It turns out that the movie about the little movie that could also happened to be a little movie that could.
Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” brought down the house following its Toronto Film Festival world premiere. But its journey to the big screen proved to be the equivalent of the titular protagonist mounting all those stairs of the Philadelphia Art Museum. In fact, every studio in town passed on it.
Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that Amazon MGM, the film’s distributor, had the first crack at Peter Gamble’s script, given that they own the Rocky IP. Courtenay Valenti, who heads up film, streaming and theatrical at Amazon MGM Studios, took it to the studio’s marketing and distribution teams, and they nixed the project.
Then Farrelly became attached with former Warner Bros. chief Toby Emmerich producing.
“I read this script, and I thought it was the greatest script I’d ever read,” Farrelly said during the Q&A following the premiere.
Valenti, who had just teamed with Farrelly on the Zac Efron comedy “Ricky Stanicky” and was eager to work with the helmer again, was then looking at a film with a budget in the $40 million-$50 million range.
But the answer was still no. After all, the first “Creed” movie in 2015 didn’t perform well internationally, earning just $64 million at the international box office vs. $110 million domestically.
“They just felt like a period drama was going to be hard,” says a source involved with the film. “‘Rocky’ — unlike ‘Bond’ — is a stronger brand here than it is overseas.”
The film’s streaming prospects also didn’t add up internally.
“I think they got it into their heads that it was going to be a drama, which don’t typically perform for the streaming services,” says another source familiar with the “Rocky” franchise. “This is the studio that was willing to spend $200 million on ‘Masters of the Universe!’”
Still, Valenti was supportive and promised not to make trouble for the filmmakers who would need to license the IP from Amazon MGM considering that it was a borderline case of fair use. Alas, every other studio passed on the film, which brought the filmmakers back to Amazon.
Valenti suggested selling off foreign rights. Enter FilmNation’s Glen Basner, who sold off most of the world.
Valenti then took the package to Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, and made the case to her boss, underscoring that that the original “Rocky” would be celebrating its 50-year anniversary this November and the Anthony Ippolito-led film would drive Prime viewers back to the cinematic classic, which won the best picture Oscar in 1977.
The “I Play Rocky” budget was trimmed to the low $30 million range, and Amazon agreed to put in north of $10 million for U.S. rights.
“Courtenay had to really believe in it to fight like that,” says a third source with knowledge of the situation.
If the rapturous reception, complete with a Toronto rarity standing ovation, is any indication of its legs, “I Play Rocky” will be a theatrical hit when it opens on Nov. 6 and is very much part of the awards-season conversation — while adding value to the “Rocky” library.
New York Post critic Johnny Oleksinski, who isn’t exactly a pushover, called the film “stirring, inspiring, surprisingly hilarious and easy to love” and “not reverential or museumish, but created in the off-beat, tenacious, can-do spirit of ‘Rocky.’”
The movie has received a ringing endorsement from perhaps its most important viewer: Sylvester Stallone. We hear that Amazon had a print delivered to the Florida home of the OG Rocky, who cried upon watching it.
Then again, it wouldn’t be a proper Rocky story if there wasn’t a major uphill climb before vindication.
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