How Will Sly End ROCKY BALBOA??

I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who once quipped, "God must love common people, because he made an awful lot of them." Frankly, I've known a lot of common folk, or regular guys if you prefer, and almost all of them were a million times more admirable than, in my view, the utterly detestable Rocky Balboa. Come now, folks. Was I really the only guy watching those movies that pulled for ALL of his opponents to beat the stuffing out of him?

If the defining question of the topic were altered slightly, to say, "How will Rocky Balboa end?" the answer might finally be, "largely ignored."

Its box-office numbers weren't disastrous; as of January 18 it had pulled in $66 million domestic, and will probably tack on another 5 to 10 million before it ends its run, about exactly what we predicted. What has been curious has been its complete lack of appeal in foreign markets. It has only pulled about $10 million overseas. Compare that to You, Me and Dupree, a very different movie, but with comparable domestic numbers. It ended its domestic run in the mid-70 million range. Its foreign take was around $55 million. Evidently Rocky's appeal is strictly an American phenomenon, and not, these days, a strong one even here.

For what it's worth, I doubt either of them will receive sufficient votes to make the final ballot. The competition is sufficiently stiff that RB will likely be ignored by both the AMPAS and the Razzies.

With the movie now out, I will say this.  I absolutely loved it.  And as much as I would love for Rocky, thus Sly to kick butt at the box office and really show everyone who isn't rooting for him, I have come to the realization that it doesn't really matter. 

I know low #'s and bad reviews will affect future projects, but for me, I got what I was wanting with Rocky Balboa.  A sweet, sentimental, don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something, Bill Conti score, going the distance close to MY favorite character ever.  And since Sly and Rocky are so much the same in my mind, neither can do much wrong in my eyes.

I have never been so naive as to think or say that Sly never made any bad movies.  But I would like to say that he is the ONLY actor that I am willing to watch whether or not it is a bad movie.  Even the "greats" in the eyes of most can't draw me to a movie that is bad.

  Everyone has an opinion, so, here is mine.  I am sure that you will like Rocky Balboa, and that no matter what it will not redeem Sly enough to avoid your Razz.  That's is OK.  Do what you feel is right... I got what I wanted.  And I will now look forward to whatever Sly does next. 

Response from Head RAZZberry: Dear Fan of 30 Years and #1 Sly Fan -- While we don't totally agree about ROCKY BALBOA, we're much closer in our response than you might expect. Due to the critical acceptance of  the film (LINK) and the fact that it is clearly not bombing at the box office (LINK)  I chose to list it in only two places on my 27th Annual RAZZIES Nominating Ballot (both Burt Young as Paulie and Milo Ventimiglia as Rocky Junior for Worst Supporting Actor). Stallone's performance in this film, especially the scene where he breaks down in tears over the loss of Adrian, was certainly nothing for him to be ashamed of (or for us to poke fun at). We  have also decided 2006 is not an appropriate year to give Sly a Worst Career Achievement award. But if ROCKY VI and its apparent success allow Stallone to finally make RAMBO IV and/or his "dream project" about Edgar Allen Poe, as I mentioned in a previous post, we will likely revisit the issue in the next year or two...

Actually, it was Stallone who made the decision not kill off his own character in Rocky V, not the studio. I dug this up a few months ago in one of our other "Stallone Debate" threads. Here is the exact quote from IMDB; "Sylvester Stallone originally intended for Rocky to die after defeating Tommy Gunn in their streetfight, however he had second thoughts and rewrote the ending, claiming "it would be like killing off Superman". 

See, even you can have a bit of an off day..., I was even more surprised that Apocalypto made $16 million in its first week, much less ranking #1 at the B.O. It looks like it may at least be able to pay for its production cost.

Anyways, I do agree there are lots of other movies out there that deserve our immediate attention other than Rocky Balboa. I'm just more or less in shock that after more than 20 years of certified crap (Some of witch Stallone himself finally admitted to) that his latest installment may not be more of same.

Well, we'll find out between tomorrow and Friday for sure if what he pulls off on screen in Rocky Balboa can be pulled off with the critics, this honorable Forum, and most importantly, American moviegoers.

You guys are not going to believe this, but as of 7:06/PST on Monday, Dec 18th, ROCKY B is not only back up to 77%, but at 100% for the cream of the crop over at RT. Someone may have to pick ME off the canvas if this trend continues! I might actually enjoy myself when I go see this on Friday, which would be a very pleasant surprise -- the 1st time in about 20 years for a Stallone picture!