Stallone Not Making 'Rocky VII' After All

It turns out Sylvester Stallone isn't so much thinking about Rocky VII. And thank goodness that's the case. Several days ago, a translation from a German site indicated that Stallone was considering a sixth sequel, one that would seem completely superfluous given how good Rocky Balboa was.

Now, CHUD readers have looked a little more closely at the quote and point out that he was actually referring to Rocky Balboa in the past tense, and not some crazy idea of putting the gloves back on. Here's the full quote:

"I know people would laugh at it, as I would if someone were making The Godfather Part 10. Enough! But I also know that if I succeed, it will be because this is a film about aging, not about boxing. I know it will provoke criticism. Even my wife said to me, 'Leave it. You'll embarrass the children.' But I said, 'If I do not try, I an a very unfortunate man. One must do it. Artists must go again and again through the dark.'"

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Sylvester Stallone continues to stockpile actors for his upcoming mercenary flick, The Expendables. On top of Sly, Jet Li, Jason Statham, UFC fighter Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, and Forest Whitaker, the latest news (courtesy of JoBlo) is that Stallone is trying to secure Sandra Bullock to play a government agent paired with Whitaker to track down Stallone's band of soldiers for hire. There's nothing concrete yet, although Sly has so far been able to get everyone he wanted for the project...except JCVD, and that's only if you believe Van Damme, which...yeah, I probably wouldn't in most cases. I was as vocal as anyone about not understanding how Stallone, Statham, and Jet Li could attract an audience anymore (they do have trouble in that department if you look at the numbers), but Stallone certainly has no trouble attracting co-stars. Even though Bullock hasn't had a hit in a few years (can The Proposal turn a corner?), she's still probably the most bankable star in the film, if she's in the film. It would, of course, re-team her with Stallone, with whom the actress was paired in Demolition Man, probably as much of a breakout performance as she had. That role led to Speed, which led to everything else. The Expendables will start shooting in Brazil in March, although I have it on fairly good authority that at least some scenes will be filmed around New Orleans in January. Those would probably not be the mercenaries in the jungle, however.

Dreading a New 'Judge Dredd'

Not ten minutes after we posted a story about a new version of The Shadow, an e-mail came through with a link touting a new Judge Dredd movie. You've got to be kidding me.

Apparently not; 2000AD Online has announced, in one of its forums (or is that fora?) that a new Judge Dredd is on the way. "We can't give away too many details at this point," cautioned 2000 AD CEO and Creative Director Jason Kingsley, "but we're looking forward to working with DNA Films to bring Judge Dredd back to the big screen."Prohibitively expensive at the time it was released, Judge Dredd cost $90 million in 1995, and somehow the Stallone vehicle based on a British comic book stud was left in the hands of director Danny Cannon, who had never steered a very successful project before that, much less a movie with that kind of budget. And it was a dud in the U.S., earning roughly a third of its budget, primarily because it was lousy. But the international ticket sales were OK.

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Stallone "Hopeful" We'll See 'Rambo V'

You kind of had a feeling that Sylvester Stallone would leave this door open as long as he could. After all, Rocky Balboa was a terrific way to wrap up that franchise, and Stallone seemed reinvigorated by its success, turning his attention to Rambo afterwards.

That follow-up was not nearly as good as Rocky Balboa, but it did very well overseas, earning a grand total of $113 million versus a $50 million budget. That's good enough to assume that home video sales and rentals and broadcast and cable contracts probably made Lionsgate fairly happy with the film's overall performance. And now Stallone is keeping his options open for a cinquel, telling TMZ, "Rambo hopefully will be back. We've just got to give you guys a story that's worthwhile."The funny thing is, the fourth Rambo movie had a pretty good story (or at least an interesting call to action), but once the gunfire rained down on southeast Asia, the movie got really stale. You wonder if Stallone would feel the urge to concentrate on those same things in this film that he did in Rocky Balboa. In that final chapter, our hero was a man out of his own time, who didn't know what the world held for him any longer. Clearly, you can fold some of that sentiment into Rambo V...and then shoot the hell out of a bunch of people.

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