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National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell NFV-000000320 Tap to enlarge
MOVIERocky III
SCENERocky Statue
FILM FORMAT35MM
YEAR1982
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000000320
Film Record Public record
Directed by
Sylvester Stallone
Studio
United Artists · 99 min
Box office
$270M worldwide on a $17M budget
Honors
Golden Raspberry Award — 1 nomination
Scholarship
Named in the title of 1 peer-reviewed work
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.

FILM NOTES

Rocky III arrived in 1982 from United Artists as the third chapter in Sylvester Stallone's underdog saga, pairing box office dominance with cultural staying power. By this point the franchise had shifted from gritty character study to full spectacle, introducing Mr. T's Clubber Lang and cementing Rocky Balboa as an American icon. The film's soundtrack and training sequences became inseparable from the identity of the 1980s themselves, and its success ensured the series would continue for decades, making this installment a hinge point between the original's realism and the franchise's later mythmaking.

A Rocky Statue cell points to the film's most enduring emblem, the bronze likeness that stands atop the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, unveiled within the story as a tribute to Balboa's rise. Collectors prize this imagery because it distills the character beyond the ring, turning him into monument and civic symbol rather than fighter. Whether drawn from a trailer reel, title card, or credits sequence, this kind of cell captures the franchise's transition from sports drama to legend, the moment the character becomes larger than the story containing him.

This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000059630