Movies - Rocky V

	Movies - Rocky V

Rocky V is the last of the Rocky sequels to date, though a sixth Rocky film is currently being filmed.

Tagline: Go for it!

Released on November 16, 1990, Rocky V stars Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Stallone's real life son Sage Stallone and real life boxer Tommy Morrison (who, in 1993 beat George Foreman for the vacant WBO world Heavyweight championship) as boxer Tommy Gunn, an ingrate character who only uses Rocky for his connections and to try to win the world Heavyweight title. Sage Stallone played Rocky Jr, whose attempt to learn how to box also turned out to be an attempt to try to get his father's attention. The film earned a disappointing $16 million on its opening weekend and $40 million in total US box-office profits, about one-third of its predecessor's take.

In the movie, Rocky returns home from Russia (following his battle with Ivan Drago in Rocky IV
) to find out that an unscrupulous accountant has attempted to make money off Balboa's fortune and has lost nearly all of it. To make matters worse, the fights have taken a toll on Rocky and have given him a condition that forces him to retire and miss title bouts that may have saved him from bankruptcy. With nowhere else to go, the family moves back to their old neighborhood and learns to live with little to nothing again. A fighter named Union Cane is given the title. Things briefly look up when a young fighter from small-town Oklahoma seeks out Rocky to help him win the title. Taking on Tommy without any experience promoting eventually causes stress on their relationship, as well as splits Rocky's bond with his family.

In addition to being less-than-successful at the box office, the last segment in the Rocky series left a sour taste in hardcore fans' mouths as it left the hero back where he started, arguably with nothing to show for it. The film departed from the standard "Rocky" formula on display in the previous four films and that made it extremely unpopular with the audience that was drawn to sequels.

Many fans of the Rocky series have been known to proclaim "Rocky V never happened." Nonetheless, it is still available on cable television, just as the other sequels are, and is still well known worldwide.

Trivia

Sylvester Stallone planned to have Rocky die immediately after the big street fight with Tommy Gunn. But after considering the glory in the previous films and realizing that Rocky is a cultural American icon much like Superman
, he changed his mind and revised his script to have Rocky live on and be with his son in the final scene.

In the movie Spaceballs
, there was a scene which referred to Rocky V as a joke when a TV newscaster said "Get ready for Rocky Five...Thousand!" Since that movie was released in 1987 and that Rocky V was not yet announced back then, the scene was actually predicting the future. Rocky V was released 3 years later.

U.S. box office gross

Rocky: US$117.3 million
Rocky II: US$85 million
Rocky III: US$120.2 million
Rocky IV: US$125.4 million
Rocky V: US$40 million

Anticipated to be one of the big hits of the 1990 holiday season, "Rocky V" finished a disappointing second in its opening weekend to another film that opened that weekend, "Home Alone," and never recovered.

These figures only reflect movie theater ticket sales in the United States. The most profitable of the films by far was the original Rocky, which only spent a production budget of US$1.1 million.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rocky V ]

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