A film about Sylvester Stallone’s struggle to make Rocky has become the first production from the franchise to be completed entirely under Amazon MGM Studios’ ownership. I Play Rocky, directed by Peter Farrelly and starring Anthony Ippolito as Stallone, is being used to introduce the 50-year-old boxing series to a new generation.
The film follows Stallone’s efforts to write the original Rocky and his determination to play the lead role himself. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, where it finished as runner-up for the People’s Choice Award.
Amazon MGM agreed to distribute the production in 2025, before filming began. That arrangement allowed the film to use elements of the original, including Bill Conti’s theme Gonna Fly Now and recreations of several shots.
I Play Rocky traces the origins of a billion-dollar franchise
Rocky was released in November 1976 on a budget of about $1 million. It received 10 Academy Award nominations and won three, including Best Picture, while taking roughly $117 million at the domestic box office.
Five sequels followed between 1979 and 2006, before the story continued through the three-film Creed spin-off series. Across nine films, the franchise has generated about $948 million in domestic ticket sales and $1.9 billion worldwide, alongside merchandise ranging from action figures to mobile games.
Amazon acquired MGM for $8.45 billion in a deal completed in 2022, bringing the Rocky and James Bond properties into the company’s portfolio. MGM now operates within Amazon MGM Studios.
The franchise has already produced a major success for its new owner. Creed III opened with $58.7 million in March 2023, setting Amazon’s best opening since the MGM acquisition until Project Hail Mary surpassed it this year. Creed III, however, was already in production when the takeover was completed.
Why rival studios passed on the Rocky origin story
I Play Rocky began as a spec script by screenwriter Peter Gamble, without MGM’s involvement. After the screenplay appeared on the Black List, it reached producers Christian Baha and Toby Emmerich and Farrelly, who took it to the Marché du Film at Cannes in 2024 to seek independent financing.
Gamble said the story could theoretically have been made without permission from the rights holder because Stallone is a public figure and scenes from Rocky could potentially be shown in a commentary-based film.
“Technically you can tell a story about Stallone because he’s a public figure, and technically you can show scenes from the film as long as you comment on the scenes,” he said. “So in theory, you don’t need the rights to Rocky to make this movie, but just because something is technically true doesn’t mean that it’s the smartest thing to do.”
Using the original film’s imagery and music without MGM’s cooperation would nonetheless have created legal and financial difficulties. The production also faced a commercial obstacle: rival studios were reluctant to finance a film that would promote a franchise owned by another company.
“We tried to go to the different studios, but the studios had the problem of ‘If we make this story, it’s going to be advertising another studio’s franchise,’” Gamble said. “They were kind of like, ‘We don’t know if that’s really the risk we want to take because a lot of the reward goes to someone else. This is really an Amazon MGM project.’”
I Play Rocky opened on seven screens on November 6, taking about $345,000, or approximately $49,300 per screen. It is due to expand nationwide on November 20, as the Rocky series enters its sixth decade.
