The ROCKY Film Series: Some things to think about
The first installment of the ROCKY film series was shot over an extremely short time frame of just 28 days, the original Rocky movie cost only $1.1 million to produce. Destitute at the time, Sylvester Stallone refused to sell the script unless he was given the starring role. This idea forced United Artists to cut the $2 million dollar budget for the film in half because of taking an unknown Stallone on as a lead meant a bigger box office risk.
When the film went over budget by $100,000, the producers were held liable for the overage and mortgaged their homes to finish the movie, a gamble that paid off in the end…obviously the right move!