Editing Rocky IV (section)

===Director's cut===
In August 2020, Stallone announced that a [[director's cut]] edition of the film would be released to commemorate the film's 35th anniversary.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://screenrant.com/rocky-4-directors-cut-footage-drago-creed-sylvester-stallone/ |title=Sylvester Stallone Releases New Footage of Rocky 4 Director's Cut |first=Mike |last=Jones |website=[[Screen Rant]] |date=September 10, 2020 |access-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref> Approximately 38 minutes of previously unreleased footage consisting of both new scenes and alternate takes was added to the film, including significant extensions of both fight scenes and the [[Apollo Creed]] funeral scene, in addition to a lengthier recap of ''Rocky III'' at the beginning of the film. A significant amount of original footage was removed or replaced to make way for these additions, as the director's cut runs 93 minutes compared to the original cut's 91 minutes.<ref name=movie-cen/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/rocky-iv-rocky-vs-drago-the-ultimate-director-cut |title=Sylvester Stallone Says Director's Cut of 'Rocky IV' Coming for Film's Anniversary |first=Terri |last=White |website=Empireonline.com |date=October 18, 2021 |access-date=October 18, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 18, 2021 |title=Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago – The Ultimate Director's Cut Review |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/rocky-iv-rocky-vs-drago-the-ultimate-director-cut/|access-date=October 18, 2021 |website=Empireonline.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

One major cut was that of the scenes featuring Paulie's robot. "The robot is going to the junkyard forever, no more robot," Stallone commented.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/sylvester-stallone-says-directors-cut-of-rocky-iv-coming-for-films-anniversary |title=Sylvester Stallone Says Director's Cut of 'Rocky IV' Coming for Film's Anniversary |first=Ryan |last=Parker |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=August 30, 2020 |access-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://screenrant.com/rocky-4-directors-cut-paulie-robot-sylvester-stallone/ |title=Rocky IV Director's Cut Won't Include That Ridiculous Robot |first=Humza |last=Hussain |website=Screen Rant |date=August 31, 2020 |access-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref> Robert Doornick, founder of International Robotics and the voice of the robot, commented that Stallone cut all of the robot scenes in the director's cut to save money on royalty fees that were given to Doornick in the original cut.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/rocky-iv-robot-creator-speaks-out-directors-cut-exclusive/ |title=Rocky IV: Paulie's Robot Creator Speaks Out About Director's Cut Controversy – Exclusive |first=Ben |last=Travis |magazine=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |date=September 29, 2020 |access-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref> Scenes with [[Brigitte Nielsen]] playing Ludmilla, Ivan Drago's wife, were also substantially diminished, particularly the scenes where she spoke for her husband at press conferences and her encounter with Apollo Creed's wife in Las Vegas just before the tragic fight between Creed and Drago.

Other scenes from the 1985 version removed in the new cut include Balboa celebrating his wedding anniversary with Adrian and the Soviet regime leaders "Mikhail Gorbachev" applauding Rocky for his speech after winning the final fight, with them instead leaving the room, as well as the scene which Balboa says "Merry Christmas" at the end of the speech was diminished. The director's cut also features the addition of some of Bill Conti's musical themes from the previous films onto the soundtrack, and the toning down of sound effects, particularly the exaggerated punching sounds heard in the original cut. The new cut is also presented in an [[aspect ratio]] of 2.39:1 compared to the original's 1.85:1.<ref name=movie-cen>{{Cite web |date=November 22, 2021 |title=Rocky IV (Comparison: Director's Cut (Rocky vs. Drago) - Theatrical Version) |first= |last= |url=https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=777252|access-date=November 25, 2021 |website=Movie-Censorship.com}}</ref>

The director's cut, titled ''Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago – The Ultimate Director's Cut'', had a one-night theatrical release on November 11, 2021, and was released in digital formats the following day.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 8, 2021 |title=Rocky 4 Director's Cut Gets November 2021 Theatrical Release Date |url=https://screenrant.com/rocky-4-directors-cut-release-date-sylvester-stallone/|access-date=June 8, 2021 |website=ScreenRant |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=D'Alessandro |first=Anthony |date=September 30, 2021 |title=Sylvester Stallone's Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago - The Ultimate Director's Cut Hitting Theaters & Digital |url=https://deadline.com/2021/09/sylvester-stallones-rocky-iv-rocky-vs-drago-ultimate-directors-cut-hitting-theaters-digital-1234847353/|access-date=September 30, 2021 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref> Unlike the original cut, the director's cut was distributed through [[United Artists Releasing]]. A "making of" video was released on [[YouTube]] a week prior to the director's cut release.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stallone |first=Sylvester |date=October 30, 2021 |title=The Making of ROCKY VS. DRAGO by Sylvester Stallone |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suhqtn_brBs |access-date=May 10, 2023 |website=YouTube |publisher=Sly Stallone Shop}}</ref>