MGM releases new trailer for Rocky IV's significantly longer "ultimate director's cut"
Sylvester Stallone's new version of the film includes 40 minutes of unreleased footage
Last year, relatively early on in quarantine, Sylvester Stallone revealed that he had been putting together a new cut of Rocky IV in honor of the film’s 35th anniversary. He tagged MGM in the post and said the studio was on board, but at the time, it seemed like there was at least some chance that MGM was just humoring him and had no intention of really letting him put out a new version of the movie—especially since, at that point, it seemed like the pandemic might never end.
Now that we’ve all grown accustomed to the idea of the pandemic never ending, though, it’s time for more Rocky IV! Yes, there’s no need to throw around any hashtags this time, because MGM is going to release the Stallone cut of Rocky IV as a one-night-only theatrical event on November 11 (and on digital the day after).
The new version of the movie is interchangeably dubbed either Rocky IV: Rocky Vs. Drago or—and this one is infuriating—Rocky V. Drago: The Ultimate Director’s Cut, with MGM itself being unwilling to stick to one or the other. (Here’s our take: Someone should be put in jail for calling a movie Rocky V. Drago when the Rocky series famously uses roman numerals and there’s already a movie called Rocky V.)
Anyway, Rocky IV: Rocky V. Drago—The Ultimate Director’s Cut somehow contains 40 minutes of previously unreleased footage, which is a whole lot, and the live screenings will feature a Q&A with Stallone. We don’t know what happens in those 40 minutes (the smart money’s on “a whole lotta boxing”), but we do know that they won’t feature the robot that Paulie gets in the original film. Stallone said last year that he doesn’t like the robot and that it would be “going to the junkyard forever.”
It may be strange to cut out the emotional center of the movie, but that’s why this is the Ultimate Director’s Cut and not the Significantly More Robot Cut. We’ll have to wait another 35 years for that one. You can see a trailer for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky IV V. Drago Coda: The Death Of Apollo Creed below.