Crowd-pleasing and critic approved, “Creed” revitalized the franchise, earned an Oscar nomination (for Sylvester Stallone), and passed the torch to a new pugilist (Michael B. Jordan). So what of the inevitable sequel? The desire is to have it hit theaters in November 2017, and while early talk suggested a followup actually be prequel/spinoff, focusing on Rocky and Apollo Creed, thankfully cooler heads have prevailed.
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“Next couple of weeks, we’ll start [working on it],” producer Irwin Winkler told THR about the sequel. “But basically it’s about Creed [rather than Rocky]. We think that there is really a story to examine the life of Adonis Creed, and we’re going ahead with it.”
Obviously, that makes sense. Jordan shined in the role, and it’s his story audiences will want to see, not a retro tale about Rocky. At this point, it remains to be seen if Ryan Coogler will return to direct, but he’s already suggested that given the timeline, and his commitment to Marvel‘s “Black Panther,” it’s unlikely to happen. As for Jordan, the movie can’t really happen without him, and as of yet, he’s not officially on board, though we’re sure the studio and agents are working all that stuff out.
In short, Adonis Creed is returning to the multiplex ring. And like Jordan himself, I suspect the character has a long career ahead of him.