Sylvester Stallone calls out 'Rocky' producer over 'Drago' spin-off

This comes weeks after Stallone called out producer Irwin Winkler for allegedly denying him the rights to the franchise for almost five decades now

Earlier this week, MGM Studios announced a new movie titled Drago, a new spin-off addition to Sylvester Stallone’s popular boxing franchise Rocky. Now, the veteran actor Stallone has slammed the development, terming the announcement as “another heartbreaker.”

His comments come weeks after he called out Irwin Winkler, the producer behind the series which also includes the Creed movies, for allegedly denying him the rights to the franchise for almost five decades now.

Stallone, the star and writer of the Oscar-winning 1976 movie Rocky, took to Instagram on Saturday and wrote, "Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out…ONCE AGAIN , this PATHETIC 94-year-old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC USELESS VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David, are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me"

The character that the actor mentions is Drago, which was played by Dolph Lundgren in the series. MGM Studios’ Drago will focus on Lundgren’s character as well as his son Viktor Drago (played by Florian Munteanu), who debuted in Creed II. The Creed series, fronted by Michael B Jordan, is itself a spin-off to Stallone's iconic Rocky franchise.

In his post, Stallone also apologised to his fans and said that he has nothing but respect for his friend Lundgren. "I APOLOGIZE to the FANS, I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites… By the way, I have nothing but respect for my true friend, Dolph Lundgren." he added.

Meanwhile, the studio is gearing up for the release of Creed III, which marks Jordan's directorial debut. The film is slated to be released on November 23.