest gift of montages shoved into a 90-minute film about world politics, tragedy, and a theme of change for the better; and it is just a damn beautiful thing.

With the absence of SICO THE ROBOT and the addition of Mickey in flashbacks (more or less taken from ROCKY V) taking place in this new cut, what I’m personally most looking forward to is a more dignified, albeit still sad, end to Apollo Creed with a much longer fight sequence between him and Drago. Also, more lines for the villainous steroid-pumping Russian boxer; who had more lines in the original teaser trailer than in the entire film. So that’s rather exciting!

For tickets to this one-night-only event, click here at Fathom Events to get tickets in your area. And in the meantime, set your heart on fire with this fantastic making-of in preparation for the big release!

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(Trailer) Rocky IV Director’s Cut Adds 40 Minutes of Unseen Footage… and Mickey?!

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If I can change… And you can change… then Rocky IV can change too!

Sylvester Stallone’s long awaited ultimate director’s cut of the fan favorite Rocky IV finally has a trailer, release date, and some more details of what to expect in the anticipated version that fans have been clamoring for months on end. While we already know Drago has more dialogue and Sico the Robot has been scrapped entirely from the film, we also know that Mickey, Rocky’s trainer who died in the middle of Rocky III, makes an appearance in this film too in the form of flashbacks scenes in the finale fight with Drago. Along with some scenes of Adrian and Rocky from what appears to be the original film, the flashback scenes added to the fight supply dimension and the will for Balboa get up and beat Drago’s ass in what is supposed to be, his last fight ever.

So basically, they took the footage from Rocky V, and inserted it into Rocky IV. Got it.

Stallone himself has admitted on several occasions he wasn’t too pleased with the end result of Rocky V, and fans agree as it certainly is unanimously denounced as the weakest of the franchise. So perhaps it would be fitting for the guy to take some pieces of the film and add it to the beloved sequel to give it some depth. I mean, I don’t care how much you discard Rocky V, those dream sequences with Mickey were some tear-jerking emotional stuff that really does showcase the bond between the fighter and his trainer.

Rocky IV has an additional 40 minutes of unseen footage, some of which has been re-added from the original trailer from 1985- remember the original trailer had the Boxing Board discussing what to do about Drago himself, ” He’s had ONE fight, and ONE man is dead,”? Well that’s in there-finally because that always drove me nuts, as well as extended fight footage and new songs as well to montage out to! WOOHOO!

Rocky IV returns to theaters for ONE NIGHT ONLY via Fathom events on November 11, 2021, with the movie coming to VOD on streaming services the following day. Grab your tickets here!

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Here’s What You Can Expect From The “Rocky IV” Director’s Cut- And It’s Not Sico the Robot

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Over the Summer, we got the fantastic and unexpected news that Sylvester Stallone was working on a massive edit for a long-awaited director’s cut for Rocky IV. Now thanks to Sly being the master of self-promotion that he is and his official Instagram account, we now have a clear(ish) picture of what to expect in this highly anticipated fresh version of the fan favorite of the franchise.

And quite honestly some of you might get a little pissed about this.

One of the biggest bombs dropped about what to expect from this, was the elimination of Paulie’s wacky birthday gift, the robot SICO in this cut. No “Happy Birthday Paulie“. No Rocky Jr. making himself dizzy on the thing while telling his dad his head looks like a “punching mitt”.

Nope. None of that at all. While Sly hasn’t offered an explanation, the creator of the Sico Robot,  Robert Doornick, shared his own recent theory with “Empire” about why Stallone has decided to cut the fan-favorite from the new edition:

“I was in my office when I found out. I was deluged with messages: ‘How can Stallone do that?’ But I know why he’s doing it, because I know he loves the robot. By causing turmoil among the fans of Sico, it generates more publicity. And by removing the robot from the movie, it saves money in royalty fees, because he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Sico receives cheques all the time – and of course he sends them over to me.”

Welp. I’m just a peon and no have authority to challenge the Italian Stallion on his own films. So, let’s see how this plays out. I would also assume it was also done to make room for additional footage; such as MORE DRAGO DIAOLGUE.

Oh, yeah. He’s actually going to have more than two sentences this time around. It also looks like via the IG video below that the Apollo/Drago fight might be edited as well. Whether it’s before, after, during, or hell all of the above, remains to be known.

In addition via a fan Q &A on the post, two new songs that were unused for the original film will be added to the feature; and to be perfectly honest, one can’t have too many montages in one of the greatest montage films in cinema history. So you’ll hear no complaints from me.

One final note, while this is speculation at this point and there is no confirmation, the director’s cut MAY actually get a theatrical limited release perhaps before the master cut is available to buy/stream. This is all according to Sly himself answering fan questions and quoted as saying, “I believe it’s going to be released as a feature film first.”

So hey, I guess will find out more soon!

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I love re- editing this film. I have found such fantastic moments that I overlooked many years ago. This is a blessing to go back and get another chance to make it even better! @mgm_studios @dolphlundgren #Rocky4 Directors cut.

A post shared by Sly Stallone (@officialslystallone) on Sep 29, 2020 at 9:18am PDT