Since we broke the story of Sly’s e-mail to the StalloneZone about changing the direction of the next “Rambo” movie and the potential for Hunter to be made, several sites picked up the story and ran with it:

• AICN: Stallone Says Rambo is No Longer Rambo vs that Horrible Monster Guy
• Movie Web: “Rambo V: A Savage Hunt Changes Direction”
• ScreenRant: “Is ‘Rambo 5′ Heading Back to Mexico?”
• Empire Movies: “Rambo V Changes Again”
• SlashFilm: Sylvester Stallone Updates on Rambo 5, Saves Monster Plot for Unrelated Film
• Icon vs Icon: Sylvester Stallone Issues ‘Rambo V’ Update
• WorstPreviews: Sylvester Stallone Changes “Rambo 5″ Storyline
• Screencave: Rambo 5 Won’t Be Man vs Beast
• Coming Soon: Rambo V Changes Direction
• JoBlo.com: Rambo 5 Update
• Greek Tyrant: Change in Direction of Rambo 5
• IndieMoviesOnLine: John Rambo No Longer Has Monster Problem
• The Press Association: Stallone Ditches Sci-Fi Plans
• CinemaBlend: Stallone Flips the Script on Rambo 5
• Hollywood.com: Is John Rambo Heading to Juarez?
• Collider.com: Rambo V Goes Hunting in a New Direction…
• Digital Spy: Stallone’s “Rambo 5″ Loses Sci-Fi Twist
• CinemaSpy: So Just What Will Stallone’s ‘Rambo 5′ Be About?
• MTV Movies Blog: “Rambo” Folow-Up Changes Direction…

Miguel Insignares is back with a new e-mail and art.  Miguel says:

Hey Craig-
Good to see you at the show. Here is another Sly piece NEVER seen before!  This one is from Rocky and the always quotable, “Cut Me Mick” scene.  Hope your readers dig these Stallonezone Exclusives–I got a brand-new  Rambo illustration that I’ll send your way in 2 weeks!

Thanks again and keep up the great work!

-Miguel

Miguel — thanks for sharing your Stallone art here at the SZ.  I also look forward to your The Rufnex: Island of the Dead comic [www.islandofthedead.com.

SZoner,  Gerardo Moreno created a trailer for an imaginary Stallone 7th “Rocky” movie and wanted to share it with us.  Although I believe that the “Rocky” series had a perfect ending with the last film, Gerardo’s trailer is worth a look!  You can see more of Gerardo’s art at his site.

Hey SZoners - I just received an e-mail from Sly for all SZoners:

From Sly

Hi Craig,

This is from Sly to your followers:

To all the loyal SZoners out there,

I’m letting you know that Rambo has changed course and the story about hunting the man/beast will be done using another character in the lead. RAMBO himself will be heading over the border to a violent city where many young women have vanished .

There will be blood.

Best,
Sly Stallone

This is great news since it means that we should get two Stallone movies - a new “Rambo” [back to the concept everyone seemed to dig] and what sounds like “Hunter” based on the novel written specifically for Sly by James Byron Huggins.  It’s no secret that I and many SZoners have been hoping that Sly would adapt the novel for the big screen. - Craig

SZoner, Mike Kunda is back with a Rocky painting that he wanted to share!  Thanks, Mike.

On November 4, 2009, Clint Morris did a report on the American Film Market for Moviehole.com.  At this event companies try to get distribution deals for their films.  One of the films marketed was “Rambo V: The Savage Hunt”.  Here’s what was said:

Rambo 5 - Nu Image/Millennium Films will be selling shares in the latest bullet-in-the-abdomen commercial. The flyer says the Sylvester Stallone is now in pre-production, which means it’ll be the big guy’s next film. I’m assuming Lionsgate have the U.S rights in the bag - since they released “Rambo” - but I’m not certain. Either way, if you represent a Croatian distributor, and know there’s an audience out there who’d kill to see another protein shake advert headlined by a 65-year-old mass of mutton, then pull up a seat…. Avi Lerner has a number he wants to show you.

One suggestion, I would change the title to simply “Rambo: The Savage Hunt”.

++++++++++

On November 6, 2009, Movieline.com posted an article by Mark Lisanti about the American Film Market and “Ten Modestly Budgeted Mindblowing Films to Watch”.  “Rambo V: The Savage Hunt” was listed first under the subheading :“The Big One”.  Here’s what was said:

2008’s surprisingly excellent Rambo (and by “surprisingly excellent,” we mean “so incredibly ultramegaviolent that the entire theater whooped with delight each time an evil Burmese soldier was sheared in half by machine-gun fire”) left many unanswered questions: How will our mom-jeans-wearing hero readjust to life in an ass-hugging, boot-cut world? Can Stallone improve upon his frenetic 2.59 kills-per-minutes pace? Will a back-to-basics Rambo abandon high-powered weaponry in favor of eviscerating each foe with his bare hands, jamming his meaty, battle-hardened paws into the soft bellies of his enemies and withdrawing steaming handfuls of wriggling, soupy guts? We may finally get those answers, and sooner rather than later. (More on the actual plot here, for those who aren’t content to let their imaginations run wild.)

The last time we heard from Miguel Insignares was back in May when we posted a sketch that he’d done for my Stallone art theme. At that time, I said that Miguel was working on a pretty cool concept for a comic/movie. We’ll get to that in a second, but first… Miguel created the cool Rambo art that sits a top of this post. Miguel says:

Hope all is well. I wanted to send you a brand-new Rambo drawing I did that has never been seen before on the net! I also wanted to give you an update about my upcoming comic book along with a list of the talent involved. If your readers dig the art style I used on the Rambo piece, they’re gonna get plenty of it in my new comic! In addition, I have other brand new RAMBO & ROCKY illustrations that I would love to debut on your site every couple of weeks leading up to the release of my comic on January 29 2010!! The Press Release can be found at the official website: www.islandofthedead.com

Thanks again for your support and keep up the great work.

Miguel — we’d love to see more of your Stallone art here at the SZ.  I also look forward to your The Rufnex: Island of the Dead comic.  You’ve hit on to a great concept and it should be a winner for everyone involved — especially the fans!

SZoner,  Gerardo Moreno created a poster for an imaginary Stallone movie and wanted to share it with us.  Based on that poster alone, I’d want to see the movie!  You can see more of Gerardo’s art at his site.

My buddy, Mike Zeck sent me the scan above as well as this one. That is of course, Sly in his role as John Spartan from “Demolition Man”.  Here’s what Mike had to say about his involvement with DC’s “Demolition Man” adaptation:

DC asked for a pencil image of these two characters. I delivered, got paid, and that’s the total extent of my knowledge. No idea if they were ever used for anything, ever inked, or anything else.

Interesting unseen art though for the ‘Zone‘.

I thanked Mike and said that I wondered how much Stallone-related art is out there that hasn’t been seen. I told Mike that when Joe Kubert was a guest at an OrlandoCon several years ago he told me that he had worked up some dailies for a potential “Rocky” newspaper strip that never sold.  Mike wrote back to say that he’d been approached about samples for a potential “Rambo” newspaper strip, but because the pay was so low, he never got around to doing any.

At least we have these two previously unseen pieces of Stallone art to enjoy. Thanks to Mike for sharing.

Last week, SZoner, JoeV wrote in to tell us about a Frank Stallone appearance in Florida. This week he sent in a drawing of Rocky that he did along with a photo of a Sly autograph. Thanks to Joe for sharing!