the "Original Theatrical English" track on the first film appears to be a stereo downmix of the remix, rather than the actual original mono.

It's even missing the short piano cue at the end of the final fight that's always been gone from the remix.

I think this is the first time that's happened on ROCKY. One of the DVD releases only had the 5.1, but any time a release has included a 1.0 or 2.0 track, it's been the authentic original. Until now.

Warner Bros.' Rocky: The Knockout Collection has the same cash-grab odor as Paramount's Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection, a hasty 4K release that inexplicably omitted two films from the original lineup. (It also commits the sin of including no Blu-ray copies, remastered or not.) And from that perspective, I wouldn't blame anyone holding out for a complete boxed set that may or may not also feature a heavily-rumored director's cut of Rocky V and a new scan of Rocky Balboa. But if that weren't enough, this collection suffers from a few QC issues including several botched audio tracks, mislabeled extras, and even residue inside the keepcase. (It might even be worse than last year's first pressing of the Mad Max Anthology 4K, which was actually recalled by the studio and fixed several months later.) Simply put, unless you absolutely have to have these in 4K right now, skip this one: it looks good, but that's about it.

Now then, we have confirmed that Warner’s Rocky: The Knockout Collection 4K set has some significant quality control issues. We first began hearing of this from readers who’d purchased the set last week and we shared them here on The Bits and also on our social media. We also made Warner Bros. Home Entertainment aware of the problems and the studio began an official investigation. Then we were finally able to confirm the problems with our own review product last night. The specific errors are as follows:

The “original” audio mix on Rocky is actually a downmix of the 5.1, not the original theatrical mono audio as it should be.
Rocky II has all of its audio tracks at the wrong pitch (about 4% too low).
Rocky III has all of the foreign audio tracks at the wrong pitch as well.
One shot in the theatrical cut of Rocky IV apparently opens up to 1.78:1 instead of the correct 1.85:1 featured throughout the rest of the film (the shot appears at about 10:17 into the film).
The version of the Rocky vs. Drago: Keep Punching documentary on the bonus disc is significantly shorter than the version available for free viewing here on YouTube.

That last one may not actually be an error, but fans have certainly noticed it. Now then, we haven’t yet heard back from WB on all this, but we expect to soon. So as soon as we do, rest assured we’ll let you all know here and on our social media.

Rocky: OG mono restored. Piano is heard now after the bell when Apollo says there won't be a rematch. Now here's something interesting as well - that piano cue is now heard ALSO in the surround mix. To my knowledge, I don't think this has ever been the case, so it APPEARS at least like they took this opportunity to also add in that missing element to the discrete mix as well. Effing awesome.

Rocky II: Correct pitch restored (compared it directly to the old disc - it's definitely fixed).

Rocky III: Foreign language tracks are now the correct pitch.

Rocky IV: The single 1.78:1 shot has been fixed when Rocky is washing the car talking to his son. 1.85:1 for the whole scene now.