Rocky star Sylvester Stallone is currently promoting the sixth instalment of the Rocky franchise in the UK following the US release of Rocky Balboa.

The movie will premiere here in the UK on Tuesday.

Stallone, 60, got a rousing reception from the 30,000 plus crowd on Sunday as he took to the football pitch at Goodison Park before watching Everton play Reading.

Meanwhile, evangelicals are pleasantly surprised as the new film, directed and lead-acted by Stallone, intentionally talks about God.

"Who wouldda thunk?" Rocky would say.

"We need the God-fearing script, the script that really deals with compassion and deals with the word of Jesus and God, and believe me, people will rally behind it because we need it," Stallone said in a late November conference call to Christian leaders, according to the Chronicle. "It's like, you watch some of the films, they only save these kinds of films for Christmas."

In the weeks leading up to the US release, Stallone has been in conference calls with religious leaders to promote his new film.

Previous Rocky scripts focused on the punches, but this final instalment provides more insight to his character, a character that was meant to reflect the nature of Jesus, according to Stallone.

"He's very, very forgiving," said Stallone in the conference call, according to the Baptist Press.

"There's no bitterness in him. He always turns the other cheek. And it's like his whole life was about service."

The original Rocky, released in 1976, told the story of a small-time boxer from Philadelphia who gets a shot at the world heavyweight title.