I Play Rocky Sets Release Date for Biopic on Sylvester Stallone Boxing Film

Peter Farrelly and Anthony Ippolito are stepping into the ring with I Play Rocky, a new film that revisits the making of one of cinema’s most iconic boxing stories. The director and star team up for a biopic exploring the origin of Rocky and the early struggles of Sylvester Stallone, with a newly announced release date set around a major anniversary for the original film.

I Play Rocky to release on Thanksgiving 2026

Amazon MGM Studios’ I Play Rocky will open in U.S. theaters on November 20, 2026, following a limited release on November 13. The release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the original Rocky, which debuted on November 21, 1976 (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Anthony Ippolito plays a young Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky. Oscar-winner Peter Farrelly (Green Book) directs from a script by Peter Gamble. The film recounts Stallone’s struggle to make Rocky and his fight to play the lead despite rejections and financial setbacks.

At 29, Stallone was a struggling actor with a speech impediment and a partially paralyzed face. He wrote the Rocky script and refused to sell it unless he starred in the film. He turned down six-figure offers and helped fund the production for under $1 million.

Rocky earned over $200 million worldwide and won Best Picture at the 1977 Academy Awards. I Play Rocky dramatizes the behind-the-scenes effort to bring the story to life and Stallone’s persistence to play Rocky Balboa.

The cast includes Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass, and Stephan James as Carl Weathers. Kiki Seto, Robert Morgan, Saul Stein, Trevor St. John, Erik Palladino, and Rob Demery also appear. FilmNation Entertainment provided production services and managed international sales.

Toby Emmerich, Christian Baha, and Peter Farrelly produced the film. “When I first read Peter Gamble’s energetic and poignant script, I knew it captured something very special,” Baha said in 2024 (via Variety). Ippolito previously played Al Pacino in The Offer, a Paramount limited series. This marks his second role as a legendary Italian-American actor.

Source: Comingsoon.net