According to Variety, MGM’s planned sequel to the critical and box-office hit Creed will likely be released in November 2017. “That’s my goal,” MGM CEO Gary Barber stated, although the date has not been finalized yet.
Ryan Coogler’s Creed starring Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) garnered a Best Supporting Oscar nomination today for Sylvester Stallone, who also received an Oscar nomination 39 years ago for playing the same character of boxer Rocky Balboa. Stallone took the Golden Globe home earlier this month for his supporting role in the film.
Jordan has said he is “definitely down to do a sequel, if it is going to happen.” Coogler, on the other hand, may be too busy to direct the sequel, having signed on to helm Marvel’s Black Panther. In an interview with Newsbeat, he said “It’s complicated because I’m working on Black Panther right now. A sequel to Creed is very real. MGM, Warner Bros are talking about it. So, I mean if that becomes a reality, it all comes down to how fast those guys want to move. And that will really determine if I direct it.” Stallone speculated that Coogler could return as an executive producer of the second Creed. He stated “I know Ryan is going to be gone for a couple years. There’s a diminishing time acceptance of a sequel.”
A potential plot line of the film, according to Stallone, is that it could be set in the past and feature the return of Carl Weathers as the late Apollo Creed. “Ryan has some ideas of going forward and backward and actually seeing Rocky and Apollo together,” Stallone said. “Think of The Godfather 2. That’s what he was thinking of, which was kind of ambitious.”