Could Sylvester Stallone get his share of 'Rocky?' Legal experts explain

Sylvester Stallone is synonymous with the character of Rocky Balboa, the underdog boxer who first made him famous in the 70s. , he is unhappy with the way the original deal was structured and thinks he should have received a stake.

On July 31, following news of a "Rocky" spinoff movie in development about the characters of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) and Viktor Drago (Viktor Drago), Stallone took to Instagram to express his frustrations with the direction of the expanding franchise, and in particular his longtime producer Irwin Winkler. In a since-deleted post, the actor called the 91-year-old producer and his children Charles and David Winkler "vultures" and "parasites" who he says exploit the franchise. Earlier in July, the actor posted another Instagram (also now deleted) of the producer's portrayal as a snake, expressing his frustration at being allegedly denied a stake in the "Rocky" franchise.

While Stallone's invective against Winkler has heated up over the past month, it has been bubbling for several years. In 2019, a year after the actor reprized his role as Rocky for the second 'Creed II' spin-off, he sat down for an interview with the former Variety editor. > Claudia Eller in 2019 to disclose her frustrations with the franchise ownership situation. Stallone - who wrote the script for the film in three days, before selling the rights to producers Winkler and Robert Chartoff - said his anger stemmed from the fact that the initial deal deprived him of a stake in the franchise, a long-term asset that could be passed on to his children after his death.

"I was very angry. I was furious," Stallone told Variety of the terms of "Rocky's" initial contract. ""Rocky" is on TV in the world more than any other Oscar-winning film other than 'Godfather'. You have six, and now you have "Creed" and "Creed II". I love the system - no' don't get me wrong. My kids and their kids, they're taken care of because of the system. the definition of Hollywood is someone who stabs you in the chest. They don't even hide it."

Representatives for Stallone and Winkler did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Jason E. Squire, a professor of filmmaking practices at the University of Southern California, called the situation of a major star directly and publicly denouncing a top producer as "very, very rare." When it comes to how Stallone and other stars are paid for their work on projects, Squire explains that stars are usually paid in cash upfront as well as residuals based on the film's success. In Stallone's case, although he has no ownership rights to the film, he continues to make money from the project through back-end payments.

"Big stars get paid in two ways: cash up front, which is part of the budget, payable in weekly installments while filming," Squire said. "And then there's the back-end known as contingent compensation, which could take the form of some kind of formula based on the success of the film, the theory being the sharing of success."

While Stallone's public displeasure with the ownership situation has not translated into legal action, disputes over copyright and ownership of fictional characters are fairly common and almost always go down the drain. meaning of content owner. The comics field is particularly affected by the legal battles of the estates of creators like Jack Kirby over the characters they created - such as the Fantastic Four and X-Men - ending in courts ruling in favor of Marvel or by DC.

James Sammataro, a partner at Pryor Cashman and co-chairman of the company's media and entertainment group, says these cases are based on a provision of copyright laws that Congress crafted for pre-US cases. current Copyright Act 1976, due to unfair bargaining power in agreements made before that date. In this provision, after a period of approximately 35 years from the original agreement, creators can issue "termination rights" to attempt to reclaim their copyrights.

The reason many of these cases go in favor...