Stallone sold his dog outside a 7-Eleven for $40. Days later he sold the Rocky script and bought Butkus back for $15,000.

Before Rocky made him a star, Sylvester Stallone was sleeping in the Port Authority Bus Terminal and standing outside a 7-Eleven in New York with a 130-pound bull mastiff he could not afford to feed. The dog was named Butkus. Stallone sold him to a stranger for $40 and walked home crying.

The Sale Outside the 7-Eleven

Stallone has told the story across decades of interviews, including with Ain't It Cool News in 2006, The Jonathan Ross Show, and a 2021 Independent piece tied to a Rocky-era retrospective. He has called it the lowest point of his life. He had been turned down by every studio in Hollywood. His bank account was effectively empty. Selling Butkus was not a dramatic gesture. It was a man who could not buy dog food.

The Rocky Script Lands

Stallone wrote the first draft of Rocky in three and a half days. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff bought it. Multiple studios offered up to $265,000 for the screenplay on the condition that Stallone would not star. They wanted Ryan O'Neal or Burt Reynolds. Stallone refused every offer and accepted a smaller deal, around $35,000 plus a percentage, with himself in the lead. The film was made on a budget of roughly $1 million.

Buying Butkus Back

The moment Stallone had money, he tracked down the new owner of his dog. The owner knew exactly who Stallone was now and exactly what the dog was worth to him. Stallone has said the man started low and kept refusing, and Stallone kept raising. The final number was $15,000, roughly 375 times what Stallone had been paid for him. Stallone paid it without negotiating any further.

Butkus on Screen

Butkus appeared in Rocky and Rocky II, walking next to Stallone through the Philadelphia street scenes that became part of the film's identity. Stallone has posted photos of Butkus on Instagram in the years since, calling him worth every penny. Rocky grossed over $225 million worldwide on its $1 million budget and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The dog who almost got sold for scrap money outlived the deal that nearly lost him.