Did you know that Rocky Balboa was almost a member of the GI Joe team? He was and you can read why it didn’t happen at CBR.com: Comic Book Legends!

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.

On November 9, 2009, Moviefone.com ran a piece entitled: “Philadelphia Overrun with Rocky Balboa Spottings”. An event to celebrate the release of “Rocky - The Undisputed Collection” featured Danny Bonaduce, a thousand fans dressed as Rocky on the museum steps, and more. Click here to read the entire post.

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

I first saw Robbi Rodriguez’s art at a convention. Robbi was set up selling his sketches, and sketchbooks. I didn’t have a clue who he was, but I really liked his art. Since my sketch budget was already shot, I couldn’t hit Robbi up for a sketch. I decided if I ever saw him at another show, I’d definitely try to get on his list.

Lucky for me, Robbi was at this year’s Heroes Convention.  Luckier, still was that he agreed to do a Stallone piece for me.  I really love the loosenes of Robbi’s style.  The kid is talented.  You can see more of Robbi’s art here and here… and hopefully again here at the SZ in the future.

There are a lot of rumors floating around the internet that Sly is planning to make a seventh “Rocky” film.  This story appears to have started with the posting of this piece at TeenSay.Co.Uk. That article says that Sly told Tele5 in Germany [with no link to the original piece or video]:

“I know I’ll probably make a fool of myself if I make another ‘Rocky’ film after turning 60… I also know there’s gonna be a lot of criticism. Even my wife says, ‘Don’t do it…’…  But I also know that I’d be successful if I can make this a film about becoming older, not about boxing but about myself.”

Several sites have picked up the story and run with it.  It sounds to me as if the Sly quotes were made BEFORE he began filming “Rocky Balboa”.  I really don’t think that Sly plans to return to “Rocky” again since the last film was such a fitting tribute to the character and a perfect bookend to the orginal.  

However, there is always a small chance that Sly would.  I remember when filming was starting on “Rocky II” and Sly told an interviewer that he felt it would be interesting to revisit Rocky every five years or so and see what was happening in his life.  He went on to say that the movies would move away from boxing and the drama would come from Rocky’s life, not who he was fighting.  Sly added that to follow a character in movies like that would be a first and might be interesting to do. 

So perhaps Sly is thinking about another “Rocky” film.   I’d say odds are against it and don’t believe it until you hear it from Sly or reported here.  ; )

Edinho Maga sent in some advance photos of his next Rocky statue for Hollywood Collectibles! It’ll be 13 inches tall including the base. This looks to be another winner!

After last week’s post about Edinho Maga’s new Rambo sculpture, I was contacted by Mark at Hollywood Collectibles.  Here’s what Mark had to say:

Hey Craig,

I saw the piece about the new Rambo 18″ (actually around 20″ with base), that Edinho has sculpted for us. This isn’t a spec piece by Edinho, we commissioned him to do it & it is going to be produced.  When the time comes we will offer your forum guys a discount again.

You may also be interested to know we also recently picked up the license for both 12″ & 18″ statues from Rocky! This covers all the movies, so we are starting to develop product now. Also a 1:1 lifesize  Rocky bust is in the pipeline too!

Hope all is well.

Best,

Mark

+++++

SZoners, how cool is that?  Now we know for sure that Hollywood Collectibles will be involved, not only with the production of Edinho’s new Rambo sculpture, but Rocky statues as well as a life size Rocky bust. 

I am really glad that Hollywood Collectibles is invovled.  They put out a great product, and have always treated SZoners right.  Keep in mind that the last Rambo statue sold out quickly.    I will keep us  posted on updates about the Rocky and Rambo statues so that SZoners will be first to know when they become available.  As always, thanks to Mark and the rest of the fine folks at Hollywood Collectibles for keeping us in the loop.

The October 2, 2009, issue of Entertainment Weekly had a small piece called “Shoestring Budget, Giant Box Office”. The films listed were “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “Rocky”, “Mad Max”, “The Blair Witch Project” and “Napoleon Dynamite”. Only the “Blair Witch Project” made a bigger profit than “Rocky”.

[Why they used a photo from "Rocky II" when praising "Rocky" only they can say. - Craig]

Over at Today at NineMSN.com, they take a look at the all time Top Sporting Movies ["Rocky", "Chariots of Fire", "The Longest Yard", "A League of Their Own" and "Jerry Maguire"].  Here’s what they had to say about “Rocky”:

Rocky is a 1976 film written by and starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by John G. Avildsen.

It’s a rags-to-riches story about Rocky Balboa pursuing his American dream - an uneducated but good-hearted debt collector, who is also a club fighter, gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship when the contender breaks his hand.

Rocky was made for only $1.1 million and it made over US$117.2 million, the highest grossing film of 1976 for US.

Who could forget the famous scene of Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art?

Academy Awards:

• Best Picture (Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler) (won)
• Best Director (John G. Avildsen) (won)
• Film Editing (Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad) (won)
• Best Original Screenplay (Sylvester Stallone)
• Best Actor (Sylvester Stallone)
• Best Actress (Talia Shire)
• Best Supporting Actor (Burt Young)
• Best Supporting Actor (Burgess Meredith)
• Best Music, Original Song (Bill Conti, Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins for “Gonna Fly Now”)  
• Best Sound (Harry W. Tetrick, William L. McCaughey, Lyle J. Burbridge and Bud Alper)

You can check out the entire piece by clicking here.