The banner's first project will be a biopic on African-American heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.


Sylvester Stallone has partnered with Braden Aftergood, an executive producer of the hit Hell or High Water, to form Balboa Productions.


The new banner, named after Stallone’s iconic screen character, Rocky Balboa, will focus on film and television projects.


Balboa Productions comes with a project already in development, and it’s not far from Stallone's wheelhouse: a biopic on Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion.


Johnson was in the news recently as President Donald Trump pardoned the boxer, who in 1913 was convicted of taking his white girlfriend across state lines in a racially motivated move to take down the man. Stallone was one of those that beseeched the president for the pardon and was on hand for the official act.


The project is set up at MGM, where Jonathan Glickman, the studio’s motion picture group president, and Adam Rosenberg, executive vp production, will oversee it.


Balboa Productions has also entered into a multiyear deal with Starlight Culture Entertainment for feature film development, which includes a development fund.


Aftergood most recently served as an executive producer on the Jeremy Renner thriller Wind River. Stallone is currently in production on Creed 2, which once again sees him playing the role he can’t quit, boxer Balboa.