Yo, Adrian, they're doing "Rocky-con"
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Alexandra Beier/Bongarts/Getty Images
Inspired by the success of the inaugural Rocky Day, which drew thousands of people to the grand opening of Rocky Shop outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art in December, city tourism officials are holding a multi-day "Rocky-con" festival later this year.
Why it matters: The city is developing new ways to cash in on the titular Balboa, a bruising brawler with an anvil for a jaw who has enraptured movie audiences for decades.
Driving the news: Multiple organizations, including the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp. and Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, are working to produce this year's celebration.
- It will serve as a dress rehearsal for a much-larger shindig marking the first "Rocky" film's 50th anniversary in 2026, which coincides with the nation's 250th birthday and FIFA World Cup games at Lincoln Financial Field.
- Officials met for the first time last week to begin churning over ideas, including tours of all the films' iconic locations, movie screenings and a visit from Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone (hopefully).
Flashback: Stallone wrote the first draft of the original Rocky script in three days after watching "supposed stumblebum" Chuck Wepner nearly go the distance with Muhammad Ali, considered the greatest boxer of all time.
- Stallone was insistent on starring in the film, turning down a $300,000 offer for the rights to "Rocky" when he had only $106 in the bank. The bet on himself paid off handsomely, and Balboa became a box-office tour de force.
What happened: The city honored the character with a holiday last year on Dec. 3, the same day the original "Rocky" was released in the U.S.
- He has inspired books, created jobs and helped transform Philadelphia into a tourist hotspot.
What they're saying: Kathryn Ott Lovell, who leads the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp., recounted a story of two brothers who brought their mother here before the Rocky Store officially opened.
- They begged Ott Lovell to let them in, telling her that "Rocky II" was the last movie they watched with their father before he was murdered.
The bottom line: "For ages, we were the city that people came to to see where Democracy was started," Ott Lovell tells Axios. "Now a whole new generation of people are coming for this mythical character."
Go deeper: Read about the author of a book about the Art Museum steps and two different Rocky impersonators.