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Rocky IV Getting 35th Anniversary Directors Cut Without Paulie’s Robot
Image Credit: MGM/UA
Sylvester Stallone is bringing his director’s vision to a 35th anniversary cut of Rocky IV, and the film’s infamous robot is hitting the cutting room floor. Stallone posted to Instagram on Sunday to announce that he is doing a director’s cut of the uber-patriotic entry in the iconic franchise, noting:
“For the 35th anniversary Rocky 4 Is getting a new DIRECTORS cut by me. So far it looks great. Soulful.. Thank you MGM For this opportunity to entertain.”
The 1985 film is beloved by fans of the franchise and features Rocky (Stallone) taking on Russia’s Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). While critical reception was mixed, the film was a massive success and grossed $300.4 million worldwide on a budget of just $28 million.
One of the more polarizing elements of the film was Paulie’s robot, which was created by International Robotics Inc. and was written into the movie after it had been used to help treat Stallone’s autistic son. The robot is alternately loved and hated by fans of the film, and there were immediate questions about how it will be treated in the cut. In response, Stallone said that he doesn’t like the robot anymore and will be cutting it from his cut:
No word on when we might be seeing the cut release, though if it arrives in November that would be right in time for the precise 35th anniversary of the film’s release.
