While you were probably too busy writing your own King Lear during the pandemic, Sylvester Stallone was reportedly hard at work on a new version of Rocky IV over the last several months. And now, later this fall, the director’s version of the 1985 film will be shown in theaters for one night only.
Stallone created, directed, and starred in the Rocky Balboa picture more than 35 years ago, but a new version of the film with 40 minutes of freshly restored content is supposedly ready for showing. According to Deadline, MGM and Fathom Events announced on Thursday that a remastered director’s cut of Rocky IV will be released in theaters on November 11 and then streamed online.
Stallone will show a live Q&A in select Fathom locations nationwide along with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the recut film. Tickets are on sale today, and a complete list of theater locations are available on the Fathom Events website.
The film is very much a Cold War-framed Red Scare film, so it’ll be interesting to watch how the tale gets changed after the fact. The announcement of the Fathom event was accompanied by a new trailer for the iconic film, which can be seen above. There’s no way of knowing what the new material will contain or how it will reframe the picture, but it’s a must-see for fans of the franchise to see what’s new. Unless that means removing all of Stallone’s beloved robot scenes, which he reportedly wants to do away with.
