Even after 45 years since its inception, Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ film franchise is still considered a global benchmark when it comes to sports and boxing films. Earlier this month, a director’s cut of the fourth Rocky film titled ‘Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago’ starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren was released theatrically and digitally.
And now, in a recent interview (via THR), the antagonist of the 1985 film ‘Rocky IV’ – Dolph Lundgren has teased about a Rocky spin-off movie featuring his character of Ivan Drago and that production house MGM is ostensibly interested in moving forward with Drago’s character arc.
Regarding the Rocky spin-off movie, Dolph Lundgren has stated that: “By the way, I think there’s some talk about doing a whole spinoff on Drago with MGM. So you may get more of that.”
Essayed by Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren, Ivan Drago was first introduced as Rocky Balboa’s formidable Soviet-Russian opponent in Rocky IV. The plot revolves around how Drago brutally beats and kills Rocky’s friend Apollo Creed and eventually how Rocky comes back to the ring to face the virtually unbeatable Ivan Drago. Rocky IV went to become the most successful Rocky film commercially, garnering over $300 million at the box office.
33 years later, Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago made a comeback alongside Sylvester Stallone in the eighth Rocky film namely ‘Creed II’ starring Michael B. Jordan as the titular heavyweight champion. In this film, Drago trains his own son Viktor Drago to be a ruthless fighter, who later challenges the reigning champion Adonis Creed (Jordan).
‘The Expendables’ actor Dolph Lundgren has recently concluded filming for his part in the much anticipated ‘Aquaman’ sequel where he reprises his role as that of the Atlantean tribe – King Nereus. ‘Aquaman 2’ starring Jason Momoa is slated to release on 16th December 2022.