On Sunday night February 4, 1979, the original Rocky film made its small screen premiere. Nearly three years after it stunned audiences in the summer of ‘76, Rocky was finally heading home — or more accurately, heading directly into everybody’s home.
CBS had paid an unreported sum for that highly-anticipated premiere, which was written about in newspapers across the country for weeks leading up to it. Of course, in 1979 there was no streaming services or DVDs, and even VCRs were too new — and thus too expensive — to end up in most people’s homes. That would change over the following several years, and cable television was also soon about to make a major impact on what people could watch, but in 1979 the three major networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) throughly dominated the home-watching landscape.
Rocky, an underdog hit in theaters, became an unsurprising hit on television. Over 27 million homes tuned in that Sunday night to watch the Oscar-winning film. It was a major ratings success, earning a 36.9 Nielsen rating. It wasn’t a “Who shot J.R.?” moment in television history, but the Super Bowl, an absolute annual ratings bonanza, aired live two weeks earlier on NBC, and earned a 47.1 rating. That means the ratings for Rocky earned 78% as much as the Super Bowl, something that will likely not even come close to happening today.
It was also perfect timing for Sylvester Stallone and distributor United Artists, because it drummed up further interest in the sequel, Rocky II, which would premiere in movie theaters just a few months later.
Of course, Rocky II was a major box office smash as well. So, in 1980, United Artists and CBS struck a deal which gave CBS the rights to air the sequel also. That deal was for a reported $23 million dollars.
To put that into perspective, it was more money than any network paid for rights to air a film at the time. ABC had just paid $12 million to air Alien. NBC had just paid $21 million dollars to air the classic The Sound of Music, which was a guaranteed ratings success then.
Burt Young, who played Paulie in the Rocky series, confirmed the deal to United Press International writer Vernon Scott. Young told him that he received a percentage of that and also added, “There’s big money involved.”
One can obviously determine that Sylvester Stallone was paid a much higher percentage than Young, and that it’s not out of the question that it could have been as much as six figures — but it didn’t end there.
Rocky III became an even bigger film. It showcased television star Mr. T. and wrestling star Hulk Hogan. CBS likely thought it would be foolish to not pay for the rights to air that movie also. So, they didn’t wait this time, especially considering that Rocky III was clearly on its way to being the biggest financial success of all the films in the series.
While it was dominating the summer box office in 1982, CBS struck a deal to pay $15 million for the rights to air the film 5 times beginning in 1984. CBS had already aired the original Rocky twice, and had two more airings left, per their contract. They also had three more airings of Rocky II available, which had just aired on a Sunday night, and was actually beaten out in the ratings by Smokey and the Bandit. This made some critics question why CBS was paying so much money for the Rocky series, which totaled around $40 million dollars when you consider $15 million for Rocky III, $23 million for Rocky II, and one can safely assume at least $2 million for Rocky.
Why was CBS so obsessed with Rocky and was it all worth it in the end?
Well, no one really knows, not even CBS. The television premiere’s of the respective films possibly made it worth it. They couldn’t expect the additional airings to result in the same ratings success. CBS paid $8 million dollars less for Rocky III than for Rocky II (and for one additional showing) so it’s not as if CBS didn’t significantly lower their offer. They also intended to make the films something of a tradition, though they ended up airing them sporadically throughout the rest of the decade.
CBS also understood what was happening in the movie industry as blockbusters were becoming more commonplace because studios were willing to invest more in one movie than ever before. It also meant that most studios were punching out fewer total movies. So, CBS knew fewer options would be available each year. They also wanted to capitalize on the Rocky films by creating a new boxing drama. Indeed, they promoted it during their 1980 airing of Rocky II but watched the drama, called The Contender, bomb when it began airing in April of that year.
The Rocky deals certainly kept expanding the wallets of Burt Young, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers, and Sly Stallone. However, with the rise of HBO and cable television, VCR’s and VHS rentals, and other broadcast networks such as FOX, then such massive deals would not be made again.
It also means that the long term Rocky deal was lacking in foresight, especially considering that 20th Century Fox had the rights to distribute Rocky on VHS in 1980. However, two years later, CBS merged with Fox’s VHS division and distributed the Rocky films under CBS/Fox Video. Rocky III became such a money-making VHS that it finished in the top five of both rentals and buys in 1983. So, maybe CBS made out quite well with the Rocky series overall.
The true winner was Sylvester Stallone, making tons of money in all the deals without doing more work.
Sly and the family Rocky made out like Smokey and the Bandit thanks to perfect timing, perfect circumstances, and dare I say a perfect movie series.
The early 1980’s were a peak time of movie blockbusters on network television and such a time will likely never happen again.