The creator of the Italian Stallion franchise shared his handwritten ideas for an official sequel to the Rocky series.
Creed III is only a couple weeks away, and while this installment continues the story of Apollo Creed’s son, this will be the first not to feature Sylvester Stallone in the role that made him famous, Rocky Balboa. While Creed II seemingly gave a warm conclusion to Balboa — showing him going to visit his son, Robert, in Canada — Stallone has recently taken to instagram, in a post that has since been deleted, to share with fans the notes and ideas he had written down for a proposed Rocky VII, which was to be separate from the Creed franchise.
According to Collider, Stallone posted pictures of notebooks with his handwritten pages for ideas and even scenes for the seventh official installment with the caption, “This was the beginning EXCERPTS of screenplay for ROCKY 7, sadly because certain individuals, it will never happen, but it’s something I want to share with the diehard fans. Always Keep punching.” Sly then adds in another post, “Part two I know it’s confusing, but I think you get the idea. Rocky was back trying to fight for the neighborhood that made him and that he still loves.”
Shortly after posting the screenshots, Stallone took them down. Based on the summary posted by Collider, the first of the two scenes featured The Italian Stallion reflecting on a moment he once shared with the late love of his life Adrian (Talia Shire). The second scene introduced his new protege, a “27 year old fighter named Chucho the Mutt.” Previously, Stallone had mentioned that the film would centre around a relationship between Rocky and a young streetfighter in the country illegally.
The likelihood of another Rocky movie, or even Stallone returning to the Creed franchise seems remote at best. Sly has made it clear that he is currently in his own bout with the producer of the Rocky franchise, Irwin Winkler, over the rights to the series, as he has posted images in the past that almost literally paints the producer in a bad light. Winkler and his producer son have not only elected to continue Creed without Sly, but also announced a spin-off with the Ivan Drago character with Dolph Lundgren attached. In the now deleted instagram post, Sly included the hashtag, “#Irwinsfault” which indicates the Winklers are also the reason his Rocky VII never got off the ground.
In the meantime, Creed III, which has gotten solid early feedback, hits theaters on March 3rd.