An excerpt from my script review for Drago which will be available 01/25/16:
1.) Marketability of the Idea
First, take a look at this…
Rocky Franchise Box Office Stats
Creed alone cost $35 million to make, but at the time of this review, raked in over $150 million worldwide.
That’s a tidy little profit!
Now, consider this…
Star Wars Force Awakens Box Office Stats
Is Rocky the same type of franchise as Star Wars? Well no, but think about what Disney is doing with their spin-off titles like Rogue Squadron. Sly’s getting too old, especially now that Rocky is battling cancer, but does that mean the franchise has to die?
Not necessarily.
Admittedly, I have no clue as to the longevity of the Creed storyline once you remove Mr. Stallone, but if there’s money to be made, why leave it on the table?
That brings me to the idea of an Ivan Drago focused script.
Rocky Balboa vs. Ivan Drago did end the Cold War.
Aside from this article, that seems to be a repost on several sites, nothing appears to truly be in the works.
But staying with the “marketability” aspect of this section, is the idea profitable enough to warrant considering the plot of Ivan Drago in post-Communist Russia?
There’s certainly been goofier sequels made.
(Not to mention we haven’t used the success of the Expendables franchise in the argument!)
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