The statue stood outside a sports stadium for a number of years

The 8ft 6ins (2.60m) bronze sculpture was donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art by actor Sylvester Stallone.

The museum declined the offer, despite its broad steps being used for a well known sequence in the 1978 original.

The city's Art Commission is to vote on whether it should be taken from storage and placed at the base of the steps.

The museum is believed to have turned down the statue on the grounds that it was a movie prop and not a work of art.

'Underdog spirit'

But the sequence, where Sylvester Stallone's character jogs up the 72 steps and punches the sky, is often still copied by visitors.

Since being turned away, the statue has stood outside a sports arena and been reused in the latest Rocky movie, Rocky Balboa.

The Art Commission, a group of nine members overseeing art and design on the city's public property, was originally split on whether the statue should go on display outside the museum.

But the Reuters news agency reports that a new vote will take place on Wednesday in favour of the statue.

William Burke, from the commission, said Rocky's character became popular because it "represents the underdog spirit," and people responded to that.