Rocky Box Office: Budget and Gross for Every Film

All nine Rocky and Creed films grossed more than $100 million worldwide, from Rocky (1976) on a $1 million budget to Creed III (2023) on $75 million. The table shows each film's budget, domestic gross, international gross and worldwide gross in millions of US dollars. A budget reads "Not listed" where neither Box Office Mojo nor The Numbers publishes one.

The saga started with rocky 1976, directed by John G. Avildsen, which reached US theaters nationwide on December 3, 1976 and finished on $225 million worldwide according to The Numbers. Sylvester Stallone then directed the next three chapters himself: rocky 2 in 1979, rocky 3 in 1982 and rocky 4 in 1985. Avildsen came back for rocky 5 in 1990, and Stallone directed rocky balboa 2006 sixteen years later.

The Creed films moved the series to a new lead character. Creed 2015, directed by Ryan Coogler, was followed by creed 2 (2018), directed by Steven Caple Jr., and creed 3 (2023), directed by Michael B. Jordan. Together those three earned about $665 million, and Creed III alone took in more than $276 million.

The grosses come from Box Office Mojo, with The Numbers used for Rocky (1976), Rocky II, Rocky III and the Creed III budget. Both sites list budgets for only five of the nine films. The Numbers shows slightly different Rocky Balboa totals, so the Box Office Mojo figures are used for that film. Adding the nine worldwide figures gives about $1.94 billion. That total is approximate because The Numbers rounds the Rocky (1976) and Rocky III figures to $225 million and about $270 million.

In my opinion, the cleanest hit in the saga is still Rocky (1976), which turned a $1 million budget into $225 million worldwide, about 225 times what it cost. Nothing later comes near that ratio, and nothing could, because every sequel carried a bigger budget and bigger expectations. Think of it like a food truck that becomes a restaurant chain: the first truck had the best margins, and the chain simply earns more in total.

Did Rocky win any Oscars in 1976? Box Office Mojo and The Numbers track money, not trophies, so neither confirms what Rocky (1976) took home on awards night. What they do confirm is the commercial result: $225 million worldwide on a $1 million budget, with $117.2 million of it earned in the US.

The sequels climbed in a straight line for three films. Rocky II made $200.2 million, Rocky III made about $270 million and Rocky IV made more than $300 million, the peak for the whole franchise. Stallone directed all three. Neither Box Office Mojo nor The Numbers publishes a budget for any of them, so a return multiple cannot be calculated, but the climb in gross is clear. Rocky II also answers a common question: it earned slightly less than the original, yet $200 million is a hit by any reading of the numbers.

Rocky V is the one real drop. Its $119.9 million worldwide is well under half of Rocky IV's total, and its $40.9 million domestic gross is roughly a third of what Rocky IV earned at home ($127.9 million). Perhaps the lesson is that the series needed time away. Rocky Balboa (2006) proved it, earning $155.9 million worldwide on a $24 million budget, about 6.5 times its cost, according to Box Office Mojo.

The Creed films followed the same arc in miniature. Creed (2015) turned $35 million into $174.2 million, about five times. Creed II took $214.2 million on $50 million, about 4.3 times, and Creed III took $276.1 million on $75 million, about 3.7 times. The multiple shrinks as budgets grow, which is normal, but the gross rose with every entry. Creed III also set the domestic high for all nine films at $156.2 million.

The split between home and abroad tells its own story. Rocky (1976) and all three Creed films earned more domestically than internationally. The other five earned more abroad, and Rocky IV's $172.6 million international gross is the best of the nine. Creed II was the first film in the Rocky saga to get a China release, according to Deadline, a sign of how far the series now travels.

One caution: Box Office Mojo and The Numbers report unadjusted grosses, and ticket prices rose a great deal between 1976 and 2023. The raw ranking therefore flatters the newer films, and I would call Rocky (1976) and Rocky IV the strongest performers of the nine, not Creed III. For the other side of the ledger, see rocky movies ranked, and if you want to watch before you decide, where to watch rocky lists the services. For what comes next, creed 4 has no official date or studio announcement yet. I Play Rocky, a Peter Farrelly film about the making of the original, is not a franchise sequel and adds nothing to the franchise totals.