The drama movie Creed 3 may be racing to cinemas in 2023. However, there is one person who definitely won’t be buying a ticket to see Michael B Jordan’s latest outing in the ring. Legendary star Sylvester Stallone – who created and starred in the original Rocky movies – has stated how he won’t be witnessing the upcoming spin-off film, for one very simple reason.
In a recent interview with Jessica Shaw on Sirius XM (via Men’s Health), the star revealed that he has had a tough time cutting ties with the boxing franchise he created. But, still affirmed how he refused to watch or support any new Creed movies that had producer Irwin Winkler involved.
“You can’t make peace with someone who’s been so, so nefarious, in my opinion,” the actor explained.
For those who may not be familiar with Winkler and Stallone’s tension, Stallone has shared many times how he has “zero” ownership of Rocky after he sold the rights to Winkler back in 1976. According to Stallone’s calculation (shared via Variety), he was paid “approximately $75k plus ten net points, which earned him at least $2.5 million for the first film.”
He has also criticised the producer’s continuation of spin-off material from the Rocky movies, publicly calling out Winkler in a now-deleted Instagram post back in August 2022 after MGM announced that a new action movie centred around Ivan and Viktor Drago was in the works.
But, as the star told Shaw, the reason for his decision isn’t purely money-related. Creativity and artistic respect play a massive role in his final decision to avoid Creed 3. “I wrote it,” the actor said. “I thought it would be nice to say, ‘Here’s the gesture darling here. Beautiful children, beautiful wife. When I’m long gone, this is you. This is what I made for you.'”
While Stallone has an issue with Winkler, he holds no ill will toward Jordan and would be happy to work with him again. In the meantime, Stallone is busy working on the thriller series Tulsa King.
Creed 3 hits theatres on March 3, 2023.