Sylvester Stallone hints much-anticipated Rocky IV: Director’s Cut is almost ready

It has been some time in the making, but fans of the Rocky franchise should probably start getting hyped after Sylvester Stallone appeared to tease the imminent release of his Rocky IV: Director’s Cut on social media.

The Rocky franchise has had an immense impact on popular culture since the first film in the series hit cinemas in 1976. Starring Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote the script, the film has come to be recognised as one of the greatest sports films ever made.

Off the back of its success, it brought in over $1.6-billion at the box office against a budget of just over $200-million; five sequels were created – including Rocky IV, of course. There were also two spin-off movies, Creed and Creed II, with plans for Creed III and Rocky VII.

On top of that, the film’s popularity saw its influence begin to stretch into other industries with the Rocky video games’ release in 1987 and 2002, along with Rocky Legends (2004) and Rocky Balboa (2007).

There is also a Rocky board game and pinball machine. It has even influenced the iGaming industry as there is even an online slot game titled Rocky that can be found at new slot sites such as the Sun Vegas Casino.

With all that going on in the franchise, it makes sense to release a director’s cut to satiate the appetite of Rocky fans’ legions for content, exceptionally. At the same time, everyone awaits news on Rocky VII. However, you might be wondering why Rocky IV was chosen.

While the original Rocky film is undoubtedly rated as the best of the bunch, Stallone was not the director. He wrote the story and screenplay for all six Rocky movies but was only the director of Rocky II, III, IV, and Balboa. Of that bunch, Rocky IV is the one most-loved by fans because of the exaggerated action and almost comic-book style adventure it contains.

News that a director’s cut was in the works first dropped in the middle of 2020 when Stallone responded to a fan question on Instagram about whether or not there would be a director’s cut of Balboa. He answered: “I am not doing that but I am doing a director’s cut on Rocky IV which will be amazing!!!!!”

Since then, there has been scant little information until recently, when Stallone once again took to Instagram to provide an update. Strategically placed at a sound mixer to give the appearance that he was right than working on the project, he simply captioned the picture, “Coming soon folks”.

When a fan inquired about an exact release date, Stallone admitted there wasn’t one yet but indicated they had been working on the project for some time, seeming to hint that a full release was imminent.

Most fans will also be delighted to find out that one of the film’s most maligned characters, Sico the Robot that Rocky buys for his brother in law, will be cut entirely from the movie. Simultaneously, there will also be more footage of the fateful Apollo Creed vs Ivan Drago fight. “The robot is going to the junkyard forever, no more robot,” Stallone confirmed.

While that is a fairly significant change, it is likely the only one with most of Stallone’s talk about the Director’s Cut being centred around “bringing the film 35 years up in technology. This means most of the work they have done has likely been focused on bringing it to HD and 4k resolutions to make the action scenes even more gripping.